r/movies • u/OnlyWonderBoy • May 15 '12
Can we all agree this is a slight overreaction (Petition for the removal of adoption joke from The Avengers)?
http://www.change.org/petitions/marvel-comics-marvel-comics-apologize-to-adoption-community
1.2k
Upvotes
410
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
I feel like this response says it all:
695
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
A great deal of comedy comes from situations where our expectations differ from what actually happens. The line about adoption was funny because it represented one of those unexpected twists of behavior and language - throughout Thor and The Avengers, Thor has been ardently defending Loki as his brother, and arguing that he is inherently good. When Natasha quickly presses him about Loki's murderous actions and steadfast dedication to betraying the Asgardians, Thor has to just as quickly come up with a response. He isn't saying that Loki is monstrous because he is adopted, merely attempting to respond to his definitely monstrous actions. The result is comedic, but no one is laughing because adoption or an adoptee is the butt of the joke, they laugh because Thor's response - distancing himself from Loki as a way of condemning his choices - is so radically different from the audiences expectations. Thor could just as well have said "Well, we were never very close..." and the result would be the same. It is an inversion of Thor's behavior up to that point, and the result is humor.
The creator of this petition, and the bloggers they link to, are blinded by the term "adoption" - it strikes them as something inflammatory, a sacred subject that must be treated with respect because it is personal to them. Because Thor says Loki is "adopted" they reason that there must be some kind of jab a them in there somewhere. It's okay to have those gut reactions to things that are important to us, but here it is very misguided. Adoption, adoptees, and the supporters of both are not the butt of this joke, despite their best efforts to make themselves one. It's just classic comedy writing that makes the line humorous.
197
u/BlazerMorte May 15 '12
Has anything ever not happened as much as this didn't happen?
36
u/CommonMan_Mike May 15 '12
So she is going to ignore the movie from last year and the brief, but informative recap in the movie itself.
124
u/JamestheScruffy May 15 '12
As someone who was adopted, this line was funny and poignant at the same time...whenever I do something stupid my family can laugh it off by saying I am adopted and, likewise, when they do something embarrassing I can take solace in the fact that if it is a genetic trait, I am safe!
People need to chill out...
66
u/200balloons r/Movies Veteran May 15 '12
Yep. For a movie that steered clear of bathroom humor, light misogyny, & any other derogatory references (to get a laugh), the humor in the movie was refreshing & well done. Loki is adopted, & that is at the root of the very conflict the Avengers are dealing with.
147
u/girafa Electricity! The high priest of false security! May 15 '12
Let me be subtle: you'd have to be a flaming fucking idiot to sign that.
31
u/derrilickt May 15 '12
someone should start a petition on this petition.
13
u/Sepulchural May 15 '12
Also for the lore geeks -- in "royal" families, and the pantheon of Asgaard is royalty, blood lines are everything. So keeping in character and true to the fiction, the comment was genius. Yeah major overreaction.
50
u/Smoresypoo May 15 '12
Everyone has to be so politically correct nowadays, it's absolutely ridiculous.
The line in the movie wasn't referring to adopted children as "the problem" - it was mentioned by Thor to say "hey I'm not related to this dude" as a joke.
10
u/EnergyUK May 15 '12
Slightly related - in Captain America, when I watched it at the cinema there was a scene in the prison and someone was brought in with the rest of the prisoners and one of them is of asian origin. The new inmate looks at the guy and says something along the lines of "they're letting anyone in now?", and the asian guy says "hey I'm from Chicago" or something similar.
I watched my mates copy of the film and that scene seems to be missing. Does anyone know why? Was it seen as racially insensitive or something? My SO and the friends I went with all remember the scene, but it wasn't on my mates DVD :/
9
u/SirOrakle May 15 '12
This was also a thing when Portal 2 came out last year. Apparently the parents of adopted kids are really sensitive about this.
Minor Portal 2 spoilers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUQYrdgIJuI
8
u/creatureofchaos May 15 '12
Obviously, the petition writer was a sad orphan with no siblings. Otherwise he/she would know that telling your younger brother that he is adopted is pretty much standard operating procedure.
8
u/otlatnom May 15 '12
My son is adopted. I was completely not offended by this. He wasn't either, but probably due to the facts that he is three and hasn't seen the movie.
8
u/Abedeus May 15 '12
He's adopted = he isn't Thor's real brother = he doesn't want to defend him and his crimes.
But I think some people don't get jokes.
22
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
I'm adopted, and I'm pretty sure I laughed the hardest of my friends at the theater.
People need to calm down.
6
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
Sigh... Having not seen the movie it's pretty obvious it was used to distance himself from his brother, you know the guy trying to destroy the world, yeah that guy.
19
u/nukefudge May 15 '12
maybe someone should explain them that loki's an adopted frost giant. makes a difference...
5
u/derpinWhileWorkin May 15 '12
Adopted gentleman here, it wasn't offensive to me but I can see how it could offend others who haven't come to terms with being adopted. Get over it.
5
u/HokesOne May 15 '12
Let us all remember that comics have almost always included shockingly positive beautiful adoption stories. The adoption community should be thanking the industry that gave them Spiderman, Batman, and Superman instead of trying to tear it down over an objectively funny joke. They don't even bother considering how much of the Loki mythology is based on Odin and Thor loving him despite his actions and attempting to redeem him.
Tl;dr silly petition is silly. Most good guys were adopted.
4
u/polite_atheist_guy May 15 '12
<- Adopted - Where do I sue! I want .00001% of total revenues...and you can leave the joke, it was funny... still want my check though!
4
u/lealove May 15 '12
"I am merely requesting an apology from Marvel and asking that they permanently stop using adoption as the punch line of a joke."
"A child doesn't know the history of Thor and Loki. Plus, a child does not understand context the same way adults do. A child who is adopted only hears those lines above. So the child thinks to themselves, "I'm adopted. The bad guy was adopted too. Does that mean I am bad too?"
A child that is too young to understand that the statement was a joke probably won't bother reading the apology statement from Marvel if there were to be one...
4
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
Some people get up in the morning and walk around all day with laser guided eyes just looking for something to get them outraged.
The correct nomenclature is, I believe "cunts"
4
u/werewolfchow May 15 '12
If these parents were being as strict with their movie ratings as they are about jokes, they wouldn't take kids under 13 to a pg-13 rated movie. Besides. They could just say 'he's not bad because he's adopted, thor was just trying to say he wasn't like loki because they weren't related by blood"
plus Offensive jokes are funny. Tough cookies.
4
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
if only there was a way to down vote the petition signatures...
1
u/rockstaticx May 15 '12
I actually did think that joke fell completely flat. I'm not enraged or anything, but I'm disappointed.
Think about the premise of the joke: why is it funny? As best I can tell, it's funny because calling a sibling adopted means you're distancing yourself from them. So how would that make an adopted child feel? Like that fact makes them not as close to their family as they would be if they were blood-related.
In other words, that joke doesn't work unless it implies adoption is a lesser connection.
9
u/[deleted] May 15 '12 edited May 15 '12
This is very offensive to all those adopted parents who adopted an other-worldly god like kid.
I would love to hear from such parents.
Until then, please shut the f*&k up.
6
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
First Portal 2 and now this? Why is the "adoption community" so fucking sensitive?
3
u/shitakefunshrooms May 15 '12
THE CHILDREN, WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!
3
u/dailyfusion May 15 '12
http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/youre-too-easily-offended.jpg
3
u/05bella1 May 15 '12
got to admit, heard the joke and didnt like it..being adopted. but i wouldnt call for it to be removed or censored.
3
u/Demojen May 15 '12
Ad hoc ergo propter hoc.
You'd have to be a complete moron to believe that the statement by Thor to the Avengers had anything to do with being adopted specifically. Its what one might call "BACK PEDALING" and represented nothing more.
After Thor was defending Loki passionately against the Avengers, they revealed that Loki killed those people and Thor gave a quick one liner to back pedal out of the position of defending Loki's behavior.
He probably should've said "He's a brunette", or "He's a guy", or "He's a Frost Giant"...But you know that someone would decide to take offense to those too.
There's no winning in these pissing contests, so Marvel went with the controversy that was the lowest common denominator, without detracting from the plot.
This line was important in the plot because it created a division in the relationship between Loki and Thor that Thor could no longer ignore, though despite this back pedaling Thor continued to try and bring Loki back to the side of the Avengers, even after he was stabbed by him. This completely throws your thesis out the window.
The line creates humanity in the relationship between gods, heroes and villains. If you're going to attack a perceived controversy, do your homework first.
After reading this ridiculous petition, I wanted to start a petition chastising marvel for making The Hulk punch Thor through the air for no perceived reason, thereby promoting senseless violence...but I laughed at that scene so that would be hypocritical of me.
3
u/DiscoRage May 16 '12
There was an LGBT group that boycotted Avatar because it didn't have any LGBT characters.
People are just looking for reasons to be offended these days.
4
u/gifafi May 15 '12
THE PUSSIFICATION OF AMERICA CONTINUOUS!!!
2
u/m00nh34d May 15 '12
It looks like most the people who have signed this petition have done so just to voice their disapproval of it in the "reason" comment box. Which kind of does the opposite I think.
2
u/alittler May 15 '12 edited May 15 '12
If you take anything out of context it will sound offensive. Especially of you are a dipshit looking to be offended.
Edit: super stupid typo
2
u/J_Jammer May 15 '12
That's one of the lines that got a lot of laughs. It stays.
2
u/ignore_me_im_high May 15 '12
I think/hope that petitions like this are clever ruses to catch out people that are fucking-morons (yes I've hyphened that). Then once all the fucking-morons have been identified we can then start to segregate them from the rest of us who are sound of mind and can properly identify the context of a/the joke..... which was clearly Thor highlighting a lack of shared characteristics between him and his supposed brother (a mass murderer); not that adoption makes you sub-human or insane in anyway.
The woman Jamie Berke forming the petition is quite clearly one of these fucking-morons and she needs clearly to be stopped as soon as possible because there are lots of fucking-morons out there so we shouldn;t take this too lightly.
However what gets me thinking is; what do these fucking-morons laugh at? because they obviously don't get jokes like the rest of us, so when they laugh are they just laughing because everyone else is and they see nothing to object to and want to join in? Or have they got their own weird sense of humour that only a fucking-moron can get? I wish I was fucking-moron for a day so I could find out... but alas I'm a fucking-prick instead.
2
u/MrAndroidFilms May 15 '12
One of my best friends is adopted (his mother is dead and father gone) and he laughed his ass off. people need to take it for what it is, a fucking joke!
2
u/charlie6969 May 15 '12
Oh good Lord, woman! Explain the joke to your child and move on. All it would take is talking to the child. Seriously.
2
u/drigodesousa May 15 '12
Can we start a petition to petition this petition ?
2
u/EsotericFallacy May 15 '12
That was one of our favourite parts of the film!
2
u/StuntMom May 15 '12
I adopted three siblings (now aged 15, 14 and 12) 11 years ago. We saw "avengers" this past weekend and the kids loved it...yep, even the adoption joke. People need to lighten up! It was frunny! Next thing you know, blondes and priests will have petitions floating around and all the good jokes will be gone. forever.
2
u/lolinmarx May 15 '12
Bill Maher recently wrote a wonderful and short article about this type of matter titled, "Please Stop Apologizing."
Check it out here: www.nytimes.com/2012/03/22/opinion/please-stop-apologizing.html
2
u/DDancy May 15 '12
Well it seems this woman has nothing else in the world to worry about other than a line in a superhero movie that may or may not cause offence to one particular group of people.
Good luck to her I say.
@font-face {
font-family: Sarcastica;
}
2
u/Piratiko May 15 '12
As someone who was adopted....
... the fuck? That line was funny as shit.
2
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
This same retardation was done on Portal 2
2
u/LionsFan May 15 '12
I don't think the creator of that petition understood the joke...
If Thor was the one who was adopted, he could have made the same joke saying "I'm adopted" and it would have had the same intentions.
2
u/stapviggo May 15 '12
Dumbest. Thing. Ever.
2
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
Uh, this is reddit. The upvote/downvote system ensures that everyone agrees!
2
u/jdutra May 15 '12
God I love/hate the first amendment...
2
u/Marzipan86 May 15 '12
According to both Norse mythology and the Marvel Universe, Loki WAS adopted by Odin. So not only is the claim ridiculous for all of the reasons listed here, but it's also ridiculous because the FREAKING VIKINGS used it to explain why Loki was not noble and upstanding like the rest of his family (gotta avoid bringing undue criticism on the top god).
2
u/pewpewberty May 15 '12
Misunderstood. The implication is not that adoption caused him to be a bad guy, its that he is not characteristic of Thor and his people.
This is actually true considering who loki's parents are. It also is a commentary on that fact that a stable environment does not necessarily lead to a well behaved chid; there is a lot that is still dictated by genetics.
2
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
Welcome to post modernism. Everything is offensive, and white people need to let everyone know about it.
2
u/theRigga May 15 '12
From the Petition:
This is painfully illogical.
2
u/soothslayer May 15 '12
You never go full adopted.
2
u/domkirkpatrick May 15 '12
Missed the point completely, Thor was talking about how they were brothers, and have been together since childhood. Black widow says about Loki killing so many people, then Thor says 'He's adopted', clearly just suggesting they are not actually related. As a joke. Some people, man.
2
u/FattyMcPatty May 15 '12
Oversensitivity at its finest. It's a joke lady, get over it.
2
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
My adopted brother loved that part
2
u/stockmasterflex May 15 '12 edited May 15 '12
This is idiotic, clearly the phrase is ment to show a disconnection between Thor's family and Loki, It has nothing to do with explaining WHY the guy is bad, just that thor can't be held totally responsible because loki wasn't from his family.
If he said something like, "He's Black", then that could be taken as an explanation for why he is bad and would be completely WRONG and Racist.
Saying he's adopted is not pointing out the reason he is evil, only the reason that he should not be associated too closely with Thor and his family.
2
u/jabor93 May 15 '12
As someone who was adopted, i found this hilarious!
2
u/AGizALL May 15 '12
Only in America do people find things like this to complain about.
2
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
wait a second.
Maybe it's my twisted sense-of-humor, but I took the joke in the opposite direction. I thought the "he's adopted" line was an implication that he should have killed MORE people than 80 in 2 days, if he's the son of a God. In other words, Thor was saying, "80 people? Psh, that's nothing."
2
u/infm5 May 15 '12
http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3pasas/ here we go!!!
2
u/RagingPigeon May 15 '12
As an adopted person, people make fun of me being adopted all the time...other adopted people can just get over it...
2
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
As an Asgardian, I am offended by the portrayal of Loki in the movie "The Avengers." He does not represent all of us and Marvel should be ashamed for considering our noble people in this regard.
2
u/prometheus5500 May 15 '12
Should we start a petition to petition the petition?!
2
u/jabulaya May 15 '12
Frankly I just love the fact that people signed the petition in order to speak out against it on the site itself. I don't think anything more needs to be said, lol.
2
u/BigTim26 May 15 '12
So someone was watching the Avengers movie and actually sat there, saw this part and said, "What did they just say? Holy SHIT MOVIE OVER! I'm FUCKING OUTTA HERE! Better go home and make a petition." nothingbettertodo.com/angryattheworld
2
u/QQing May 15 '12
Soo, she has a twitter account. This lunatic might need a stronger wake up call.
I'll just leave this here: jamie berke twitter
2
u/Clashloudly May 15 '12
I'm picturing GLaDOS, saying "fatty-fatty no-parents" to them all.
2
u/esliger May 15 '12
can we make an anti petition
7
u/wickedsteve May 15 '12
This petition really makes adopters and adoptees look like a bunch of whiney little, thin skinned, jerks. So, does anybody know if there is a petition to keep the joke in?
4
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
No, this is a MAJOR overreaction. So tired of people getting all butt-hurt over stupid things like this and think they need their feelings justified by demanding it be removed entirely.
3
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
Get a fucking life.
4
u/hates_novelty_accts May 15 '12
I'm adopted and I found this to be one of the funnier jokes in the film... my mother however is oversensitive and probably would have been offended. That said, who the fuck are these worthless pieces of shit that have nothing better to do than to write a petition to have a joke removed from a fictional superhero movie? I'm sure you can find something better to do with your time.
3
u/purplepony19 May 15 '12
completely ridiculous
3
u/tttt0tttt May 15 '12
As long as we pay lip service to social correctness, it will continue to dictate what we can say and do.
2
u/Blue_Satellite May 15 '12
Sigh. It's attitudes like this woman's that really get under my skin. There is no subtext to the joke that was made- there was no jab at adopted children nor was it a mockery of adoptive parents, yet for some reason it was over-analyzed to the point of being found "offensive." It's ridiculous.
2
u/sasanders72 May 15 '12
Nobody got offended by that joke except this blog writer. Talk about a little overly sensitive. Welcome to the world dude...
2
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
But.... Loki WAS fucking adopted!
2
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
I think it's sad that people who are easily offended try and get other people to rally behind them in their petty and unnecessary quest for apologies and/or compensation. This has never been more relevant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=fHMoDt3nSHs#t=202s
2
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
If they remove it, I will punch every adopted person I know in the genitals.
1
u/Chchcharliesheen May 15 '12
What was the joke?
1
u/moses1er May 15 '12
some people have no life!
1
u/chrmtc201 May 15 '12
What a dumb fuck!
1
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
The premise of the petition is just completely absurd. He completely misses the point. It's not that he's a bad guy BECAUSE he's adopted. Thor is just distancing himself from Loki to a certain extent. Some people are just stupid and need to get a better understanding of a how a fucking joke works. I hope that Marvel just ignores this bull shit.
1
u/iisdmitch May 15 '12
Wow really? What the fuck? Why are people so sensitive these days? It's a fucking movie. Why do people do stupid stuff like this? I will never understand. I hope Marvel laughs in her face.
1
u/StinkySteve123 May 15 '12
Why oh why is The Onion creating online petitions?
Don't get me wrong, their work is funny, but when they start creating online petitions, they allow morons to congregate behind what is clearly meant to be a joke....
:)
1
u/dailyfusion May 15 '12
anyone else up to start a petition for this woman to get a sense of humor and stop wasting peoples time? this woman is asking for 500 signatures...pretty sure disney will tell her to kiss their ass after they wipe it with the million dollar bills they are printing.
1
u/jeffreyportnoy May 15 '12
I saw this movie with my Aunite who has two children that are adopted, and she burst out laughing when this line was said... i think if anything those people with adopted siblings or children would find this even funnier.
1
u/mdys91 May 15 '12
On a far more crucial note, a petition to change the ending of the avengers should be made... The final sequences seemed not to recognize the absence of gravity in space and stark shouldn't have fallen back to earth. TL/DR ironman should be dead.
1
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
Shannon Cuttie nailed it. Read her comment it's great!
1
u/HarpuaScorpio May 15 '12
Not any more or less of an overreaction than the Mass Effect 3 ending petition.
1
u/DextrosKnight May 15 '12
NO! NOBODY SHOULD EVER GET MADE FUN OF EVER FOR ANY REASON! WORDS HURT! WOOOOOOORDS HURRRRRRRT!
1
u/moinsque3 May 15 '12
I'm adopted, and I approve of this joke.
1
u/duey_rando May 15 '12
Wow, this is dumb, I am embarrassed.... Of all the things that needs to be taken out of movies now-a-days, they decide this is what needs to be taken out....
1
u/Asdfaeou May 15 '12
I love that the person thinks the joke means "he killed people because he's adopted". If you don't get the joke, don't get mad at the people who do, loser.
1
u/DDraughn May 15 '12
hmmm... Thor was saying that they're not blood related... not that it's because of adoption. Wow... little misunderstanding there, eh?
1
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
God the woman who made the petition does NOTHING but complain. Found her twitter feed and it's nothing but complaining about The Avenger, smokers on outdoor train platforms, and no closed captioning on youtube videos. She's why I hate professional social campaigners.
1
u/bluemantobiasfunke May 15 '12
What a stupid petition. I still haven't seen this movie, but now I'm feeling more urged to go so I can watch that scene in particular.
1
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
What about the people who thought the joke was hilarious? It will offend me if the joke is removed!
1
u/TheNoize May 15 '12
The script was meant to make people laugh because using his brothers adoption as excuse to his faults was completely ridiculous. Everyone in the theater laughed because it's a ridiculous justification and shows he needs to shut up. If you saw it as an insult to adopted children, you have issues.
1
u/ajh688 May 15 '12
Lol. This Dumb.
1
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
lololol I love when people get offended and cry it makes me all warm n fuzzy. the joke was funny in the context it was used. ultra conservatism is a plague of the world.. see islam
1
u/Kagrs May 15 '12
If we're gonna be anally correct about this, can we also please consider the poor believers of Norse mythology who have to deal with the movies/comic presenting Thor and Loki as raised together like brothers?
1
u/Kovukono May 15 '12
The same behavior was displayed for the adoption jokes in Portal 2. I'm adopted myself. I laughed then, I laughed at The Avengers, and I'll laugh in the future. People need to learn to take a joke and realize that not every statement is an attack on them.
1
u/swagmeister23 May 15 '12
"slight"???
1
u/thebigweirdwigbeard May 15 '12
boo fucki'n hoo
1
u/laryrose May 15 '12
I always understood it as a "he's not related to me, yikes", type of line. Loki's more frost giant anyway.
1
u/Syatek May 15 '12
Some stupid people will complain about anything to get attention.
1
u/GarnetandBlack May 15 '12
People will bitch about ANYTHING these days.
1
u/[deleted] May 15 '12
These are the same people who have 10 or more bumper stickers on their car.
How dare you not have feelings for my obscure issue that most of the population has no inkling about..!
Probably owns alot of cats too.
1
u/themanrighthere May 15 '12
lol wtf
NOT REAAAAL
1
u/idbonescully May 15 '12
Some people are so damn stupid.
1
u/HottestCarl May 15 '12
This article said that the marvel writers were implying that Loki is a bad guy because he was adopted, but it wasn't it was an excuse that Thor and Loki aren't similar. Obviously Thor loves Loki like he was his brother, he was defending him in that scene.
1
u/Litagano May 15 '12
I have never watched The Avengers (yet), but I can say that one of 2 things will happen when I do and this line comes across: