He she m'lady & man
July 17, 2013 10:20 PM Subscribe
"Here's an idea: BMO, from Adventure Time, is expressive of feminism" PBSIdeachannel's Mike Rugnetta gives the rundown on how BMO's existence is a skilled potrayal of 3rd wave feminism.
Better than my 'Jake is the dog from The Thing' theory.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 10:33 PM on July 17, 2013 [10 favorites]
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 10:33 PM on July 17, 2013 [10 favorites]
Wow. As soon as the guy started talking, I thought I was going to hate this, but actually... it was pretty great.
And I need to watch more adventure time.
posted by ominous_paws at 10:34 PM on July 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
And I need to watch more adventure time.
posted by ominous_paws at 10:34 PM on July 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
I fucking love BMO but I could only take 25 seconds of this awful YouTube-style guy.
posted by chococat at 10:42 PM on July 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by chococat at 10:42 PM on July 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'd appreciate it if someone could let me know what "BMO" stands for. (I assume it's an acronym?)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:48 PM on July 17, 2013
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:48 PM on July 17, 2013
BMO sometimes pretends to be a little living boy but I think that it's really just a sentient computer with legs. And then there's this.
posted by Nomyte at 10:51 PM on July 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Nomyte at 10:51 PM on July 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Yeah, not bad. Rugnetta did a good job of switching up the pronouns, and probably about the best job someone can do of introducing non-binary gender in a minute or two.
I've only seen a bit of Adventure Time, and even less of BMO. May have to see more now.
posted by jiawen at 10:57 PM on July 17, 2013
I've only seen a bit of Adventure Time, and even less of BMO. May have to see more now.
posted by jiawen at 10:57 PM on July 17, 2013
The story of BMO and Bubble ("BMO Lost") is kind of epic.
posted by jiawen at 11:01 PM on July 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by jiawen at 11:01 PM on July 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
I'd appreciate it if someone could let me know what "BMO" stands for. (I assume it's an acronym?)
I think it's an oblique reference to the 3DO game console, but it's just a guess.
posted by Nomyte at 11:15 PM on July 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I think it's an oblique reference to the 3DO game console, but it's just a guess.
posted by Nomyte at 11:15 PM on July 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
It has the added joke of being the shorthand for the Bank of Montreal, here in Soviet Canuckistan.
posted by chococat at 11:23 PM on July 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by chococat at 11:23 PM on July 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
BMO loves to explore gender roles as a "little living boy" named BMO, a "real baby girl" named Football, and on one memorable occasion, an impregnated person of unspecified gender. Oh BMO, how'd you get so pregnant?
Writer/creative director Adam Muto notes that BMO is genderless, but I shouldn't cite that. My impression is that most characters use male pronouns most of the time to refer to BMO, who doesn't seem to care what form of address they use.
posted by knuckle tattoos at 12:13 AM on July 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
Writer/creative director Adam Muto notes that BMO is genderless, but I shouldn't cite that. My impression is that most characters use male pronouns most of the time to refer to BMO, who doesn't seem to care what form of address they use.
posted by knuckle tattoos at 12:13 AM on July 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
BMO is my favorite character on Adventure Time, which I am watching in another window right now. UNACCEPTABLE!!!!
posted by 1adam12 at 1:16 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by 1adam12 at 1:16 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'd appreciate it if someone could let me know what "BMO" stands for. (I assume it's an acronym?)
Anything at all about BMO's history has been resolutely un-revealed so far, and that's one of many things we don't know. There's an episode coming up next week titled 'Be More' that pretty much promises to be about exactly that (which I am super excited for!)
My favourite thing about BMO (apart from quoting everything to do with their human roleplay persona Football and 'PEE-ING! PEE-ING!') is that in the Fionna & Cake episodes where everyone's sex/gender/etc are reversed, like down to the candy people and background characters, BMO is exactly the same.
posted by emmtee at 2:20 AM on July 18, 2013 [8 favorites]
Anything at all about BMO's history has been resolutely un-revealed so far, and that's one of many things we don't know. There's an episode coming up next week titled 'Be More' that pretty much promises to be about exactly that (which I am super excited for!)
My favourite thing about BMO (apart from quoting everything to do with their human roleplay persona Football and 'PEE-ING! PEE-ING!') is that in the Fionna & Cake episodes where everyone's sex/gender/etc are reversed, like down to the candy people and background characters, BMO is exactly the same.
posted by emmtee at 2:20 AM on July 18, 2013 [8 favorites]
in the Fionna & Cake episodes where everyone's sex/gender/etc are reversed, like down to the candy people and background characters, BMO is exactly the same.
Man, they really should have brought that up in the video that the FPP is about ;)
posted by ominous_paws at 2:32 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Man, they really should have brought that up in the video that the FPP is about ;)
posted by ominous_paws at 2:32 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
See this is where I need a computer with working speakers, watching with the YouTube auto-captions stopped being funny before it reached that part :(
posted by emmtee at 2:47 AM on July 18, 2013
posted by emmtee at 2:47 AM on July 18, 2013
I loved BMO Noire (17x04) in which we find out that BMO had a relationship with Lorraine, a two-timing chicken with messily-applied lipstick.
posted by moody cow at 4:10 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by moody cow at 4:10 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Football!
posted by stratastar at 4:15 AM on July 18, 2013
posted by stratastar at 4:15 AM on July 18, 2013
I love BMO, although it took a while for her to grow on me. In addition to BMO's ambiguous gender, I really love that he has a rich, imaginative inner life completely apart from Finn and Jake and the rest of the show. BMO's a role model for us silly daydreamy introverts.
And it totally makes sense that a computer wouldn't have a gender. It's so weird that we want to gender robots.
posted by Metroid Baby at 4:53 AM on July 18, 2013 [6 favorites]
And it totally makes sense that a computer wouldn't have a gender. It's so weird that we want to gender robots.
posted by Metroid Baby at 4:53 AM on July 18, 2013 [6 favorites]
in the Fionna & Cake episodes where everyone's sex/gender/etc are reversed, like down to the candy people and background characters, BMO is exactly the same.
Man, they really should have brought that up in the video that the FPP is about ;)
They did! I watched it yesterday, and I remember him bringing this up. Sadly only the one season on Netflix still! I have considered purchasing season two online, though I fear I may have over-watched season one.
I really like Mike Rugnetta, even though some of the ideas are a bit of a stretch. He is extremely likeable and seems genuinely interested in his subjects. (And he can do that fast talking but still understandable thing.)
chococat, I wonder what it is about him that bugs you so much! (Maybe the super fast talking and close-ups? But I don't mind it.)
posted by Glinn at 5:15 AM on July 18, 2013
Man, they really should have brought that up in the video that the FPP is about ;)
They did! I watched it yesterday, and I remember him bringing this up. Sadly only the one season on Netflix still! I have considered purchasing season two online, though I fear I may have over-watched season one.
I really like Mike Rugnetta, even though some of the ideas are a bit of a stretch. He is extremely likeable and seems genuinely interested in his subjects. (And he can do that fast talking but still understandable thing.)
chococat, I wonder what it is about him that bugs you so much! (Maybe the super fast talking and close-ups? But I don't mind it.)
posted by Glinn at 5:15 AM on July 18, 2013
I am going to use this to convince my wife to let my kids watch more Adventure Time.
posted by Mister_A at 5:56 AM on July 18, 2013
posted by Mister_A at 5:56 AM on July 18, 2013
Your wife needs to be convinced of that?
... I know a good lawyer. I'm just saying.
posted by ominous_paws at 6:21 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
... I know a good lawyer. I'm just saying.
posted by ominous_paws at 6:21 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
The voice acting really makes the character. Everything about BMO is ambiguous. BMO's accent is unplaceable and his/her age is completely unclear. Half the time BMO seems like a little child, but at other times BMO is making dinner, hectoring Finn and Jake about their manners, and inviting over bikini babes. Niki Yang does a fantastic job of creating a lively character without having any of the usual context to build on.
Also, Levar Burton was the Bubble?! I'm just now realizing how many cast members of Star Trek have done voice work on Adventure Time. George Takei, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn. How long before Patrick Stewart shows up?
posted by chrisulonic at 6:43 AM on July 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
Also, Levar Burton was the Bubble?! I'm just now realizing how many cast members of Star Trek have done voice work on Adventure Time. George Takei, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn. How long before Patrick Stewart shows up?
posted by chrisulonic at 6:43 AM on July 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
I love the PBS Big Idea channel (like, it's given me multiple book ideas). Excited to watch this, since I love Adventure Time, too.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:04 AM on July 18, 2013
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:04 AM on July 18, 2013
The voice acting really makes the character.
Niki Yang is amazing. She's an animator and storyboard artist who sort of fell into voice acting.
She also voices Lady Rainicorn, and the character of Candy on Gravity Falls.
posted by Gordafarin at 7:59 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Niki Yang is amazing. She's an animator and storyboard artist who sort of fell into voice acting.
She also voices Lady Rainicorn, and the character of Candy on Gravity Falls.
posted by Gordafarin at 7:59 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
I have such a crush on Mike Rugnetta.
posted by Strass at 9:49 AM on July 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Strass at 9:49 AM on July 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
I have a crush on BMO.
posted by orme at 10:24 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by orme at 10:24 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
I've always seen BMO's identity crisis as being about "wanting" to "be" a "real" "human", and the gender stuff as incidental. But that may just reflect my own struggles. Regardless, BMO is my favorite character ever.
I stopped watching Adventure Time after BMO started talking about self-harm, deciding it was better to start watching again later once I felt more secure in my own life and had time to handle a friend in need.
posted by tychotesla at 10:39 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
I stopped watching Adventure Time after BMO started talking about self-harm, deciding it was better to start watching again later once I felt more secure in my own life and had time to handle a friend in need.
posted by tychotesla at 10:39 AM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
There's a wonderful moment in the Adventure Time comic book where BMO is excited for Finn and Jake to leave the treehouse, because it gives him an opportunity to work on the super-creepy robot versions of them he's been making.
"This sure would be easier if I could see what's under their skin."
posted by rifflesby at 11:06 AM on July 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
"This sure would be easier if I could see what's under their skin."
posted by rifflesby at 11:06 AM on July 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
chrisulonic: "BMO's accent is unplaceable..."
Agreed about the rest of what you said, but BMO's accent seems pretty obviously Japanese to me.
posted by jiawen at 11:50 PM on July 18, 2013
Agreed about the rest of what you said, but BMO's accent seems pretty obviously Japanese to me.
posted by jiawen at 11:50 PM on July 18, 2013
or Korean.
posted by Gordafarin at 2:47 AM on July 19, 2013
posted by Gordafarin at 2:47 AM on July 19, 2013
"Be More" was a sweet little episode. Aww.
It makes a certain amount of sense that deleting files is the computer equivalent of killing off brain cells...
posted by Gordafarin at 10:37 AM on July 23, 2013
It makes a certain amount of sense that deleting files is the computer equivalent of killing off brain cells...
posted by Gordafarin at 10:37 AM on July 23, 2013
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Srsly, for all of your MeFites on the fence about Adventure Time, go ahead and watch a few episodes. They're short and they're mostly awesome, and a few are red hot like pizza supper.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:31 PM on July 17, 2013 [5 favorites]