When re-watching a childhood classic Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, it’s surprisingly easy to notice some slightly problematic areas, which were just par for the course during first viewing. Think about what happened to Friends. The classic sitcom came to Netflix, and everyone realized how terribly the show treats queer people, minorities, and fat people alike.
Father time can be cruel, especially in terms of comedy, and as we become more and more aware of how we treat others, our past viewing pleasures have to come under the microscope. The latest victim? Jim Carey comedy Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
The phenomenon was brought to the world’s attention by Joe Rogan. He is a former television host and actor, who is now best known for his stand-up comedy and prolific podcasting career.
In the past, most jokes were fair game, but nowadays, we’ve all learned and grown-up. Humor made at the expense of someone else’s feelings (particularly of someone who’s less privileged) just doesn’t seem that funny anymore.
What’s the strange part?
The movie’s problems center around the treatment of one character in particular. The character in question is Lois Einhorn, or Ray Finkle. Finkle is a football player disgraced at the Superbowl, who then becomes Einhorn.Ace Ventura humiliatingly strips Einhorn down to her underwear in front of police officers, to “prove” who she “really is.”
This scene gets even more graphic. Ventura turns Einhorn around to show the cops the nature of her genitalia. It’s honestly hard to watch and seems a particularly disturbing choice for a kid’s movie.
After seeing Einhorn in her underwear, the police have a very visceral reaction.
“All the cops are throwing up … It’s off the charts. Everyone is freaking out. It is so insanely transphobic,” Rogan shared.
Although, some have leapt to the movie’s defence.
A commenter on one article wrote, “Can I just point out that Transphobia wasn’t added to the English dictionary until 2013, which means it was only a known term after 2003. Ace Ventura was released in 1994 before the internet was even a well-established thing, the writers probably didn’t even know what transphobia even is.”
But majority of the people are offended because of the image this movie paints of trans people.
I’m realizing the first Trans person I was exposed to was in Ace Ventura. The film where she’s forced to reveal her genitals and every man in the movie vomits…..when I was a kid I didn’t get it really, but I’m sure it has negatively impacted my understanding of myself.
— Chrystal Spooky Williams 🏳️🌈 🎃👻 (@ChrystalWRox) June 30, 2020
Model and trans activist Munroe Bergdorf shared an emotional Instagram post on the topic.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYVLlFLn17o/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link