I just got season three of How I Met Your Mother on dvd. I was watching it last night, and my ears perked up when I heard the word "vegan." Shortly after that, I became incredibly disappointed. I often wonder when the entertainment industry will start reflecting veganism as a legitimate lifestyle...and the only one that is truly environmentally sound. How hard is it to come up with the same tired lines about how bad vegan food is? We aren't all granola crunchin', patchouli smellin' hippies! Not that there's anything wrong with that.
I tried to think of all the shows I've seen where veganism was mentioned. Note that I have watched a ridiculous amount of movies and tv...so I know I'm missing some stuff. Buffy, Kitchen Confidential, Sex and the City, Felicity (I'm not 100% on this) and countless others have all referenced veganism. Almost anytime veganism is mentioned on television or in the movies it turns to: the food is bad, the people are crazy activists, and/or the people are weird hippies.
Quite frankly, I'm sick of it. There has to be better representation. I feel like we are stuck in the counterculture because there is such a stigma attached to the word "vegan." And the more I think about it, the more I want to wreck shit up! Are you with me? Let's riot! Break some windows! Graffiti some walls! Viva la revolucion, guey!
No?
Okay. Instead of rioting, I'm fairly certain I'm gonna just write Emily Deshanel or Hart Hanson and tell them to make Bones a vegan already. She could explain it with facts about factory farming and pollution and whatnot. Or keep it super simple...like she doesn't believe death should be the foundation of life. And if that doesn't work, I'm gonna riot.
And for now, I'll leave you with positive portrayals of veganism:
Pepper Ann-I'm fairly certain her family was vegan. If I remember correctly, they were always talking about tofu. Of course, I might be confusing her family with Patty Mayonnaise's.
House-A vegan couple's baby is dying. Everybody wants to call cps because they think veganism is abusive for the child. The couple responds that they talked to a nutritionist and nothing was wrong with what they fed the baby. House confirms that the baby's ailment has nothing to do with veganism.
Glory Days-Back in '02, when I was a WB whore, Poppy Montgomery and Eddie Cahill starred on a short lived show called Glory Days. This show was effing awesome. I can't remember if they ever actually said Poppy Montgomery was a vegan. But she only ate tofu omelettes and soy lattes. So...another point for the team.
Year of the Dog-This is a great animal rights movie. And I love that Molly Shannon goes vegan. I believe John C. Reilly thinks she's weird for that, but he was a big douche. So, the obvious message was: If you think veganism is weird, then you are a big douche.
Popular-I'm not sure on this one. I'm gonna go ahead and say that Lily is a good portrayal. This show also rocked. Short lived on the WB was the way of my life, man! Put this show on your netflix. It's effing hilarious. Anyway. She was at least vegetarian. I know for sure she was an activist. There was an entire episode dedicated to the pain that lobster's feel when cooked...and they got an award for it too!
And on a serious note...who's down to start a riot...er...revolution?
5 comments:
The Year of The Dog is my favorite movie! I hate it how vegans are potrayed too, but as we start educating people they will start to change their minds about veganism.
you know, it seems like "the simpsons" has a pretty good record! There is the wonderful episode where Lisa becomes a vegetarian and Apu talks about being a vegan in a very positive way. Then there was one recently where Bart joined 4-h and had to save his prize winning cow from a factory farm. It helps that Lisa is clearly the smartest person in town and Homer is the one singing "You don't win friends with salad"
I completely forgot about The Simpsons! Good point.
hate to disappoint, but I was watching the current "how i met your mother" and they're at it again. Jerks.
Now I'm at a blank on remembering decent portrayals of vegans. Can't think of any. argh.
the makers of king of the hill are making a cartoon about vegans "good family". From watching the preview, I think it might be mean to vegans and really anybody that cares about the environment. just what we need. not.
I was going to mention the Simpsons too, I've seen the Apu one lots of times but only recently saw the one where Bart raises a calf.
Even my fave show, Scrubs, had a thin, ill vegetarian patient, d'oh!
I would love to see a series called "Vegan Life" with a vegan cast portraying real vegan life, win!
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