Shock! Sexism in the workplace!


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Shock! Sexism in the workplace!

 

ElamenSTAR (GT) Episode 306

Aired 12th November, 1998

 

Summary

This highly-controversial episode concerns The Inn Definitely Not Run By Doppelgangers. The Four Underdogs drop by the Inn Definitely Not Run by Doppelgangers, only to find that the women working there are being forced to wear demeaning, girly costumes and endure constant sexual harassment.

 

What made this episode unpalatable for Western audiences was not merely that it concerned, as the title suggests, sexism in the workplace, but unambiguously states it's good, as it confirms masculine virility and encourages women to be pretty so they get better tips and more attention from menfolk.

 

Notes

 

Despite the difficult-to-translate nature of the episode, James Langomedes attempted to translate it three times, figuring that all he had to do was "carefully rework the uniquely Japanese aspect to the story." His first two attempts involved 1) implying the women were, in fact, Doppelgangers, and the abuse suffered was, in fact, an attempt to drive them out of the Doppelganger-free environ; and 2) replacing the dialogue with random sentences taken from A Clockwork Orange.

 

Whatever the third option was, he was apparently displeased at it. He expressed his displeasure by driving into work one day, climbing on top of his car and proclaiming, through a megaphone, that he had attempted to translate episode 306, and that he was "this proud" of what he did, and then soaked the script in gasoline, tossed the script in his car (filled with cut-open milk-jugs full of gasoline), ducked behind the biggest obstacle he could find, and tossed a lit Zippo lighter into the car in what some witnesses described as "a pretty good throw." The results were obvious.

 

As it turned out, it didn't matter that James was unsuccessful in his translational attempts, as the American run of The Wizbits Cartoon never made it past Japanese episode 213.

 

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