You Didn't Imagine It! Bee Movie Had Sexual Undertones, Jerry Seinfeld Admits
The comedian says he wrote the script to include sexual tension between the main characters, but didn't mean it to be so raunchy.
Summary
- Jerry Seinfeld has created a number of memorable projects over the years.
- Bee Movie made audiences uncomfortable with the palpable sexual tension between its main characters, a bee and a human woman.
- Seinfeld says it's always good to laugh at things.
A stand-up legend of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, Jerry Seinfeld has had a remarkable career in television. His eponymous sitcom Seinfeld, which ran for nine seasons from 1989 to 1998, was an international hit at the time of its original run and continues to draw huge audiences on streaming services.
In addition to the show, Jerry Seinfeld has created a number of films, including Netflix's current number one movie, Unfrosted, and Paramount Pictures' 2007 animated comedy Bee Movie, which sparked much controversy upon its release.
Following Barry B. Benson, an ordinary bee who meets and falls in love with a human woman, Vanessa, accidentally disrupting the natural pollination cycle, Bee Movie made many viewers uncomfortable with its incest among bees jokes.
But even more disturbing was the perceived sexual tension between Barry and Vanessa, which was so subtle that viewers were led to believe there was something wrong with them. But it turns out that if you saw the movie and thought there was something sexual about the characters' relationship, you weren't wrong.
Jerry Seinfeld Admits There Was Sexual Tension between Barry and Vanessa
Seventeen years after Bee Movie premiered and went on to gross a whopping $293.5 million against a $150 million budget, Jerry Seinfeld, who wrote the script and provided the voice of Barry B. Benson, revealed that the palpable chemistry between the main characters was intentional.
'I made a cartoon movie about bees you may have watched as a child. If any of you felt slightly uncomfortable about the sexual undertones in the relationship between Barry the bee and Vanessa, the florist who saves his life, I would like to apologize for that now. I may not have calibrated that perfectly, but I would not change it,' Jerry Seinfeld said during the recent Duke University's commencement address.
The Importance of Humor
While Jerry Seinfeld admitted that the relationship between the main characters in Bee Movie was awkward and inappropriate, he said that it's important to take everything in life lightly and be able to laugh at it. And that's what the modern generation, no matter how noble and well-meaning, needs to remember.
'It's lovely to want to fix [injustice], but, all caps, BUT what I need to tell you as a comedian, do not lose your sense of humor,' Seinfeld added. 'Not enough of life makes sense for you to be able to survive it without humor.'
Bee Movie is available to stream on Netflix, Apple TV+, and Amazon Prime.
Source: YouTube.