Bisexuality was invented by commercialism. It was originally about getting aroused while shopping. Like feeling the nether tingles while looking at a toaster - in other words, a sarousal (sale + arousal). It was branded Buy-sexual by the eggheads in charge. But what they didn't expect was the growth of discount stores and coupons created nonstop sales, which cause a explosive sexual energy.. The power of this energy went beyond just finding 20% discounts, and the sarousal transformed into just regular arousal, causing test subjects to release their sexual energy by humping everyone, male or female.
Somewhere down the line, because of good marketing, Buy-sexual became bisexual, and that's how we got here today.
As much as I’d like to see a good sequel to Austin Powers, I kinda feel like the posters are forgetting about The Love Guru in hoping for a progressive, non-tone deaf story. 😬
IMO, I couldn't get through the first episode because too many of the jokes fell flat. The overall concept was brilliant, and Myers' track record suggested that this recipe couldn't fail. To me, the story and circumstances were humorous, satirical, even witty in places, but not funny. And with a story that is moving in service of flat jokes, it just didn't work for me.
I look back and think that whatever was in the room that made Austin Powers tick, just wasn't there. Writing? Direction? People to keep Mike reined in? More/better ensemble characters? Who knows.
Is it tone deaf to think that a character representing the classic womanizer would be accepting of trans people?
Austin Powers is spoofing the on screen spy characters of the 60s, which attempted to appeal to a very much cis heterosexual fantasy, which generally would not include trans people.
I saw Austin powers as a kid and i always thought he was gay, apparently no amount of him hitting on women made me question it, it just the way he appeared to me.
He is/was extremely camp. It's now strongly associated with being gay, but wasn't always. Austin Powers somehow managed to pull off macho-camp extremely well.
Could work in that while many things have continued to improve since the 90s, people also somehow seem more buttoned down and repressed than ever. Except that Mike Myers is a billion years old now and it’d be gross having him creep around younger people.
Must've been the other site where I faffed about this:
Austin Powers doesn't understand sexual preferences... sober. He fondly recalls a shindig where he shagged dudes, and also drank a martini from a shoe because all the glasses were in the sink. That doesn't mean he expects enlightened 90s types to keep footwear in the cupboard.
This retcon even fits his exasperation over Liberace - "but women loved him!" See chan-board bodybuilder culture, where dudes are free and women are an achievement. Especially for other women. He's perfectly cool with dudes fucking dudes, but has put precisely zero thought into why either dude would prefer that.
Realistically this can never happen because as soon as there's an announcement AP is going to have a trans scene, Its going to get dragged in every conservative group until the public opinion is that its gonna flop, regardless of content. Unfortunate cause it could be hilarious