Anti-Barney humor
Encyclopedia
Barney & Friends
Barney and Friends, also referred to by HiT Entertainment as Barney the Friendly Dinosaur, is an independent children's television show produced in the United States, aimed at children from ages 1-8...
. The notion that the show is saccharine, boring, annoying, sugary, dangerous or uneducational has made the program a target for parody and negative attacks by children of various ages, adolescents, and many adults in the United States and elsewhere.
History
Almost immediately after Barney and Friends first aired in 1992, the result was that it mesmerized and fascinated many young viewers under the age of 4, but was strongly disapproved by most older children and parents, who criticized the series for being "saccharine", "sunshine-and-flowers", and "one-dimensional". University of ChicagoUniversity of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
professor W. J. T. Mitchell
W. J. T. Mitchell
William J. Thomas Mitchell is the Gaylord Donnelley Distinguished Service Professor of English and Art History at the University of Chicago. He is also the editor of Critical Inquiry, and contributes to the journal October....
noted that
They were among the first to practice anti-Barney humor, and were given an entire chapter of the 1995 book Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood.
Eventually, adults began to contribute to the anti-Barney humor, including parents and celebrities. Many families now refuse to watch the show because of its one-dimensionality and lack of educational value, and several YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
videos have plush dolls of the character either being blown up or set on fire.
Sources of hostility include potentially harmful acts such as lying
Lying
Lying may refer to:* Lie — a deliberate untruth.* Lying a 2011 book by neuroscientist Sam Harris* Lying — a horizontal position* Lying — a 2006 film* Lying — a song by Australian band, Amy Meredith...
, cheating
Cheating
Cheating refers to the breaking of rules to gain advantage in a competitive situation. The rules infringed may be explicit, or they may be from an unwritten code of conduct based on morality, ethics or custom, making the identification of cheating a subjective process. Cheating can refer...
, stealing (with no punishment or scolding from the purple dinosaur), and catching stinging insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s.
Other reasons cited for the hostility also include the purple dinosaur's voice (described by many parents as "dope
Dope
Dope may refer to:* Illegal drugs * An idiot...
y"), lack of varied facial expressions other than a toothy smile (from both the dinosaurs and the kids they hang out with), the character's personality (described as being "self-centered"), and how the child characters in the series interact with dinosaur (an extinct animal widely regarded to be hostile) characters.
In Barney vs. The San Diego Chicken, Ted Giannoulas stated
Additionally, the show was ranked No. 50 on TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
s List of the 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time.
Barkley vs. Barney
Charles BarkleyCharles Barkley
Charles Wade Barkley is a former American professional basketball player. Nicknamed "Sir Charles" and "The Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley established himself as one of the National Basketball Association's most dominating power forwards...
was the guest host of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
on September 25, 1993, and performed a skit that parodied his Godzilla
Godzilla
is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...
-themed Nike commercial
Godzilla vs. Charles Barkley
Godzilla vs. Charles Barkley is a 1992 Nike television commercial in which a giant-sized version of NBA star Charles Barkley challenges Godzilla to a game of basketball in the streets of downtown Tokyo...
by facing off against Barney in a one-on-one matchup.
Baloney and Friends
The Animaniacs cartoon had a satire episode where the Warners and Dot confront an orange version of Barney named Baloney. The entire episode is dedicated to poking fun at the Barney show and PBS for hosting it (the introduction promotes the show as part of the SBS--Stupid Broadcasting Service while the voice over says "Baloney and Friends is brought to you by this station and other stations that lack clever programing"). The Warners try various methods to get rid of Baloney (including dropping anvils on his head. After the second time Baloney says "Let's do that again") but only escape when the show runs out of time.Music and related video
One of the first well known anti-Barney songs was Tony Mason's "Barney's on Fire" (often miscredited to "Weird Al" Yankovic"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
, who denied writing the song). Yankovic did, however, write and perform the parody song Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park (song)
"Jurassic Park" is a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is a parody of "MacArthur Park" by Jimmy Webb , and is written as a humorous take on the film of the same name.-Track listing:The following tracks are on the single:...
, whose video includes Barney's head being bitten off by a Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus meaning "tyrant," and sauros meaning "lizard") is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other...
, who later coughs up the head after receiving the Heimlich maneuver from a brontosaurus. Comedian Stephen Lynch
Stephen Lynch (musician)
Stephen Andrew Lynch , is an American stand-up comedian, musician and Tony Award-nominated actor who is known for his songs mocking daily life and popular culture. Lynch has released two studio albums and two live albums along with a live DVD...
has gained fame from his "Evil Barney Bus Driver" & "Evil Barney Babysitter" audio skits, which he did for Opie and Anthony in 1997 and has been commonly posted on the internet.
An online video created by Ryan Steinhardt in 1998 combines clips from Barney and Friends with the 2Pac single "Hit 'Em Up
Hit 'Em Up
"Hit 'Em Up" is a diss song by rap artist 2Pac , featuring his group the Outlawz. It is the B-side to the single "How Do U Want It", released on June 4, 1996, from the album All Eyez on Me. The song’s lyrics contain vicious insults to several East Coast rappers, chiefly among them, Shakur's former...
", designed to give the viewer the impression that Barney and the other characters from the show are rapping. The humor is based on the juxtaposition of the actual song's heavy use of profanity and violent content, as opposed to the regular lessons and content on Barney and Friends.
Print media
A small Italian comic book imprint, Parody Press (an imprint of Eternity Comics), released an anthology comic book entitled Kill Barny [sic] in 1994, a collection of short stories and one-page strips depicting the death of the purple dinosaur. Several months later, another issue was released under the name Kill Barny Again!, reprinting most of Kill Barny but with some new material pages and a new cover.The Mad Magazine fold-in for issue #328 asked, "What Single Goal Has Brought Agreement And Unity Among Vastly Different Groups?" and the image, which featured pairs of opposite people proclaiming their support for the answer, folded into a dead Barney with the word "extinct" on it, and the caption then read "Death to Barney."
Internet fiction
Several works of short fiction have revolved around not only killing Barney, but portraying him as a demonic force to be defeated in an epic tale of good versus evil, including a series of short stories written by Brian Bull, such as the Day of The Barney trilogy about two children who fight the purple dinosaur and free hordes of children from his demonic control, and Batman versus Barney.Jihad
The Jihad to Destroy Barney is a fictional jihadJihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
that sees itself in the ultimate battle against Barney (spelled B'harne therein) and his followers. It is described as "a heterogeneous organization of people on the Internet dedicated to defamation, humiliation, eradication, killing, and removal of Barney the Purple Dinosaur of the television show Barney & Friends from the airwaves and from every human's life." B'harne is depicted as a purple, scaly lizard-like demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
with sharp talons, long teeth and glowing evil red eyes.
References to a Barney "Jihad" were found on Barney-related Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
newsgroups as early as 1993. The website itself was active as of 1995. Furthermore, Douglass Streusand, a professor of Islamic history at Marine Corps Staff College in Virginia, discovered that the first entry of an Internet search on the term "jihad" referred to Barney.
"Barney = 666" joke
One of the most widely-distributed works of anti-Barney humor appeared in the 2001 book Science Askew, which provided a "666" calculation for the character.Below is the formula of the equation:
- The character of Barney is well-described as a "cute purple dinosaur".
- The book points out how the former Latin alphabetLatin alphabetThe Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
used the letter V in place of U. - Therefore the above phrase is modified to "cvte pvrple dinosavr".
- Letters that do not represent Roman numeralsRoman numeralsThe numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...
are removed: "c v v l d i v" - When the remaining numbers 100, 5, 5, 50, 500, 1, and 5 are added, the result is 666, the Number of the BeastNumber of the BeastThe Number of the Beast is a term in the Book of Revelation, of the New Testament, that is associated with the first Beast of Revelation chapter 13, the Beast of the sea. In most manuscripts of the New Testament and in English translations of the Bible, the number of the Beast is...
. A summary of the Antichrist calculation was included in the Barney FAQ v1.2 (posted on Usenet's alt.tv.barney newsgroup in December 1993).
Computer games
A computer game was released for MacintoshMacintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
entitled Barney Carnage. One of the bosses in Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia is a monstrous Barney parody named Mr. Huggles, who attacks by singing and attempting to hug unwilling pedestrians. After fighting him, his suit comes off, revealing a more vicious Jabba the Hutt
Jabba the Hutt
Jabba the Hutt is a fictional character in George Lucas's space opera film saga Star Wars. Designed as a large, slug-like alien, his appearance has been described by film critic Roger Ebert as "Dickensian," a cross between a toad and the Cheshire Cat....
-like being.
In popular culture
The science humor magazine Annals of Improbable ResearchAnnals of Improbable Research
The Annals of Improbable Research is a bi-monthly magazine devoted to scientific humor, in the form of a satirical take on the standard academic journal...
published, in its 1995 January and February issue, a taxonomical article entitled The Taxonomy of Barney that included X-rays of the character's skeleton
Skeleton
The skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...
.
Legal responses
Lyons Partnership, owners of the intellectual propertyIntellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
rights to Barney & Friends
Barney & Friends
Barney and Friends, also referred to by HiT Entertainment as Barney the Friendly Dinosaur, is an independent children's television show produced in the United States, aimed at children from ages 1-8...
, claimed that Barney spoofs represented trademark
Trademark infringement
Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attaching to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees...
and copyright infringement
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
. Lyons' lawyers subsequently demanded that such material be removed from the Internet. Some site owners complied after such threats, but American law establishes parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
as a fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
defense against such infringement claims.
Barney vs. The San Diego Chicken
In 1994, comedy sketchesSketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
of The San Diego Chicken
The San Diego Chicken
The San Diego Chicken, also known as The Famous Chicken, the KGB Chicken or just The Chicken, is an advertising mascot played by Ted Giannoulas, which originated as an animated TV commercial for KGB-FM Radio in San Diego...
during professional sporting events began to include scenes of the Chicken beating up a dinosaur character. Lyons Partnership began sending letters to Ted Giannoulas, who portrays the Chicken, demanding that he stop the alleged violation of Lyons' rights on the Barney character.
These threats did not stop the mock battles between the Chicken and Barney. On 8 October 1997, Lyons filed lawsuit in Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
federal district court against Giannoulas, claiming copyright and trademark infringement and further claiming that such performances would confuse children. In his case, Giannoulas cited that the purple dino was a "symbol of what is wrong with our society--an homage, if you will, to all the inane, banal platitudes
Lie-to-children
A lie-to-children, sometimes referred to as a Wittgenstein's ladder , is an expression that describes the simplification of technical or difficult-to-understand material for consumption by children. The word "children" should not be taken literally, but as encompassing anyone in the process of...
that we readily accept and thrust unthinkingly upon our children", that his qualities are "insipid and corny", and that he also explains that, in an article posted in a 1997 issue of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, he argues that at least some perceive Barney as a "pot-bellied," "sloppily fat" dinosaur who "giggle[s] compulsively in a tone of unequaled feeble-mindedness" and "jiggles his lumpish body like an overripe eggplant." This court agreed with Giannoulas, and ruled against Lyons on 29 July 1998, declaring the sketches to be a parody that did not infringe on the rights of the character that Lyons created.
Lyons appealed this ruling to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Louisiana* Middle District of Louisiana...
, but again lost their case to Giannoulas on July 7, 1999.
Barney vs. EFF
The Electronic Frontier FoundationElectronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
hosted online archives from the Computer Underground Digest that contained Barney parody material. In 2001, Gibney, Anthony & Flaherty, LLP, lawyers for Lyons Partnership, issued a threat letter to
EFF claiming infringement of the Barney character. EFF strongly defended itself against these claims citing the established defence of parody, backed by United States First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
protections.
As of November 29, 2006, the EFF successfully defended an anti-Barney website from a lawsuit. An article in British publication The Register
The Register
The Register is a British technology news and opinion website. It was founded by John Lettice, Mike Magee and Ross Alderson in 1994 as a newsletter called "Chip Connection", initially as an email service...
applauded the victory.
Barney vs. CyberCheeze
Around 2001, Olympia, WashingtonOlympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
-based comedy website CyberCheeze posted a work entitled "150 Ways to Kill the Purple Dinosaur." Lyons threatened legal action in response, and CyberCheeze replied on their site that the threat was "about as intellectual as the purple quivering mass of gyrating goo you call Barney, but that it also is demeaning to everyone that visits our website and reads this worthless attempt and scare tactic."
See also
- Rumors and urban legends regarding Sesame StreetRumors and urban legends regarding Sesame StreetMany rumors have been started about the American children's television series Sesame Street. A few have been widely propagated and perpetuated over the years.-Bert and Ernie's sexuality:...