Arrested Development and Philosophy_ They've Made a Huge Mistake - Kristopher G. Phillips [56]
The extent of Tobias’s suggestive phrasing leads Michael (in “Ready, Aim, Marry Me”) to encourage Tobias to record and listen to the way he speaks. Here are some of the results: “Even if it means me taking a chubbie, I will suck it up,” “Oh I’ve been in the film business for awhile but I just can’t seem to get one in the can,” and “I wouldn’t mind kissing that man between the cheeks, so to speak.” And then there’s the unforgettable “I blue myself.” The fact that Tobias is apparently unaware of the double meanings of his speech is hilarious to everyone, and to some, suspicious. As a former therapist he should be aware of Freudian slips, yet he seems completely oblivious, as usual.
On occasion, Tobias’s misspeaking and (alleged) naïveté puts him in compromising situations. In “Storming the Castle,” when Tobias attempts to buy leather to connect with Maeby (who is wearing leather only to anger Lindsay), he asks for something that says “dad likes leather,” to which the attendant replies, “Something that says ‘leather daddy’?” The result of this interaction is Tobias buying S&M apparel, later finding himself at an S&M fetish club called the Gothic Asshole, rather than the Gothic Castle (where Gob was performing his show), and then joining the S&M themed quartet “Whips and Snaps.”
Thus, while Tobias appears to be unaware of his manner of speaking, he is equally unaware of the consequences that follow from such speech. To all other parties, Tobias’s double entendres are Freudian slips that tell of his ambiguous gender and sexuality. Tobias, however, is as usual unaware of the way he appears to others.
Denying the Man Inside Him
How deep is Tobias’s denial? Is it actually denial, or does Tobias simply not care about our gender expectations and our compulsion to label people either “straight” or “gay”? Although the automatic assumption about Tobias’s unusual habits is that he’s gay, it’s equally possible that he’s uncomfortable with and confused by sexuality in general. The fact that Tobias is a never–nude (which is exactly what it sounds like) indicates that he’s uncomfortable with his own body as well. His aversion to nudity suggests a problem with sexuality generally, and not necessarily just with women—a problem that could explain all of Tobias’s “questionable” behavior.
Tobias’s discomfort is clear when he attempts to explain sex to George Michael in the episode “Beef Consomme”: “When a man needs to prove to a woman that he’s actually {pause} when a man loves a woman and he actually wants to make love to her, something very special happens and with deep, deep concentration and great focus he’s often able to achieve an erec. . . .” When George Michael interrupts, saying that’s not what he was asking about, Tobias is clearly relieved and qualifies, “It was about to get a little eerrr gross.”
A person who has such an aversion to sexuality would naturally be unfamiliar with sexual innuendo, turns of phrase, and double entendres. Such a person would understandably seem odd in social encounters, especially those that involve sexual suggestions. It’s also entirely plausible that a person who is uncomfortable with sexuality may be genuinely uncomfortable with the traditional sexual norms. Perhaps instead of criticizing Tobias (why do we care so much about what he does with his penis?), we should look at him as a source of wisdom. We ought to ask ourselves what he can teach us about gender and gender roles. Why might Tobias be so uncomfortable with traditional norms?
Gender Empowerment
While Tobias certainly misses a lot, so do we. While we’re busy laughing, we often don’t realize what might be gained from Tobias’s words. Tobias often uses phrases that give power to women, or the feminine generally (and remember, sex and gender