Jerry Seinfeld finally spoke out about a particularly controversial aspect of DreamWorks' The Bee Movie (2007): the interspecies relationship between Vanessa Bloome and Barry B. Benson. Seinfeld, who co-produced, co-wrote and starred in the film, described the plot element as "really not appropriate for children."
"I apologize for what seems to be a certain uncomfortable subtle sexual aspect of The Bee Movie which really was not intentional," Seinfeld said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. "The bee seems to have a thing for the girl ... and we don't really want to pursue that as an idea in children's entertainment."
This isn't the first time someone who worked on The Bee Movie has commented on the strange choice to depict romantic chemistry between a bee and a human. In a 2017 interview with The New Statesman, one of the scriptwriters for the film, Spike Feresten, explained their process of developing the relationship in the writing room.
"Often we would lose sight of the of those characters in the room," Feresten said. "They would just be Barry and Vanessa, and we would write this dialogue for Barry and Vanessa and read it over and have to remind ourselves, well, this is a tiny bee saying this, and the tiny bee is fighting with her boyfriend, so let's dial it back to friend, and make it less romantic, because it's getting weird."
The Bee Movie has been subject to many jokes and memes online since its release. The popularity of the movie on the internet really took off around 2016 when a Tumblr post of a t-shirt featuring the entire script went viral. Meanwhile, YouTube videos such as "The bee movie but every time they say bee it speeds up by 15%" and "The Bee Movie at 3000% speed except when they say 'bee'" have gained millions of views. The relationship between Barry and Vanessa is just one quirky element that made the film so popular online.
The Bee Movie, starring Seinfeld as the voice of protagonist Barry B. Benson, was the comedian's first movie endeavor. The film was released several years after the finale of Seinfeld, which ended in 1998. He also co-wrote and starred in the television series, which ran for nine seasons.
Seinfeld is currently streaming exclusively on Netflix after a major deal between the streaming service and Sony Pictures Television was struck in 2019. The series, which was added to Netflix on Oct. 1, will be available on the platform for five years.
Source: YouTube