I can't get enough of those paternity tests on Maury. They're a complete trainwreck. There's always that one whore who slept with too many whorish men and there are only a few possible outcomes:
-Jamarcus, you ARE the father
-Rondell, you are NOT the father
-Cleatus, You are NOT the father. (uh oh, only one guy left. Cross your fingers!) When it comes to 2 year old Dixie May, Rondell, you are NOT the father
Then the poor piece of white trash runs backstage crying and embarrased.
Even though these paternity tests run the same format everytime, I can't look away. I think it goes along with Hobbes' theory that people are "forced to keep themselves in their own favor by observing the imperfections of..." other people. And talk about imperfections! I don't know how Maury can keep a straight face when these loser guests keep coming on his show with the same sob story over and over. I'll practice my broken-English dialect i've been working on since reading all those "negro" stories in Roy Blounts Book of Southern Slave Stories, I mean Southern Humor, to write like one of the guests would speak in giving these sob stories.
Generic Whore: " Moey, Ima dousand puhcent show dat Jumachus iz duh fada of mah baybe. I'za ben'za sleepin' wit dat may'un fo duh pas tree years. Iz aboutz a time dat he starts tuh pay me duh munny foz my baybe Roshahnda. When dat puhternity tes comes back posative, Ima showz da ho wer'uld dat hez'a dedbeet day'ud."
And why is that when the man comes out, he is automatically booed by the audience?! I was watching the show today and a man came out in a wheelchair and they booed him! And it turned out he wasn't the father!
Generic Whore: "Das ok Moey. I didntz want dat may'un to beez duh fada of my baybe n'ewayz. Howz iz he spose'd to take cay'a of Roshanda n'ewayz wen hez in da weeyal chairuh. Ima findz uh may'un, a reel may'un who can takes cay'uh of my baybee."
Maury: (Further exploiting his guests) "Generic Whore, we can always give paternity tests to other men who you think might be the father."
Generic Whore: Iza donts tink so Moey. Das gotz tuh be like tirty udda may'unz i'ds haves to getz to comes out hurr. Ima big 'ole ho. Nose, I tinks Ima jus go back to duh pra'jecks wit my baybee. We aint need no may'un n are lives.
I think this is why shows like Jerry Springer and Maury thrive. They get the stupidest people in the country to make fools of themselves in front of the whole country. And we watch it. We can't get enough of it. It is absolutely detestable, but it's a circus for grown-ups. Only we've replaced the trapeze artist with Amber who doesn't know if her child is her fiance's, or her fiance's best friend who she has been sleeping with on the side. Instead of the clowns driving their small car, we've got a clown like Mo'nique, who thinks one of these eight men could be the father of her child and all have criminal records.
And these people's lives are shattered right in front of us. And who really gets screwed the most is the baby who will either never know her father, or will grow up in a broken home, or both. But I'll keep watching this filth. "For men laugh at mischances and indecencies, wherein their lies no wit nor jest at all." The Maury show is absolute trash, but its guests' imperfections sure make me feel a lot better about myself!
Friday, May 8, 2009
Taking a Visitor to See the Ruins
Paulla Gunn Allen's Taking a Visitor to See the Ruins succeeded in Cicero's theory of humor in which "...we expect one thing and another is said; here our own disappointed expectation makes us laugh."
As a person who has seen the cliff dwelling and pueblo villages, I completely expected that the author would be taking her friend to see an ancient native american ruin. Once the two arrived at a high-rise apartment building, it was clear Allen was playing a trick on her friend.
We soon find that the relics Gunn refers to are actually her mother and grandmother, cue the laughter.
The short piece fits in with Cicero's theory, but I think Grawe's theory of human survival as well. The women, Gunn tells us, "...still live in pueblo style in high security dwellings way up there where the enemy can't reach them just like in the olden times." Here we see that Gunn's mother and grandmother are still surviving, in a metaphorical sense, just as their ancestors had.
As a person who has seen the cliff dwelling and pueblo villages, I completely expected that the author would be taking her friend to see an ancient native american ruin. Once the two arrived at a high-rise apartment building, it was clear Allen was playing a trick on her friend.
We soon find that the relics Gunn refers to are actually her mother and grandmother, cue the laughter.
The short piece fits in with Cicero's theory, but I think Grawe's theory of human survival as well. The women, Gunn tells us, "...still live in pueblo style in high security dwellings way up there where the enemy can't reach them just like in the olden times." Here we see that Gunn's mother and grandmother are still surviving, in a metaphorical sense, just as their ancestors had.
Class Performances
I want to say congratulations to everyone who performed and thanks to my classmates who were very respectful toward everyone's performances. I think we all learned that trying to be funny isn't easy, and it takes a lot of balls to put something together and show it in front of the class. So classmates, give yourself a pat on the back for giving everyone the respect they deserved for doing something so hard.
ESPECIALLY for our boys and girls that performed in front of the class. I got to give you kids mad props for doing so. It's one thing to put together a video, press the play button, and then sit back down in your seat. It's another thing to stand up in front of everyone, our eyes beating down on you, wanting to laugh, and you guys maintained your composure and had some hilarious jokes. That took A LOT of courage. Good job guys and girls.
I'm bad with names, so the group that put together the Radish Enquirer, it was awesome. A fan of the onion, I thought your fake website was great. I LOVED the literary allusions. I havent heard anyone mention The Yellow Wallpaper since my senior year of high school. Birtha in the attic? That was fantastic. And More Mad Props go to the Cask of Amontillado reference. That is my favorite Poe piece. Fuck you Fortunato.
Whoa, Courtney. Whoa. Let's take a step back here. Next time you're in the quad, or in a class, or at humphreys, lacleeds, iggys, wherever, take a good long look at the women around you. I don't know what St. Louis University YOU'VE been attending, but trust me, it's us GUYS who have been lowering our standards. You can't expect EVERY guy at SLU to look like Bart Posnick or Ryan Trimberger or Thomas Martin. Still, there are plenty of good looking guys on campus. Women? Well, as the saying goes, if you have nothing nice to say...
But that would've been my only critique. Props for pointing out the North Face trend. I too am in that cult and hell if it aint like EVERYONE has a NF. Who wants to wear Columbia??!!!
And Stuff White People Like is a fantastic blog.
The SLU 101 video...thank god me and Donovan did not do that. You girls have no idea how similar our videos would've been. Even I had come up with a joke about peeing on the billiken. I'm glad me and Pat hadn't shot that. We were also thinking about doing a joke about the getting hit by a car rumor! People would've thought we copied each other! But being that I thought about doing that billiken joke/hit by a car, and you girls did do it, props go to you girls for having a good sense of humor.
Really, great job by everyone.
And now I shall return to watching Maury
ESPECIALLY for our boys and girls that performed in front of the class. I got to give you kids mad props for doing so. It's one thing to put together a video, press the play button, and then sit back down in your seat. It's another thing to stand up in front of everyone, our eyes beating down on you, wanting to laugh, and you guys maintained your composure and had some hilarious jokes. That took A LOT of courage. Good job guys and girls.
I'm bad with names, so the group that put together the Radish Enquirer, it was awesome. A fan of the onion, I thought your fake website was great. I LOVED the literary allusions. I havent heard anyone mention The Yellow Wallpaper since my senior year of high school. Birtha in the attic? That was fantastic. And More Mad Props go to the Cask of Amontillado reference. That is my favorite Poe piece. Fuck you Fortunato.
Whoa, Courtney. Whoa. Let's take a step back here. Next time you're in the quad, or in a class, or at humphreys, lacleeds, iggys, wherever, take a good long look at the women around you. I don't know what St. Louis University YOU'VE been attending, but trust me, it's us GUYS who have been lowering our standards. You can't expect EVERY guy at SLU to look like Bart Posnick or Ryan Trimberger or Thomas Martin. Still, there are plenty of good looking guys on campus. Women? Well, as the saying goes, if you have nothing nice to say...
But that would've been my only critique. Props for pointing out the North Face trend. I too am in that cult and hell if it aint like EVERYONE has a NF. Who wants to wear Columbia??!!!
And Stuff White People Like is a fantastic blog.
The SLU 101 video...thank god me and Donovan did not do that. You girls have no idea how similar our videos would've been. Even I had come up with a joke about peeing on the billiken. I'm glad me and Pat hadn't shot that. We were also thinking about doing a joke about the getting hit by a car rumor! People would've thought we copied each other! But being that I thought about doing that billiken joke/hit by a car, and you girls did do it, props go to you girls for having a good sense of humor.
Really, great job by everyone.
And now I shall return to watching Maury
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The Waltz: A Dance or Metaphor for any uncomfortable Conversation You've ever had
Parker's The Waltz can apply to just about any uncomfortable situation one has ever experienced. The facade of enjoyment when talking to one you despise. Or telling your boss you will gladly stay extra hours in the office per his request, knowing that you'll have to tell the guys you won't be able to make it to the bar. Or just telling your girlfriend she looks great in that shirt, even though it is WAY too tight and that muffin-top is ready to blow.
The Waltz is so easy to relate to because we all have to hold our tongue at times for the sake of being respectful, even if it is the last thing we want to do. Through the incongruity between her respectufl conversation with "Mr. Jukes" and the suffering thoughts within her head, I felt like I was dancing in Park's shoes: getting kicked in the shin, dying to get off the dance floor, wanting to get as far away from my dance partner as possible to avoid further shame and physical pain.
Although many of us can relate to these uncomfortable situations, I have sympathy for Parker being a woman, with expectations upon her to simply give in to Jukes' request for a dance and with no way of getting out. Jukes, as a man could at any time have decided to end the dance, sit back down, do whatever the heck it is he wants to do. Poor Dorothy. She has to remain "lady-like" and let the jerk take her wherever he chooses.
While it may sound insecure, there are many times when guys, including me, upon taking a girl out, or dancing, wonder: Is she enjoying this? Having fun? She is smiling, but inside, does she want to get the heck out of here ASAP? Certainly, one does have a good idea if a person is being sincere with their smiles and their "thank you's". Still, with social pressure on all of us to be polite toward one another, one can never be certain if the other person is just dreading their time with you. The Waltz takes us into that dreadful position of having to remain polite, while hating every second of what is going on. We laugh at the situation because we are on the outside: Reading every thought and word of dialogue with dramatic irony knowing the true feelings and thoughts of Dorothy as Jukes is completely ignorant of her attitude.
We've all been in that situation or one similar, Therefore I, and I believe most of the class liked The Waltz because we could relate. I just might have to tell my boss to go screw off in the future. I'm hanging with the boys tonight.
The Waltz is so easy to relate to because we all have to hold our tongue at times for the sake of being respectful, even if it is the last thing we want to do. Through the incongruity between her respectufl conversation with "Mr. Jukes" and the suffering thoughts within her head, I felt like I was dancing in Park's shoes: getting kicked in the shin, dying to get off the dance floor, wanting to get as far away from my dance partner as possible to avoid further shame and physical pain.
Although many of us can relate to these uncomfortable situations, I have sympathy for Parker being a woman, with expectations upon her to simply give in to Jukes' request for a dance and with no way of getting out. Jukes, as a man could at any time have decided to end the dance, sit back down, do whatever the heck it is he wants to do. Poor Dorothy. She has to remain "lady-like" and let the jerk take her wherever he chooses.
While it may sound insecure, there are many times when guys, including me, upon taking a girl out, or dancing, wonder: Is she enjoying this? Having fun? She is smiling, but inside, does she want to get the heck out of here ASAP? Certainly, one does have a good idea if a person is being sincere with their smiles and their "thank you's". Still, with social pressure on all of us to be polite toward one another, one can never be certain if the other person is just dreading their time with you. The Waltz takes us into that dreadful position of having to remain polite, while hating every second of what is going on. We laugh at the situation because we are on the outside: Reading every thought and word of dialogue with dramatic irony knowing the true feelings and thoughts of Dorothy as Jukes is completely ignorant of her attitude.
We've all been in that situation or one similar, Therefore I, and I believe most of the class liked The Waltz because we could relate. I just might have to tell my boss to go screw off in the future. I'm hanging with the boys tonight.
Unable to Relate to Skillet and Fode
Upon reading Relating to Skillet and Fode, I had no clue as to what was going on in the story...at least what was supposed to be humorous. With nothing to write on the humorous aspect of the story, there is none, I did some background research to understand what message Percy was trying to get across.
I still have no idea what he was writing about. I checked out his page on Wikipedia, and was surprised to see that Percy, though the son of plantation-owning U.S. Senator, conversed regularly with Harlem poet Langston Hughes and others of the Harlem Renaissance. All I could really appreciate about Skillet and Fode is the kind disposition Percy had toward Skillet, a black-boy he played with in his youth, and Ford, his worker/companion during his older years. The dialogue between Ford and Percy is not necessarily what one would expect between a black man and a white man during the early 20th century. Though racial tensions ran high in the south during this period, and still decades later, the two carry on like good time friends. Ford, able to call Percy a "little old fat man" and Percy with a sub-par comeback of "You damn fool". That Percy could see beyone Ford's color during these times is something to admire.
Let's be honest, there is absolutely no point to any of the stories Ford tells to Percy when the two are overlooking a river. As a 22 year old in the 21st century, I find no deep meaning to any of the stories Ford tells. It appears that neither does Percy, remarking that the second story Ford tells him is "just as inconsequential" as the first. Perhaps someone of these times could find meaning: A former slave, a slave owner, a white or black man living in the south at the times.
It was only through discussing the story in class that I understood the meaning of "Martin" in the second, inconsequential story. The point being that the "negro" man kept waiting around in the scary house, peering at the cats in front of him. Getting bigger and bigger as they come, the biggest cat says something to the point of "we aint goin do nutin til Martin comes." Who is Martin? A literary reference, also used in Twain's Roughing It, to describe a person who evokes fear even in the biggest of men, or in this case cats. Although the story then made sense, once understanding the meaning of Martin, it still didn't seem to have any meaning to the overall story.
If I had to struggle to find humor within this story, which I will do, I will say that when the black workers jestered that Percy's car is actually theirs, because it is THEIR work that payed for his car, and that Percy is initially unaware of their observation, the dramatic irony does work somewhat to produce a smile, but not much more.
The third story, of a black man who puts off work he promised to a white man, only to be told by a cooter that he "talks too much" isn't so much funny as it is a prophecy. Should the black man have said nothing about the cooter, he wouldn't have receive the whooping from the white man once the cooter did not speak in the white man's presence. Hence, the black man should have said nothing, but couldnt, because, as the cooter says, "nigger, I tole you you talks too much."
Should I have been alive during the early 1900s, or have been familiar with "negro stories", perhaps I could have found something to relate to within this entirely irrelvant story. But with no lense within which to view this story, Skillet and Fode failed to make an impression on me.
I still have no idea what he was writing about. I checked out his page on Wikipedia, and was surprised to see that Percy, though the son of plantation-owning U.S. Senator, conversed regularly with Harlem poet Langston Hughes and others of the Harlem Renaissance. All I could really appreciate about Skillet and Fode is the kind disposition Percy had toward Skillet, a black-boy he played with in his youth, and Ford, his worker/companion during his older years. The dialogue between Ford and Percy is not necessarily what one would expect between a black man and a white man during the early 20th century. Though racial tensions ran high in the south during this period, and still decades later, the two carry on like good time friends. Ford, able to call Percy a "little old fat man" and Percy with a sub-par comeback of "You damn fool". That Percy could see beyone Ford's color during these times is something to admire.
Let's be honest, there is absolutely no point to any of the stories Ford tells to Percy when the two are overlooking a river. As a 22 year old in the 21st century, I find no deep meaning to any of the stories Ford tells. It appears that neither does Percy, remarking that the second story Ford tells him is "just as inconsequential" as the first. Perhaps someone of these times could find meaning: A former slave, a slave owner, a white or black man living in the south at the times.
It was only through discussing the story in class that I understood the meaning of "Martin" in the second, inconsequential story. The point being that the "negro" man kept waiting around in the scary house, peering at the cats in front of him. Getting bigger and bigger as they come, the biggest cat says something to the point of "we aint goin do nutin til Martin comes." Who is Martin? A literary reference, also used in Twain's Roughing It, to describe a person who evokes fear even in the biggest of men, or in this case cats. Although the story then made sense, once understanding the meaning of Martin, it still didn't seem to have any meaning to the overall story.
If I had to struggle to find humor within this story, which I will do, I will say that when the black workers jestered that Percy's car is actually theirs, because it is THEIR work that payed for his car, and that Percy is initially unaware of their observation, the dramatic irony does work somewhat to produce a smile, but not much more.
The third story, of a black man who puts off work he promised to a white man, only to be told by a cooter that he "talks too much" isn't so much funny as it is a prophecy. Should the black man have said nothing about the cooter, he wouldn't have receive the whooping from the white man once the cooter did not speak in the white man's presence. Hence, the black man should have said nothing, but couldnt, because, as the cooter says, "nigger, I tole you you talks too much."
Should I have been alive during the early 1900s, or have been familiar with "negro stories", perhaps I could have found something to relate to within this entirely irrelvant story. But with no lense within which to view this story, Skillet and Fode failed to make an impression on me.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Sykes, Pryor
One of the more interesting portions of the comedian presentations were their backgrounds. I had already known, from an interview she had on The Tonight Show, that Sykes had previously worked for the N.S.A.. It's surprising to hear that a woman as funny as her, had previously worked for a government agency. Employees who aren't immediately thought of as funny or humorous, but connotatively thought of as dull, boring, and work-orientated. That she used to work for the government and has become a successful comedian just goes to show that anyone, no matter what their profession can possess a great sense of humor and story-telling ability.
Sykes' routine on how woman think too much is a common joke in comedy. However, she made her routine unique by acting as the "average" woman who thinks 100 words per second only to find herself thinking about why she "thinks so much". Though our presenter, Alex, told us that Sykes' rarely uses racial humor in her routine, Sykes was also unique in that when she did use racism in her routine, she personified it through a racist dolphin. The joke here was enhanced with the idea of a racist dolphin, as opposed to a racist human, making it hilarious that a dolphin would shun a hug from Sykes.
Although I had known that Sykes had previously worked for the N.S.A., I had no idea that Richard Pryor's father was his mother's pimp, and that he had grown up in his grandmother's brothel. It's one thing to go into comedy after working for the government, but to become one of the most successful comedians of the 20th century with that kind of childhood is incredible. I'm sure that when Pryor was expelled from school at 14, no one excepted much from him.
Though I knew Pryor was a successful comedian, I had only seen him in movies never having watched his stand-up. He succeeds, as our presenter was saying, at making fun of himself. The best way to make -light out of a bad situation is to laugh about it. When Pryor lights a match and asks the audience" do you know what this is? It's Richard Pryor running down the street!" he is changing that audience's attitude toward the incident to make them think it wasn't so bad.
Sykes' routine on how woman think too much is a common joke in comedy. However, she made her routine unique by acting as the "average" woman who thinks 100 words per second only to find herself thinking about why she "thinks so much". Though our presenter, Alex, told us that Sykes' rarely uses racial humor in her routine, Sykes was also unique in that when she did use racism in her routine, she personified it through a racist dolphin. The joke here was enhanced with the idea of a racist dolphin, as opposed to a racist human, making it hilarious that a dolphin would shun a hug from Sykes.
Although I had known that Sykes had previously worked for the N.S.A., I had no idea that Richard Pryor's father was his mother's pimp, and that he had grown up in his grandmother's brothel. It's one thing to go into comedy after working for the government, but to become one of the most successful comedians of the 20th century with that kind of childhood is incredible. I'm sure that when Pryor was expelled from school at 14, no one excepted much from him.
Though I knew Pryor was a successful comedian, I had only seen him in movies never having watched his stand-up. He succeeds, as our presenter was saying, at making fun of himself. The best way to make -light out of a bad situation is to laugh about it. When Pryor lights a match and asks the audience" do you know what this is? It's Richard Pryor running down the street!" he is changing that audience's attitude toward the incident to make them think it wasn't so bad.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Acceptance in Comedy
Ellen Cleghorn had a funny bit in her comedy routine about her dating a black man who is very dark, much darker than her. Cleghorn's grandmother told her that she had worked real hard to get Cleghorn as light-skinned as she is, and now Cleghorn was going to screw it all up by being with a dark-skinned black man. It was a funny bit as it talked about a common theme in comedy these days, race relations. Of course Cleghorn doesn't sound like a jerk or racist in her comedy because as a black woman she is able to make that joke about darker-skinned vs. lighter-skinned black people. The boundaries placed on what is acceptable for someone to say in their routine is largely based on the comedien's sex, race, age, background. I laughed hard at Cleghorn's joke, but had a white man or woman said the same joke, I would've found my self cringing.
Christine Rhea is able to diss her audience without coming off as disrespectful. She begins her routine by saying something to a male audience member, but she shows off those pearly whites with a big smile after doing so. See, she isn't so mean! She's able to tell off the audience member, but not come off as disrespectful. At the same time, a comedien's personality will let the audience know if they should expect to be disrespected. No one is going to a Don Rickles performance expecting to get a warm compliment. The persona Rickles has created allows him to get away with some rather nasty comments.
Christine Rhea is able to diss her audience without coming off as disrespectful. She begins her routine by saying something to a male audience member, but she shows off those pearly whites with a big smile after doing so. See, she isn't so mean! She's able to tell off the audience member, but not come off as disrespectful. At the same time, a comedien's personality will let the audience know if they should expect to be disrespected. No one is going to a Don Rickles performance expecting to get a warm compliment. The persona Rickles has created allows him to get away with some rather nasty comments.
Comedic Timing/Pacing
The All American Girl Margaret Cho couldve greatily improved her performance we had watchen in class would she have limited the pauses in her routine. When I think about the comediens that the class responded well to, Bill Burr and Chris Rock for example, those comediens have a well timed pacing within their acts that keep the laughs coming. There is a steady flow of aggressiveness or anger throughout their routine that the audience connected to. What an audience doesn't want is what Cho did, tell a joke, take about four seconds to recollect her thoughts, and then continue. But waiting can just kill a routine, especially, if memory serves me right, Cho didn't make any "returns" to previous jokes. So not only did the flow of the routine get interrupted by her incessant pausing, there were no return jokes that connected her routine together.
Now compare that to Wanday Sykes performance. Already familiar with Sykes, I knew I would enjoy her performance. She doesn't pause between every single joke, and does a great job at keeping a joke going if it is met with a good response from the audience. For Example, she tells a joke about police officers checking her breasts for finger prints. The audience laughs at the absurdity of having her breasts checked for finger prints, and Sykes keeps the laughs coming.
"I got to be honest, I started to like it" - audience laughs
"My next appointment is on Tuesday. I've been going there since '86" - audience dying from laughter
So she keeps the joke going by adding additional lines to the joke, about beggining to like the absurd procedure, and later revealing that she has been doing it for years!
Pausing in a routine is necessary when an audience is laughing so loud during a routine, or to establish that a grouping of jokes has ended so as to prepare the audience for a new set of jokes/story lines. When used randomly however, the audience, as was the case with our class, lost attention/interest in what Cho was talking about. I can remember her impression of her mother, and the steve "THE gay" that called for Cho, but I dont remember there being jokes that piggy-backed off of the original. Pacing and timing are everything in comedy, something I assume Cho perfected as she is still working today, and has appeared in films, even action films like Face/Off. But when comparing Sykes performance to Cho's it is obvious that Sykes' timing throughout her routine led to a better response from her audience.
Now compare that to Wanday Sykes performance. Already familiar with Sykes, I knew I would enjoy her performance. She doesn't pause between every single joke, and does a great job at keeping a joke going if it is met with a good response from the audience. For Example, she tells a joke about police officers checking her breasts for finger prints. The audience laughs at the absurdity of having her breasts checked for finger prints, and Sykes keeps the laughs coming.
"I got to be honest, I started to like it" - audience laughs
"My next appointment is on Tuesday. I've been going there since '86" - audience dying from laughter
So she keeps the joke going by adding additional lines to the joke, about beggining to like the absurd procedure, and later revealing that she has been doing it for years!
Pausing in a routine is necessary when an audience is laughing so loud during a routine, or to establish that a grouping of jokes has ended so as to prepare the audience for a new set of jokes/story lines. When used randomly however, the audience, as was the case with our class, lost attention/interest in what Cho was talking about. I can remember her impression of her mother, and the steve "THE gay" that called for Cho, but I dont remember there being jokes that piggy-backed off of the original. Pacing and timing are everything in comedy, something I assume Cho perfected as she is still working today, and has appeared in films, even action films like Face/Off. But when comparing Sykes performance to Cho's it is obvious that Sykes' timing throughout her routine led to a better response from her audience.
Fish Out of Water (The Full Monty and Calendar Girls)
Common in humor is the "fish out of water" story: Ralphi May, a white guy, going to an all-black movie theater, Dave Chappele's stand-up bit about being driven to the middle of the ghetto by his limo-driver, a story I've told about the time I went to Harris Stowe for work, only to be selected as a talent show judge for an all-black talent show and audience.
When the gender roles are reversed in The Full Monty and a group of "older" women nearly bare it all for charity in Calendar Girls, these are two other examples of the fish-out-of-water theme used to advance the humor in both films.
Men aren't supposed to strip, that's for women! But what happens when a group of men lose their jobs and have to make money stripping? These guys experience a reversal of gender roles and gain insight into what it's like for women to do the same thing. Mark Addy's character, an overweight working man, fears how the women in the audience will react to his portly shape. Roberty Carlye's character has to to learn how to dance erotically on stage while in the presence of his son. Tom Wilkinson's character has to maintain his masculinty even though his wife gives him his lunch in a pink lunchbox. I wasn't always persuaded to laugh by the British Humor, but the film's funniest moments happen when the men have to learn how to strip, how to prepare themselves to bare all on stage. The insecurities that men must feel having to strip often do not come into mind when they think about women stripping. It's just supposed to be normal for a woman to strip, thats what some choose to do. But with their backs against the wall, the gang in The Full Monty must do the same, showing that whether its men or women stripping, we all share the same fear and insecurities over body image and reputation that comes with revealing all to strangers.
Sticking to the fish-out-of-water theme, let's turn our attention to Calendar Girls. I didn't think the film was funny, but not that it needed to be as it was more of a "cute" film, so still enjoyable. While the women posed in their calendar for a good cause, raising money for a hospital, their efforts for a good cause quickly led to a distorted reputation for the women as seen by a photographer and his staff after the success of their calendar. Getting ready for a photoshoot, the photographer asks them to get nude, assuming that thats just something they do. Humor does not ensue, as Julie Walters character marches off the set, explaining to Helen Mirren's character that she just isn't comfortable with whats happening. The film is more of an exploration into how the women's efforts toward a good cause can be turned into exploiting their methods toward achieving their goal. Here they started out trying to raise money for a hospital, and are then appearing on the Tonight Show and expected to get naked for a photo shoot. I say it is a "cute" film because as the audience we go on the same ups and downs that the women do throughout the movie. They are all good, decent women and I cared about the characters throughout the ordeal of raising money for the hospital, and then dealing with the repercussions for their posing nude.
The movie had funny moments, such as when Mirren's son walks in on her taking off her top, or when the women's husbands are waiting for the final results of the calendar (as discussed in class it is as if them are waiting for the news of the birth of their child, with the photographer acting as the doctor with the good news). I wouldn't characterize the film as a comedy, as there are some dramatic moments, but it was a cute film that used the fish-out-of-water theme to show the pros and cons of their appearing their very popular calendar
When the gender roles are reversed in The Full Monty and a group of "older" women nearly bare it all for charity in Calendar Girls, these are two other examples of the fish-out-of-water theme used to advance the humor in both films.
Men aren't supposed to strip, that's for women! But what happens when a group of men lose their jobs and have to make money stripping? These guys experience a reversal of gender roles and gain insight into what it's like for women to do the same thing. Mark Addy's character, an overweight working man, fears how the women in the audience will react to his portly shape. Roberty Carlye's character has to to learn how to dance erotically on stage while in the presence of his son. Tom Wilkinson's character has to maintain his masculinty even though his wife gives him his lunch in a pink lunchbox. I wasn't always persuaded to laugh by the British Humor, but the film's funniest moments happen when the men have to learn how to strip, how to prepare themselves to bare all on stage. The insecurities that men must feel having to strip often do not come into mind when they think about women stripping. It's just supposed to be normal for a woman to strip, thats what some choose to do. But with their backs against the wall, the gang in The Full Monty must do the same, showing that whether its men or women stripping, we all share the same fear and insecurities over body image and reputation that comes with revealing all to strangers.
Sticking to the fish-out-of-water theme, let's turn our attention to Calendar Girls. I didn't think the film was funny, but not that it needed to be as it was more of a "cute" film, so still enjoyable. While the women posed in their calendar for a good cause, raising money for a hospital, their efforts for a good cause quickly led to a distorted reputation for the women as seen by a photographer and his staff after the success of their calendar. Getting ready for a photoshoot, the photographer asks them to get nude, assuming that thats just something they do. Humor does not ensue, as Julie Walters character marches off the set, explaining to Helen Mirren's character that she just isn't comfortable with whats happening. The film is more of an exploration into how the women's efforts toward a good cause can be turned into exploiting their methods toward achieving their goal. Here they started out trying to raise money for a hospital, and are then appearing on the Tonight Show and expected to get naked for a photo shoot. I say it is a "cute" film because as the audience we go on the same ups and downs that the women do throughout the movie. They are all good, decent women and I cared about the characters throughout the ordeal of raising money for the hospital, and then dealing with the repercussions for their posing nude.
The movie had funny moments, such as when Mirren's son walks in on her taking off her top, or when the women's husbands are waiting for the final results of the calendar (as discussed in class it is as if them are waiting for the news of the birth of their child, with the photographer acting as the doctor with the good news). I wouldn't characterize the film as a comedy, as there are some dramatic moments, but it was a cute film that used the fish-out-of-water theme to show the pros and cons of their appearing their very popular calendar
Are All Married Women THIS Miserable?
Erma Bombeck's What's a Nice Girl Like Me Doing in a Dump Like This? has it's funny moments, but is most of the time downright depressing. As a young, single man, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I'm NOT the intended audience for this piece. I can't relate to the woes of married life, but I'm convinced after reading this that I should scratch "marriage" off of my "to-do" list.
Seriously, are all married women THIS miserable?! Unappreciated, addicted to knitting, looking for any excuse that will stop them from raising their children?! Someone needs to tell this woman to quit her bitching. To hell if I'm ever going to be stuck with a wife who says that "kids are rotten. They really are."
I didn't dislike everything about WANGLMDIADLT. The addicition to knitting, which spiraled into an addiction to water painting was funny. And it's in moments like that where her writing is so outrageous that I like the article. No one gets addicted to knitting, but it was a funny way to talk about how a mom would escape from her hated reality.
Ok, so I'm not the intended audience for this piece. I just don't care to hear yet ANOTHER woman to talk about how she doesn't have a beach body, doesn't like her husband, and gets pissed off at the responsibilities of motherhood. C'mon lady, you shouldn't have gotten married and pregnant in the first place.
Is married life perfect? Of course not. Nor can any woman live up to the standards of 50's housewife Harriet from The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. But this piece is just so depressing and dark it makes me feel guilty for ever being born. And this woman thinks her children's schools had too many snow cancellations? Listen lady, I lived in northern Virginia in '95, back when we were getting three feet of snow and school was cancelled for whole weeks at a time. Shut up. My mom wasn't getting pissed off at us because we rushed to play in the snow.
I didn't come from a perfect family. My parent's got divorced. And looking back on life, I wish there were times when I was younger that I would've thanked my mother more often for all the things she did for me and my brothers. BUT WE WERE KIDS! We're supposed to be selfish. Thats who we are! Childhood selfishness and ignorance does not make us "rotten".
Basically, Bombeck is just way too negative. I know that if I was a mother, I could relate to a heck of a lot more to what she is saying than I could ever do now. But referring to her children as "rotten" and complaining non-stop about her husband? This woman should give up knitting and water colors and just stick to Jack Daniels. Life ain't perfect...something Bombeck should've known before she got married
Seriously, are all married women THIS miserable?! Unappreciated, addicted to knitting, looking for any excuse that will stop them from raising their children?! Someone needs to tell this woman to quit her bitching. To hell if I'm ever going to be stuck with a wife who says that "kids are rotten. They really are."
I didn't dislike everything about WANGLMDIADLT. The addicition to knitting, which spiraled into an addiction to water painting was funny. And it's in moments like that where her writing is so outrageous that I like the article. No one gets addicted to knitting, but it was a funny way to talk about how a mom would escape from her hated reality.
Ok, so I'm not the intended audience for this piece. I just don't care to hear yet ANOTHER woman to talk about how she doesn't have a beach body, doesn't like her husband, and gets pissed off at the responsibilities of motherhood. C'mon lady, you shouldn't have gotten married and pregnant in the first place.
Is married life perfect? Of course not. Nor can any woman live up to the standards of 50's housewife Harriet from The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. But this piece is just so depressing and dark it makes me feel guilty for ever being born. And this woman thinks her children's schools had too many snow cancellations? Listen lady, I lived in northern Virginia in '95, back when we were getting three feet of snow and school was cancelled for whole weeks at a time. Shut up. My mom wasn't getting pissed off at us because we rushed to play in the snow.
I didn't come from a perfect family. My parent's got divorced. And looking back on life, I wish there were times when I was younger that I would've thanked my mother more often for all the things she did for me and my brothers. BUT WE WERE KIDS! We're supposed to be selfish. Thats who we are! Childhood selfishness and ignorance does not make us "rotten".
Basically, Bombeck is just way too negative. I know that if I was a mother, I could relate to a heck of a lot more to what she is saying than I could ever do now. But referring to her children as "rotten" and complaining non-stop about her husband? This woman should give up knitting and water colors and just stick to Jack Daniels. Life ain't perfect...something Bombeck should've known before she got married
On Steinem, "Men"struation
I didn't expect to enjoy Gloria Steinem's article If Men Could Menstruate. Steinem, one of the most revered feminists of the 20th century, often comes off as a femi-zealot in my opinion. Most of what I have read about her has depicted her as an important figure in the women's rights movement, but a woman who's positions on social issues have become more and more extreme over the years. So, surprised I was to find that this woman, who supposedly stands for the advancement of women's rights, yet referred to Sarah Palin as a candidate who "opposes everything most women want and need", actually has a sense of humor. Although I disagree with just about everything Steinem is going to say, I have to give credit where credit is due, and say that her article, while funny, is also so true of our society.
Menstruation=yuck. Its a natural part of the human body, but so is using the bathroom, and I'd hate hearing a woman talk about that too. But what if it wasn't women that bled, but rather men? Would it be cool and manly if men menstruated? Steinem believes so, and she is correct.
She says that "whatever a 'superior' group has will be used to justify its superiority, and whatever an 'inferior' group has will justify its plight." As men, we have been the dominate sex, women not so much. If we were the ones to menstruate, believe me, and her, we wouldnt be embarrassed to talk about it. A guy among guys is welcome to say "man I just took a huge shit" or " i gotta piss like a racehorse." Thats considered normal among men to use "potty humor" in regular speech. Should a woman do it, (a cold chill is running up my spine) ...gross. How un-lady like! So when she asserts that men would purchase the Paul Newman Tampons and the Muhammed Ali Rope-a-Dope pads, she is right. As men we brag about our scars, muscles, fights, things that prove our masculinity. You'd better believe that as men we would brag about how much we bleed as much as some men joke about how "big" they are "down there". A guy who can't handle his alcohol is often referred to among young men as a "two beer queer". So I could see a guy who didn't bleed that much degraded as a "no rag fag".
Steinem begins to over-exaggerate her assumptions with references to Paul Newman and Robert Redford starring in Blood Brothers and newspaper headlines that read Summer Shark Scare Threatens Menstruating Men. But one cannot provide satire without a little bit of hyperbole. Either way, Steinmen's article, unlike Steinem, is surprisingly insightful, smart, and accurately portrays the disparity's between what is acceptable in male and female culture.
Menstruation=yuck. Its a natural part of the human body, but so is using the bathroom, and I'd hate hearing a woman talk about that too. But what if it wasn't women that bled, but rather men? Would it be cool and manly if men menstruated? Steinem believes so, and she is correct.
She says that "whatever a 'superior' group has will be used to justify its superiority, and whatever an 'inferior' group has will justify its plight." As men, we have been the dominate sex, women not so much. If we were the ones to menstruate, believe me, and her, we wouldnt be embarrassed to talk about it. A guy among guys is welcome to say "man I just took a huge shit" or " i gotta piss like a racehorse." Thats considered normal among men to use "potty humor" in regular speech. Should a woman do it, (a cold chill is running up my spine) ...gross. How un-lady like! So when she asserts that men would purchase the Paul Newman Tampons and the Muhammed Ali Rope-a-Dope pads, she is right. As men we brag about our scars, muscles, fights, things that prove our masculinity. You'd better believe that as men we would brag about how much we bleed as much as some men joke about how "big" they are "down there". A guy who can't handle his alcohol is often referred to among young men as a "two beer queer". So I could see a guy who didn't bleed that much degraded as a "no rag fag".
Steinem begins to over-exaggerate her assumptions with references to Paul Newman and Robert Redford starring in Blood Brothers and newspaper headlines that read Summer Shark Scare Threatens Menstruating Men. But one cannot provide satire without a little bit of hyperbole. Either way, Steinmen's article, unlike Steinem, is surprisingly insightful, smart, and accurately portrays the disparity's between what is acceptable in male and female culture.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Signs of the Coming Idiocracy
Before beginning to discuss some of the signs that show our country is becoming similar to the one in Idiocracy, I will begin with a critique of the film.
I am not a fan of the film. Dax Shephard's character is SOOOOO stupid his performance is beyond irritating. I would recommend that anyone else who was annoyed by Dax check out his hilarious performance in Let's Go to Prison, a film which also features actor Michael Shannon, who was just nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar.
We are to believe that Luke Wilson's character hibernates 500 years, awakening to a world where his average intelligence now makes him the smartest man in the world. Trust me, with as dumb as the people are 500 years into the future, you'd best believe that the human race would've disappeared 200 years into the future. The idiots in Idiocracy do not have a functioning legal system, prison system, government, etc. I can't believe that any of these people would be smart enough to show up for work, let alone dress themselves, or answer "nature's call" in a bathroom. Believe me, the world presented in Idiocracy would have long been over just 200 years, if not much shorter, after good ole' Joe Bauer entered his hibernation.
Even though I feel the plot in Idiocracy is too idiotic for its own good, the signs of a coming idiocracy, though not on the same scale as the film, are everywhere in society.
Let's face it, the youth of this country is f'd. There are children and teens watching the absolute crap that is on VH1. Shows like Rock of Love, Flava of Love, I Love Money, and Charm School showcase the worst society has to offer and incredibly have proved to be quite popular, considering that these shows are still on the air. These shows have sluts and manwhores, too stupid to know where Missouri is on a map (Ahhh, just the kind of chick Brett Michaels is looking for) parading around in revealing outfits that would make Jenna Jameson blush, all while wrestling in mud to try to prove who deserves Brett Michael's, Flava Flave's, or New York's affection. To the college student aspiring to become a television journalist, I tell you to give up your dream. If you want to be on television, get breast implants (They can never be too big!), start sleeping with at least twenty partners a week, call other women "bitches", and put your make-up setting on "whore". Only then will you MAYBE have the chance to mud wrestle with the likes of girls named "Saphire" and "Dyamond" in the hopes of sleeping and dating a has been rocker or rapper...until the third edition of the show comes out and you're back on your ass.
That these programs are still on, and have a strong following from a youthful audience, is scary indeed.
The death of the English language is another sign. Our generation has our own way of using the english language. Before=B4. Be right back=brb. Your=ur. Texting and emails have become so prominent that most people my age no longer know how to write a formal letter. Sure simplifying the language can make communication faster, but I worry we are forgetting how to communicate properly. I've fallen for the trend as well. Freshman year, when writing an email to my academic advisor, I wrote "prolly" instead of "probably". I was embarrassed to have my advisor reply to my email with a note saying "You probably shouldn't write 'prolly' to your academic advisor."
The love affair many people my age had/have with Barack Obama might be the greatest sign. I would ask my friends who voted for him, why they did so. "He stands for change!!!!!" or "He will give us hope!" seemed to be the common response. Did they know anything about his stances on the issues, no. Was it important to them, hell no. So dumbed down were people in my generation that empty slogans and chants were enough to get them to vote for a man who with hardly ANY experience in the U.S. senate, much of his ONLY term dedicated to his running for president.
Were there good reasons to vote for Obama? Of COURSE there were! But those reasons should have been based on his plans for the economy, education, foreign relations, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan...not because he can give a good speech and has Ludacris on his Ipod.
It scares me that people who have NO understanding whatsoever of politics and American history have the same voting power as do I. Perhaps President Comacho (was that his name) from Idiocracy was also elected on a campaign of "Change" and "Hope". The national beverage will be "changed" from Coke to Mountain Dew. I "hope" someone will do something about that huge mountain of trash.
When my generation votes for a man whom they know nothing about, except for his skin color, his speaking ability, he's not George W. Bush, and the artists on his Ipod....that's idiocracy right there.
For decades, past generations have thought our culture was deterioriating into a bunch of idiots. When the boobtube came along, they thought we were getting stupider. When those smelly, dirty, drugged-up hippies were fornicating all over the country, I'm sure people thought our generations were getting dumber. And I, as part of a new generation, also believe we're getting dumber.
When more people my age are watching Candy the stipper try to shove 50 hot dogs in her mouth than are watching CNN, NBC, or Fox News, thats idiocracy.
When someone like myself writes "prolly" to an academic advisor...hate to say it...but thats idiocracy
When the President of the United States got votes from many in my generation based off nothing but sheer ignorance and empty words...that's the future of an Idiocracy.
The film, not funny, not at all. Will we ever get to be that stupid, no, I don't think so. But are we becoming more like the people in Idiocracy, the brainless, sex-crazed, entertained by people getting hit in the balls people? Yep, sadly, we sure are.
I am not a fan of the film. Dax Shephard's character is SOOOOO stupid his performance is beyond irritating. I would recommend that anyone else who was annoyed by Dax check out his hilarious performance in Let's Go to Prison, a film which also features actor Michael Shannon, who was just nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar.
We are to believe that Luke Wilson's character hibernates 500 years, awakening to a world where his average intelligence now makes him the smartest man in the world. Trust me, with as dumb as the people are 500 years into the future, you'd best believe that the human race would've disappeared 200 years into the future. The idiots in Idiocracy do not have a functioning legal system, prison system, government, etc. I can't believe that any of these people would be smart enough to show up for work, let alone dress themselves, or answer "nature's call" in a bathroom. Believe me, the world presented in Idiocracy would have long been over just 200 years, if not much shorter, after good ole' Joe Bauer entered his hibernation.
Even though I feel the plot in Idiocracy is too idiotic for its own good, the signs of a coming idiocracy, though not on the same scale as the film, are everywhere in society.
Let's face it, the youth of this country is f'd. There are children and teens watching the absolute crap that is on VH1. Shows like Rock of Love, Flava of Love, I Love Money, and Charm School showcase the worst society has to offer and incredibly have proved to be quite popular, considering that these shows are still on the air. These shows have sluts and manwhores, too stupid to know where Missouri is on a map (Ahhh, just the kind of chick Brett Michaels is looking for) parading around in revealing outfits that would make Jenna Jameson blush, all while wrestling in mud to try to prove who deserves Brett Michael's, Flava Flave's, or New York's affection. To the college student aspiring to become a television journalist, I tell you to give up your dream. If you want to be on television, get breast implants (They can never be too big!), start sleeping with at least twenty partners a week, call other women "bitches", and put your make-up setting on "whore". Only then will you MAYBE have the chance to mud wrestle with the likes of girls named "Saphire" and "Dyamond" in the hopes of sleeping and dating a has been rocker or rapper...until the third edition of the show comes out and you're back on your ass.
That these programs are still on, and have a strong following from a youthful audience, is scary indeed.
The death of the English language is another sign. Our generation has our own way of using the english language. Before=B4. Be right back=brb. Your=ur. Texting and emails have become so prominent that most people my age no longer know how to write a formal letter. Sure simplifying the language can make communication faster, but I worry we are forgetting how to communicate properly. I've fallen for the trend as well. Freshman year, when writing an email to my academic advisor, I wrote "prolly" instead of "probably". I was embarrassed to have my advisor reply to my email with a note saying "You probably shouldn't write 'prolly' to your academic advisor."
The love affair many people my age had/have with Barack Obama might be the greatest sign. I would ask my friends who voted for him, why they did so. "He stands for change!!!!!" or "He will give us hope!" seemed to be the common response. Did they know anything about his stances on the issues, no. Was it important to them, hell no. So dumbed down were people in my generation that empty slogans and chants were enough to get them to vote for a man who with hardly ANY experience in the U.S. senate, much of his ONLY term dedicated to his running for president.
Were there good reasons to vote for Obama? Of COURSE there were! But those reasons should have been based on his plans for the economy, education, foreign relations, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan...not because he can give a good speech and has Ludacris on his Ipod.
It scares me that people who have NO understanding whatsoever of politics and American history have the same voting power as do I. Perhaps President Comacho (was that his name) from Idiocracy was also elected on a campaign of "Change" and "Hope". The national beverage will be "changed" from Coke to Mountain Dew. I "hope" someone will do something about that huge mountain of trash.
When my generation votes for a man whom they know nothing about, except for his skin color, his speaking ability, he's not George W. Bush, and the artists on his Ipod....that's idiocracy right there.
For decades, past generations have thought our culture was deterioriating into a bunch of idiots. When the boobtube came along, they thought we were getting stupider. When those smelly, dirty, drugged-up hippies were fornicating all over the country, I'm sure people thought our generations were getting dumber. And I, as part of a new generation, also believe we're getting dumber.
When more people my age are watching Candy the stipper try to shove 50 hot dogs in her mouth than are watching CNN, NBC, or Fox News, thats idiocracy.
When someone like myself writes "prolly" to an academic advisor...hate to say it...but thats idiocracy
When the President of the United States got votes from many in my generation based off nothing but sheer ignorance and empty words...that's the future of an Idiocracy.
The film, not funny, not at all. Will we ever get to be that stupid, no, I don't think so. But are we becoming more like the people in Idiocracy, the brainless, sex-crazed, entertained by people getting hit in the balls people? Yep, sadly, we sure are.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Why The Three Stooges Still Matter
It has been awhile since I had seen an episode of The Three Stooges. Most of my memories of the Stooges are associated with my father, who first introduced me to the trio when I was a child.
While I would say that the clip of the stooges we watched in class was not as well received as previous videos, such as chris rock's or izzard's, I was laughing at the stooges because they still remind me of when I was first introduced to slapstick comedy.
It has been more than 40 years since any stooge-related trio has performed, but after having watching the video of the stooges in class the other day, I started thinking abou how they set the platform for many popular comedy characters today who share many of the same characteristics of moe, larry, and curly.
What do the stooges do? Get involved in odd jobs, in which they utterly fail, comedy ensues, and then they move onto a new job, whether in the same episode or in later episodes.
Now think about what Family Guy's Peter Griffin does. In addition to the non-stop slapstick comedy he provides (falling down stairs, reading comic books while driving, flatulence), Griffin is constantly assuming different jobs. He used to work at a toy factory, later worked at a beer factory, owned a restaurant, became captain of a fishing boat (pretty much the exact same thing that happened in the stooges video), and formed a vigilante group of friends identical to the A-Team. Of course, as with the stooges, Griffin has failed at all business ventures, always to find yet another job.
While Homer Simpson has been able to keep his job at the nuclear plant, as incompetent of an employee as he is, he still exhibits the slapstick comedy seen by the stooges. Homer will hit his head and hand with a hammer while trying to hit a nail, strangle Bart while Bart does the same back, etc.
Although the three stooges were not the first comedy group to tackle slapstick comedy, slapstick comedy cannot be mentioned without thinking of the stooges' contribution to the field. I believe that without the success of the stooges, many of the characters we love today for their slapstick comedy would not be as popular as they are today, also possible that they would not have been created in the first place.
While I would say that the clip of the stooges we watched in class was not as well received as previous videos, such as chris rock's or izzard's, I was laughing at the stooges because they still remind me of when I was first introduced to slapstick comedy.
It has been more than 40 years since any stooge-related trio has performed, but after having watching the video of the stooges in class the other day, I started thinking abou how they set the platform for many popular comedy characters today who share many of the same characteristics of moe, larry, and curly.
What do the stooges do? Get involved in odd jobs, in which they utterly fail, comedy ensues, and then they move onto a new job, whether in the same episode or in later episodes.
Now think about what Family Guy's Peter Griffin does. In addition to the non-stop slapstick comedy he provides (falling down stairs, reading comic books while driving, flatulence), Griffin is constantly assuming different jobs. He used to work at a toy factory, later worked at a beer factory, owned a restaurant, became captain of a fishing boat (pretty much the exact same thing that happened in the stooges video), and formed a vigilante group of friends identical to the A-Team. Of course, as with the stooges, Griffin has failed at all business ventures, always to find yet another job.
While Homer Simpson has been able to keep his job at the nuclear plant, as incompetent of an employee as he is, he still exhibits the slapstick comedy seen by the stooges. Homer will hit his head and hand with a hammer while trying to hit a nail, strangle Bart while Bart does the same back, etc.
Although the three stooges were not the first comedy group to tackle slapstick comedy, slapstick comedy cannot be mentioned without thinking of the stooges' contribution to the field. I believe that without the success of the stooges, many of the characters we love today for their slapstick comedy would not be as popular as they are today, also possible that they would not have been created in the first place.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Stereotypes & Comedy
When watching Ralphie May the other day in class, May made a joke about how he had gone to a black theater and watched a black movie. An experience he says that every white person should do at least once. Now before he even began to develop the story into a joke, I knew where it was going. OF COURSE at some point he was going to talk about how blacks cant help themselves when it comes to talking during the movie. Other than blacks talk during movies, lets look at some other classical stereotypes shall we?
- Asians are good at math. They love math. Asians would prefer to do calculus instead of Heidi Klum. They also are really cliquey. Whenever I'm walking through the quad with my group of all-white fraternity brothers we always remark how cliquey they are.
- Whites, well, we can't dance. We have no rythm. We only know how grind on one another. If Im asked to dance, I immediately follow white people procedure and assume position #1: Stripper Pole. I maintiain this position throughout the "dance". The white girl then shakes her "back" on me and everyonce in awhile is so nice to actually turn toward me...just to make sure that she is still with a person and not a piece of metal. If not performed on a dance floor,
"white people dance" would be mistaken for drunken rape. Also, no matter how sexual the dance gets, if the white girl starts to feel anything getting aroused from you "down there" she will slap you and call you a pervert. I don't dance much.
- Mexicans are laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy. They work hard as hell and the illegal ones work incredibly hard hours in the orange fields for next to nothing so they can support a family of five. We don't care. Mexicans will always be the lazy ones. And whats with the 3 hour lunch and nap during the middle of the day?! Scarf it and Barf it like a real man.
- Indians (not native americans) are either doctors, cab drivers, or convenience store clerks. I think the guy I call for IT support is also Indian...hmmm, he must also be a heart surgeon when not explaining to me why I can't access my damn banner account for the third time in two days. Indians do work hard, but not as hard as the lazy mexicans.
- Native Americans are alcoholics...but there's nothing funny about that.
- Jews are cheap. How was copper wire invented? Two jewish kids fighting over a penny. Nuff said.
Now when May's performance was over, we sort of discussed whether the stereotype of blacks talking throughout a movie could be seen as offensive. The thing is, I believe that some stereotypes have become so engraved in American culture that we just accept them in the world of comedy. But within the world of comedy, I believe these stereotypes are not offensive. We all know that black people talk during movies. Even black people joke about that. Any race can joke about how white people can't dance...we wont be offended. But in the real world we all know that not all mexicans, or others of hispanic descent, are lazy. We know that not all Indians are doctors and not all jews are cheap, especially the ones that rule the zionist media. But in the world of comedy, I think that overall, american audiences have accepted these stereotypes as truths. As long as they do so at the Funny Bone, and not once they get back to their car in the parking lot, then there is no hurt done to anyone.
Accepting the stereotypes enhances the comedy value and makes it easier for us to understand the comedy. The world, as has been told to this communication major, is understood through stories. These stereotypes help develop the comedic narrative so that we have some understanding as to where the joke is going
"Oh, he's at a black movie theater where a black movie is playing. I bet the audience will be talking throughout the film. lets see what he has to say."
"hahaha, he has to call up IT support. I bet the IT guy will be Indian."
"Hahaha....he has to drive through a native american reserva....oh this wont be funny"
Comedy wouldnt be funny if there wasn't at least some truth that rings true to the audience within the joke. And I say SOME truth because thats what stereotypes are: SOME truth. Understood within the context of humor, I think that stereotypes are relatively harmless and can greatly aid a comedian in telling his/her story and greatly aids the audience in understanding the story.
Well Im going to get back to starching my khaki pants before I head out to starbucks where I'll read the J. Crew catalogue for the next five hours. Peace.
- Asians are good at math. They love math. Asians would prefer to do calculus instead of Heidi Klum. They also are really cliquey. Whenever I'm walking through the quad with my group of all-white fraternity brothers we always remark how cliquey they are.
- Whites, well, we can't dance. We have no rythm. We only know how grind on one another. If Im asked to dance, I immediately follow white people procedure and assume position #1: Stripper Pole. I maintiain this position throughout the "dance". The white girl then shakes her "back" on me and everyonce in awhile is so nice to actually turn toward me...just to make sure that she is still with a person and not a piece of metal. If not performed on a dance floor,
"white people dance" would be mistaken for drunken rape. Also, no matter how sexual the dance gets, if the white girl starts to feel anything getting aroused from you "down there" she will slap you and call you a pervert. I don't dance much.
- Mexicans are laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy. They work hard as hell and the illegal ones work incredibly hard hours in the orange fields for next to nothing so they can support a family of five. We don't care. Mexicans will always be the lazy ones. And whats with the 3 hour lunch and nap during the middle of the day?! Scarf it and Barf it like a real man.
- Indians (not native americans) are either doctors, cab drivers, or convenience store clerks. I think the guy I call for IT support is also Indian...hmmm, he must also be a heart surgeon when not explaining to me why I can't access my damn banner account for the third time in two days. Indians do work hard, but not as hard as the lazy mexicans.
- Native Americans are alcoholics...but there's nothing funny about that.
- Jews are cheap. How was copper wire invented? Two jewish kids fighting over a penny. Nuff said.
Now when May's performance was over, we sort of discussed whether the stereotype of blacks talking throughout a movie could be seen as offensive. The thing is, I believe that some stereotypes have become so engraved in American culture that we just accept them in the world of comedy. But within the world of comedy, I believe these stereotypes are not offensive. We all know that black people talk during movies. Even black people joke about that. Any race can joke about how white people can't dance...we wont be offended. But in the real world we all know that not all mexicans, or others of hispanic descent, are lazy. We know that not all Indians are doctors and not all jews are cheap, especially the ones that rule the zionist media. But in the world of comedy, I think that overall, american audiences have accepted these stereotypes as truths. As long as they do so at the Funny Bone, and not once they get back to their car in the parking lot, then there is no hurt done to anyone.
Accepting the stereotypes enhances the comedy value and makes it easier for us to understand the comedy. The world, as has been told to this communication major, is understood through stories. These stereotypes help develop the comedic narrative so that we have some understanding as to where the joke is going
"Oh, he's at a black movie theater where a black movie is playing. I bet the audience will be talking throughout the film. lets see what he has to say."
"hahaha, he has to call up IT support. I bet the IT guy will be Indian."
"Hahaha....he has to drive through a native american reserva....oh this wont be funny"
Comedy wouldnt be funny if there wasn't at least some truth that rings true to the audience within the joke. And I say SOME truth because thats what stereotypes are: SOME truth. Understood within the context of humor, I think that stereotypes are relatively harmless and can greatly aid a comedian in telling his/her story and greatly aids the audience in understanding the story.
Well Im going to get back to starching my khaki pants before I head out to starbucks where I'll read the J. Crew catalogue for the next five hours. Peace.
Are women funny? Do they need to be?
I believe it was last year that Vanity Fair writer Christopher Hitchens wrote the article "Why Women Aren't Funny". The point of the article was not to suggest that there are zero hilarious women. Hitchens does not deny that women like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are funny. The point of the article is to look at humor as a tool of survival for the human male.
Ask any woman what she looks for in a man and she is sure to say "a good sense of humor" somehwhere in her description of the ideal mate. Most men need a good sense of humor to attract a woman. Unless a man is as good looking as say a George Clooney or a Paul Walker, he will have to have other attributes that will help him get a girl, which will help him get laid, which will allow him to pass on his genes to a new generation.
Men are incredibly simple, at least we all believe we are when compared to the painful complexity as we see it of the human female. The truth is, which Hitchens also makes in the article, is that women dont have to try to be funny around us. We'll sleep with you anyway.
Because it essential for most men to have a good sense of humor, and has been ever since mankind has existed, men are more naturally funny than women. We have to be funny to survive. Women just have to give us a quick smile and a wink of the eye and we are hooked.
So no, I do not agree with Jerry Lewis that there are no funny female comics. Of course there are. But I believe that the reason we see more male comics than female is because men have had to work for thousands of years at being funny so that they have some chance at reproducing. Because this is not the same for women, I would say that the male sense of humor is more well developed than that of females.
We like comedy because it makes us laugh, which in turn puts us in a better mood. What Hitchens article made me notice is that though we all like a good laugh, few of us think of its significance in continuing the survival of the human race
Ask any woman what she looks for in a man and she is sure to say "a good sense of humor" somehwhere in her description of the ideal mate. Most men need a good sense of humor to attract a woman. Unless a man is as good looking as say a George Clooney or a Paul Walker, he will have to have other attributes that will help him get a girl, which will help him get laid, which will allow him to pass on his genes to a new generation.
Men are incredibly simple, at least we all believe we are when compared to the painful complexity as we see it of the human female. The truth is, which Hitchens also makes in the article, is that women dont have to try to be funny around us. We'll sleep with you anyway.
Because it essential for most men to have a good sense of humor, and has been ever since mankind has existed, men are more naturally funny than women. We have to be funny to survive. Women just have to give us a quick smile and a wink of the eye and we are hooked.
So no, I do not agree with Jerry Lewis that there are no funny female comics. Of course there are. But I believe that the reason we see more male comics than female is because men have had to work for thousands of years at being funny so that they have some chance at reproducing. Because this is not the same for women, I would say that the male sense of humor is more well developed than that of females.
We like comedy because it makes us laugh, which in turn puts us in a better mood. What Hitchens article made me notice is that though we all like a good laugh, few of us think of its significance in continuing the survival of the human race
A Modest Proposal: The First Dead Baby Joke
I often cringe at a dead baby joke, but Jonathon Swift's A Modest Proposal is far from the shock value that often accompany's such jokes.
His proposal, Swift tells us, is based on careful analysis with the hopes of bettering his fellow irish citizens. By using newborns as a delicacy, not only will the Irish economy boom, overcrowding will decrease and local chefs will be able to perfect the cooked baby so that the finest of gentlemen will visit their establishment.
The idea of harvesting newborns as a source of food, thus a source of money, sounds ridiculous. It is ridiculous. But what makes this source of satire work is the amount of perceived thought that Swift has put into the proposal. Swift makes six points to defend his proposal: first, it will decrease the amount of papists in the country. Second, the poor will have something valuable of their own. Third, money not being spent on the children will go into the economy, fourth, the irish will no longer have to spend money on their children after their first year of life. Fifth, the food will bring great custom to taverns. Sixth, his proposal would be a "great inducement to marriage."
I had said before in previous posts that what makes one consider something funny is based on many factors, including culture, age, race, sex, language, experiences. Now while I do not find Swifts proposal funny, I can see how someone in Ireland at the time could. With an understanding of the Irish economy at the time, the overcrowding, perhaps starvation, the proposal could be seen as funny with its over-the-top solution for solving the woes of the Irish people.
As an American, what stands out to me in the proposal is Swifts satire of the American people at the time. In this case, Swifts proposal is also a time capsule that holds the attitudes of some in Europe toward Americans at the time. Swift tells us in his proposal that he learned of cooking a child by an American through an aquaintance of his in London. Here it is the American that is seen as savage and barbaric, an image that is still strong today throughout the world. Even after hundreds of years of Swifts proposal, this negative image of Americans still exists today.
His proposal, Swift tells us, is based on careful analysis with the hopes of bettering his fellow irish citizens. By using newborns as a delicacy, not only will the Irish economy boom, overcrowding will decrease and local chefs will be able to perfect the cooked baby so that the finest of gentlemen will visit their establishment.
The idea of harvesting newborns as a source of food, thus a source of money, sounds ridiculous. It is ridiculous. But what makes this source of satire work is the amount of perceived thought that Swift has put into the proposal. Swift makes six points to defend his proposal: first, it will decrease the amount of papists in the country. Second, the poor will have something valuable of their own. Third, money not being spent on the children will go into the economy, fourth, the irish will no longer have to spend money on their children after their first year of life. Fifth, the food will bring great custom to taverns. Sixth, his proposal would be a "great inducement to marriage."
I had said before in previous posts that what makes one consider something funny is based on many factors, including culture, age, race, sex, language, experiences. Now while I do not find Swifts proposal funny, I can see how someone in Ireland at the time could. With an understanding of the Irish economy at the time, the overcrowding, perhaps starvation, the proposal could be seen as funny with its over-the-top solution for solving the woes of the Irish people.
As an American, what stands out to me in the proposal is Swifts satire of the American people at the time. In this case, Swifts proposal is also a time capsule that holds the attitudes of some in Europe toward Americans at the time. Swift tells us in his proposal that he learned of cooking a child by an American through an aquaintance of his in London. Here it is the American that is seen as savage and barbaric, an image that is still strong today throughout the world. Even after hundreds of years of Swifts proposal, this negative image of Americans still exists today.
First Entry
My Name is Thomas Martin and I am a senior. I decided it would a course on Rhetoric and Humor would be fun therfore I decided to enroll. What I am finding interesting about the course so far has been the discussion of the actual theories involved in understanding humor. What is funny? The answer depends on so many factors: culture, context, experience, language, intelligence, sex, race, etc. I am hoping to learn more about how these factors influence our understanding of humor.
When reading about different humor theories, Cicero stated something thast I have always noticed in what I consider to be funny, but I have never actually heard someone comment on this point. Cicero states that "the most common kind of joke is that in which we expect one thing and another is said: here our own disappointed expectation makes us laugh. But if something ambiguous is thrown in too, the effect of the joke is heightened." The simple joke, " a man walked into a bar and said 'ouch' is an example of the audience's expectation being wrong. As opposed to hearing a story about what happened to the man at the bar, the drinking tavern, the bar's context is then changed to refer to a metallic object, thus the man is hurt. By reversing the audience's expectation, the joke is funny, at least to me.
When reading about different humor theories, Cicero stated something thast I have always noticed in what I consider to be funny, but I have never actually heard someone comment on this point. Cicero states that "the most common kind of joke is that in which we expect one thing and another is said: here our own disappointed expectation makes us laugh. But if something ambiguous is thrown in too, the effect of the joke is heightened." The simple joke, " a man walked into a bar and said 'ouch' is an example of the audience's expectation being wrong. As opposed to hearing a story about what happened to the man at the bar, the drinking tavern, the bar's context is then changed to refer to a metallic object, thus the man is hurt. By reversing the audience's expectation, the joke is funny, at least to me.
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