The Effect of Modern "Humor" On Movies, TV, and Pop Culture

[Spike Spiegel]

I was just thinking about how in today's pop culture, everything gets made fun of, to the point where the really important things start to lose their ultimate meaning.

For example, take the recent death of Michael Jackson. The Friday after he died, one of my MySpace friends posted a bulletin titled "My Top Nine Michael Jackson Jokes." I mean, seriously, WTF?! This is someone who was important to a lot of people all over the globe. Is that what he should be reduced to, "jokes?" The man just died!

Also, I think the recent crop of poorly executed "spoof" films such as Epic Movie, Scary Movie, Superhero Movie, and Meet The Spartans contribute to this negative effect. Some people I know don't even watch movies seriously anymore. They're just waiting for the crappy, perverted version in the next "spoof."

I think that it can be very fun and positive to take a satirical look at all of the sometimes ridiculous things that come and go over the course of our lives. But where does it end? Are we doomed to become a culture of mentally lazy slobs because we can't handle anything "serious"?

[Mecha Cow]

I really don't see your point here. It's always been this way. This isn't a recent development at all.

[ThirdMarioBro]

As far as MJ goes, it's mostly due to the fact that people don't have respect for anything or anyone anymore. People just suck, plain and simple.

[Mecha Cow]

Bullsh*t. People are going to make references to Michael Jackson because he's part of pop culture, just like people reference George W. Bush, Batman, or yes, Jesus Christ. As with everything there's going to be some distasteful jokes now and again, but the act itself is not inherently disrespectful at all.

[Spike Spiegel]

Originally Posted by Mecha Cow

I really don't see your point here. It's always been this way. This isn't a recent development at all.

What I mean is that, at least among young people close to my age, there is a sub-culture of sheer stupidity. These are tomorrow's voters, stockholders, etc. What kind of state can one expect the world to be in in coming years?

I just wish achievement, potential, etc. was glorified at least as much as the other stuff. When I read books about great people like MLK, Benjamin Banneker, or Howard Hughes, it reminds me that humans are put here for more than just copulating and carrying out the functions of life. It seems that people forget all the amazing things they are really capable of far too often.

[Mecha Cow]

The media is for the most part based on cheap, fast entertainment. That's what's profitable, so of course you're going to see a lot of stupid sh*t. It's always been that way. That's just how it is. People are not any more stupid now than they were 10 or 20 years ago.

And no offense, but people of your age generally are stupid. It comes with being a teenager.

[Sewer Bull]

I heard a good joke about Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, but I'm too scared to post it here.

Actually, it's not even funny at all, just explaining why he died right after she did.

[The Shelf]

I heard that one, Mino. I'm no Jackson fan, but even I thought it was too soon.

Anyway, regarding the OP, I find it more stupid that people hated Michael Jackson up to his death only to mourn him afterward. What. The. Hell.

[Cure]

Originally Posted by Spike Spiegel

I was just thinking about how in today's pop culture, everything gets made fun of, to the point where the really important things start to lose their ultimate meaning.

For example, take the recent death of Michael Jackson. The Friday after he died, one of my MySpace friends posted a bulletin titled "My Top Nine Michael Jackson Jokes." I mean, seriously, WTF?! This is someone who was important to a lot of people all over the globe. Is that what he should be reduced to, "jokes?" The man just died!

Also, I think the recent crop of poorly executed "spoof" films such as Epic Movie, Scary Movie, Superhero Movie, and Meet The Spartans contribute to this negative effect. Some people I know don't even watch movies seriously anymore. They're just waiting for the crappy, perverted version in the next "spoof."

I think that it can be very fun and positive to take a satirical look at all of the sometimes ridiculous things that come and go over the course of our lives. But where does it end? Are we doomed to become a culture of mentally lazy slobs because we can't handle anything "serious"?

You are absolutely right, so I'm expecting you to do something about it. I will hold you responsible if an immediate change isn't brought about.

[Cipher]

Disrespect for the deceased is already twice as funny and half as offensive as Epic Movie could ever hope to be.

Case rested.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by Spike Spiegel

For example, take the recent death of Michael Jackson. The Friday after he died, one of my MySpace friends posted a bulletin titled "My Top Nine Michael Jackson Jokes." I mean, seriously, WTF?! This is someone who was important to a lot of people all over the globe. Is that what he should be reduced to, "jokes?" The man just died

Most people our age don't care about Michael and you can't blame them. MJ jokes have been popular for a while, so the recent media coverage just spiked interest in them again.

Now I've always loved his music so I was never fond of the jokes, but if another famous person accused of molestation died and I was hardly exposed to his work, I might make a cheap joke my self.

[Hero]

Good thread, Spike.

Respect is dead, it would seem.

The Jackson jokes and remarks that have surfaced just show how dark-hearted some people are sadly.

I can't understand how some people can immerse themselves in poor quality texts like the Scary/Whatever Movie + series. To each thier own I guess.

===HERO

[Peanut]

I don't understand why what he's saying is being dismissed so quickly.

I don't agree with the sentiment that this sh*t has "always been this way". Sure, these kind of jokes, and that mode of thinking has always existed, but it gets more exposure, and there's simply MORE of it, than there ever has been.

The thing is, before the internet, those jokes about dead people, those super perverted stories, they were kept for very specific people. Your close friends, maybe even your family. It's the kind of sh*t people would giggle about in their basement with friends.

Now, that kind of stuff is broadcast for the entire world to see, 3 out of every 4 people are, at all times, trying to make a horribly off-colour joke. You've got shut-in's who sit on their computer, day and night, and joke about things that usually have had zero impact on their life. And every time we open up an internet browser, and someone is making a joke about child molestation or cancer, we become more and more desensitized to it. With that comes the invent of more and more retarded sh*t to joke about. Once insulting the dead has been beaten to death, move on to rape.

Oh, yeah? Rape? You know, when some f*cked up crack-fiend attacks and has his way with an innocent woman, sometimes killing her afterwards, and generally scarring their victims for life? Really funny, right? A f*cking HOOT! Something that it's fine to make fun of at this point in time, and something that is now WIDELY THOUGHT OF AS ACCEPTABLE.

I'm not even saying this is a recent turn of events, but it has come to a point, within the last decade, that absolutely nothing is beyond making a joke about. And again, I'm not saying that those kind of things weren't talked about, or joked about before, but at this point those kind of things are now widely accepted by the popular audience, and that makes me f*cking sick.

PS Great thread, BTW. An actual discussion on here? Christ.

[Mecha Cow]

There's a pretty big difference between Epic Movie and rape jokes.

[Peanut]

I wasn't really looking at it from the stand-point of those movies. I just get sick of the way people shrug off the messed up sh*t people say these days with "people have always said these things!". I was really onto my own point, because I think what homeboy is saying about movies being "taken seriously" is pretty f*cking stupid, but that the world now simply makes fun of anything and everything is something I agree with.

[Mecha Cow]

Well, I do think people have always "made fun of" everything (in the sense that they made reference to it, not necessarily maliciously or for shock value). I think what you're referring to is more along the lines of 4Chan-esque degenerate trash that can hardly be called humor, which I don't feel has become socially acceptable (outside of those circles).

[Cipher]

Originally Posted by Mecha Cow

There's a pretty big difference between Epic Movie and rape jokes.

How? Epic Movie pretty much raped jokes.

To respond seriously to this topic, the opening post is so much alarmist bullsh*t. I love offensive humor, but I can't stand Epic Movie. It's just offensively bad. In fact, had that movie taken some ridiculously underhanded shot at a dead celebrity, I probably would've laughed harder at that than any of the luke warm pop-culture references and fart jokes that the film is made of.

At least mocking Michael Jackson is wryly crude and intentionally tasteless. This latest string of "spoof" movies are just embarrassments to anyone watching, writing, or in anyway connected to them. If you're saying that they now constitute America's humor, you must live in a strange world where everyone makes a vague reference to another movie, doesn't deliver a punchline, and then doubles up with laughter.

Seriously, at least perform a fair test between Michael Jackson jokes and Epic Movie. After the first five minutes of the film, you'll be begging for someone to throw a child molestation riff your way.

Well, I do think people have always "made fun of" everything (in the sense that they made reference to it, not necessarily maliciously or for shock value). I think what you're referring to is more along the lines of 4Chan-esque degenerate trash that can hardly be called humor, which I don't feel has become socially acceptable (outside of those circles).

On the opposite side of safe pop-culture references-without-real-joke movies, is 4Chan spawned internet sh*t. This is also not okay. Humor needs a little spice, but "LOL HER IZ 2 GURLZ AND A CUP" ain't it.

Bottom line, if a joke is going to be offensive, fine. Great, in fact. But it needs to be wryly offensive, not just shocking for shock's sake. Michael Jackson jokes might be right on that boarder to some of you, but honestly, it's no reason to proclaim the end of common decency. This isn't someone laughing in your face after your father's died of cancer. This is harmless prodding at a public figure you'll never know and who up until a week ago was one of the most contraversial celebrities alive.

This is many things, but this isn't 4Chan, and it isn't Epic Movie. And that's alright with me.

And...end rant.

[Dark 5cythe]

I think that people cope with bad situations by making fun of it.

Cipher wrote:

"Bottom line, if a joke is going to be offensive, fine. Great, in fact. But it needs to be wryly offensive, not just shocking for shock's sake. Michael Jackson jokes might be right on that boarder to some of you, but honestly, it's no reason to proclaim the end of common decency. This isn't someone laughing in your face after your father's died of cancer. This is harmless prodding at a public figure you'll never know and who up until a week ago was one of the most contraversial celebrities alive."

And truer words have not been written.

I find it odd that the very same people and media that only a little while ago where laughing at the man and calling him wacko jacko. Now they proclaim his name from the mountains and cry like they lost a relative.

The media coverage was ABSURD. It was done for the $$$.

[PAAATE]

Swedish comedian Magnus Betnér said this in his show "Inget är heligt" (Nothing is sacred) a couple of years ago:

"And then there's everything that we secularized people, that can't give a crap about either Jesus or Mohamed, everything that we think is a sensitive area. Cos there are things, I mean; every citizen of Stockholm has something, if it isn't AIK, then it's Djurgården, that these doofuses think is sacred. Gothenburg, the whole ****ing city is ****ing sacred in Gothenburg. You should have seen how many people there were outside of Harry's here in Gothenburg when I had said that Gothenburg is like a community for retarded fishermen. There were a lot of people. Because all people have something that they think is as sensitive as Muslims think it is when you draw Mohamed as a terrorist. So if we allow that, then we'll have to allow jokes about Jesus being gay and then we'll have to allow that you say that Gothenburg is a community for retarded fishermen, and then we'll have to allow that you make jokes about Stockholm. What if we turn it around, if I'll have to respect Mohamed, then I'll of course have to respect Jesus and Gothenburg and Stockholm and everything that you real people with real problems think is sensitive. I mean, there are a lot of people here that knows someone that's fatally ill, has divorces, that can't have kids, that have given birth and didn't want to have kids, that's even worse y'know! What the **** am I supposed to talk about if I have to respect all these things, then I'll have to stand here and be like "Well, what do you think? Did people invent the q-tip before they had earwax or what?" That's what comedy becomes y'know... Until, of course, someone reacts to that too, sooner or later. "Oh, what the ****, you shouldn't joke about that, my grandma went deaf when she cleaned her ear once, that's actually ****ing sensitive!" Because... That's how we work, y'know, you get upset. The only thing to do that makes sense is that freedom of speech is for everyone all the time. Even Runar has to be able to travel around and spread his crap, and then the rest of us will have to disagree. And if National Socialistic Front thinks that it seems to be a good idea to go to election with the policy that we shouldn't have elections, then let them do that. It has to be that way, freedom of speech must be for everyone, even the one's that don't want it."

Ok... This quote was way longer than I remembered it.. But... It represents how I feel on the subject, so... Yeah...

[poiuytre]

It isn't anything new but like Peanut said the presentation has changed. With the internet there's anonymity and an immense audience for off-color jokes that normally would have been reserved for closed circles. With enough time going over this, the general social standards of what is acceptable and what isn't are bound to change along with it. Naturally it'll reflect on movies and TV. This is strangely enough in contrast with the increasing politically correctness society is demanding. Maybe they're related, I don't know.

However I support the notion that everything should be allowed to be criticized and made fun of. The latter is a tough cookie tho seeing as I sometimes feel like a lot of shock "humor" is just about being offensive rather than being an actual joke about something offensive. But it's hard to expect tact when everyone can draw their line elsewhere in a free society.

The comedic bankruptcy of Friedberg and Seltzer flicks is a different topic altogether. Most of their "jokes" consist of referencing (non-black) movie icons and make them talk about sexual deviancy or act out whatever they see on BET. Usually not very offensive, but it is downright stupid.