The Fun Police. Has It Worked?
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this is an interesting thread, mostly i think it shows how attitudes have changed for the better - if not everywhere, then at least in progressive liberal societies.
I was in New York a few weeks ago and went to see Bill Burr at MSG - two things struck me very hard, the first was that the warm up acts were genuinely terrible - most jokes were based on the premise that black people and white people hate each other, if you don't accept the premise, the jokes just aren't funny and actually are quite annoying / offensive. It was really noticeable that the group of English people i was with just weren't laughing and were somewhat baffled, or bored by the shouty bullshit, the American's around me all rolling around in the aisles - so context and personal experience is critical.
The second thing that struck me was how American's seem to like much more obvious jokes, and through BB's set, we were just laughing in totally different places in the routine - so again, sense's of humour differ.
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Blazing Saddles was a searing prediction of the RWC quarter finals.
Not the Irish!But possibly some of its fine linguistic research would sail over the heads of today's youthful censors:
Gabby Johnson: I wash born here, an I wash raished here, and dad gum it, I am gonna die here, an no sidewindin' bushwackin', hornswagglin' cracker croaker is gonna rouin me bishen cutter.
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@Frank said in The Fun Police. Has It Worked?:
@MN5 said in The Fun Police. Has It Worked?:
To be fair I sometimes give the girl a smack on the arse and send her on her way if I’m having a chat with a mate though.
Really?
I think he was being ironic..... 🙄
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@Dodge said in The Fun Police. Has It Worked?:
this is an interesting thread, mostly i think it shows how attitudes have changed for the better - if not everywhere, then at least in progressive liberal societies.
I was in New York a few weeks ago and went to see Bill Burr at MSG - two things struck me very hard, the first was that the warm up acts were genuinely terrible - most jokes were based on the premise that black people and white people hate each other, if you don't accept the premise, the jokes just aren't funny and actually are quite annoying / offensive. It was really noticeable that the group of English people i was with just weren't laughing and were somewhat baffled, or bored by the shouty bullshit, the American's around me all rolling around in the aisles - so context and personal experience is critical.
The second thing that struck me was how American's seem to like much more obvious jokes, and through BB's set, we were just laughing in totally different places in the routine - so again, sense's of humour differ.
It's always been this way. Contrast British comedy TV shows with American ones, the American audience generally don't do nuance, they prefer slapstick and sight gags
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@Frank said in The Fun Police. Has It Worked?:
@MN5 said in The Fun Police. Has It Worked?:
To be fair I sometimes give the girl a smack on the arse and send her on her way if I’m having a chat with a mate though.
Really?
Yeah, she needs a hurry up on the way to the kitchen or if she hasn’t fetched my pipe and slippers quick enough.
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@MajorRage said in The Fun Police. Has It Worked?:
So, here's the thing. Has wokeness actually worked on me, or have time changed so much that classic songs / movies are now more of a real representation of an awful time for woman / lgbt that has passed?
I think the term 'wokeness' clouds things a bit. It's become a bit of a loaded term.
I'd say the more extreme political 'wokeness' would be saying that these songs/movies are offensive and should no longer be heard/seen. Or edited to reflect more modern sensibilities.
What you are describing is a pretty natural and sensible reaction I think. We now know and understand a lot more about sexism/racism than we did in the 80s. Some things were OK to joke about then but certainly aren't now.
The best response is to understand the context, but still wince at the funny rape scene or the slur in the Dire Straits song. I think that's a pretty good way to go about it.