Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends will end later this week. The Man Boobz Summer Video Fest continues with “SELL YOUR CAR OR ELSE!” Apparently this is how women are.
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Pecunium,
“To be close to funny it needs to be plausible.”
You might want to think about that one again.
“Or maybe this hurts your sensitivity because the abuser is a woman, or because theres a gender dynamics?”
I wouldn’t find either scenario “funny”, no matter the genders involved. It just sounds unhealthy.
Molly,
“I wouldn’t find either scenario “funny”, no matter the genders involved. It just sounds unhealthy.”
Unhealthy, sure. I wonder what do you think about other unhealthy stuff like Steinfeld, south park, simpsons… anything on tv really. Do you see funny stuff there? does it stop being funny when…. ? where is the threshold. Im honestly curious.
*Seinfeld, not Steinfeld, that might be another show 😉
I am one of those weird Americans that get almost all my funny from the BBC. I haven’t seen enough of any of those shows to comment on them.
Though if you want to talk about Nevermind the Buzzcocks or The Mighty Boosh…?
Im in Argentina and dont have access to these shows on tv… let me do a web search
This video is no Seinfeld, that’s for sure, says the guy (me) who’s watched every episode so many times he’s practically got them all memorized.
Yohami: You might want to reconsider the idea of asking questions about peoples opinions, and then telling them they are wrong. Or of saying that because one lacks your sense of humor, or has a different understanding of the mechanisms, that they are lacking.
I don’t need to reconsider the piece. I’ve considered it well, and watched it three times. I don’t find it funny. I don’t see that it has any context which could make it funny.
@David & Pecunium: Oh, good, it’s not just me. 😉
I like how his idea of humour has now become the objective one and the problem must be feminism and reverse sexism xD Next he’s going to tell us the episodes of Seinfeld we find funny are wrong, or we find them funny for the wrong reasons xD
whoever bet the over btw wins big time. xD
if he’s not gonna leave until he convinces us that humour is objective, this could take a while xD
@Molly Ren xD no it’s all of us… and apparently we’re WRONG… and the more he explains, eventually we’ll find the joke funny, or we hate humour xD I’ve apparently hated Simpsons and Seinfeld all this time b/c we don’t find one joke he does funny xD
Hey YOHAMI, which seasons of Simpsons are your favourite btw? :3
Any specific episodes? :3
@David you haven’t been watching Seinfeld close enough! >:O
@Ami I actually find a lot of funny modern cartoons hard to watch because the animation creeps me out! South Park I find the hardest to look at, Simpsons less so.
That’s b/c you’re a feminist! >:O
xD
(actually there are some cartoons where the animation/artist style rly makes it hard for me to enjoy it or watch it at all too xD but that’s cuz I’m a feminist… AND the whole trans thing xD)
Okay, YOHAMI, you seem to be confused. I am not too interested in continuing this conversation, but let me clarify some things for you.
Things YOHAMI and summer_snow Were Arguing/Disagreeing About:
1. Whether modifiers are useful in conversations, or just “PC” (summer_snow believed that they were essential, while YOHAMI disagreed)
2. Whether YOHAMI is talking about his experiences or generalizing about women (this was a topic of contention because YOHAMI produced some unclear statements without modifiers.)
3. Whether the cartoon would be just as funny if it featured two brothers instead of a heterosexual pair. (this argument was unresolved, but I’m tired of talking about this)
4. Whether summer_snow is actually arguing, or “policing” (summer_snow and Pecunium believe that she is arguing, while YOHAMI does not)
Given the record of our conversation topics, I have to say, I’m not too interested in continuing this conversation. I’ll bet it would meander in circles some more as we talk about what we talked about, what we meant, and what we mean by talking about what we talked about.
Since you spent so much time trying to clarify things you said, I attempted to ask questions to find out what you really felt about things like the gender dynamics in the video. You got frustrated with that after a little while, and I wasn’t too interested in continuing the conversation while your opinions remained nebulous and undefined, since that was the cause of our prior circular conversations.
I’m sure we disagree on many more things about the video, but honestly it’s just not worth the amount of effort it would take to continue this conversation, and I’d rather go post on some other threads.
Good luck in your next argument.
Pecuniun,
“watched it three times. I don’t find it funny.”
Not finding it funny is fine, no problems with that.
However there you proposed an argument that when something is funny it has to be “plausible” which is nonsense. Not liking the cartoon or even getting offended by it is totally fine. But the logical explanation you tried to provide is a no go.
BTW Im not asking you to give me an argument about why you dont find it funny. If Im asking you an argument is because you seem to disagree with me, and Im not sure about what?
If the disagreement is just about if the cartoon is funny or not, I dont see the big deal.
Ami,
“I like how his idea of humour has now become the objective one and the problem must be feminism and reverse sexism xD Next he’s going to tell us the episodes of Seinfeld we find funny are wrong, or we find them funny for the wrong reasons xD”
Ah, you got me. I should change my plans now!!! not 😉
summer,
OK thanks for taking the time to clarify what you were disagreeing on, heres my take:
1. Modifiers are very useful
2. Im not generalizing about “all women” nor have intentions to do so
3. The cartoon represents manipulative dynamics inside of a couple, thus unfunny (and inaccurate) if done with heterosexual brothers IN MY OPINION
Go have fun.
Its funny. All I said is that I find the video accurate and funny and that I personally know a lot of women and couples that behave like that video
I didnt think such a statement would trigger the “troll” alerts here
Yohami: “Yes, I´ve seen a lot of that too. Theres lots of abusive people in all shapes and forms. Have you seen more male than female abusers? did the mechanics they use resemble the stuff on the cartoon?”
Ummmmmm … Ima say … I’ve seen both male and female abusers, but been personally affected more by male abusers because I’m a straight female (as possibly you have the opposite experience because you’re a straight male). The mechanics may have resembled the stuff in the cartoon in a very general way (the “if you love me” stuff not being an exact representation of something I’ve seen, but as shorthand for “this person is demanding something and then becoming emotionally manipulative,” sure), but it doesn’t really ring true to me because of its creator’s tin ear for dialog/lack of facility with humor. (And also, perhaps, because of the odd nature of the medium — xtranormal is hard to do well.) Having thought about it a bit more, I actually suspect that the creator was going for a dash of humor + education about manipulative women, but for me it was off, both as a humor piece and an educational one. For a lot of reasons, but the leaden words falling flat aspect was probably a big one as to the humor; the lack of realism/nuance was probably the reason it didn’t work so well as an educational video for me. (I.e., if your girlfriend spins around chanting “loser,” you already know what’s wrong with your relationship.)
A few other points that weren’t really addressed to me. There’s enough black sheep/family dynamics stereotypes out there that I have a hard time understanding why — for someone who thought this video was funny in the ways you’ve described — setting this scene between two brothers couldn’t work as well.
I also have the feeling that you’re setting up an argument about humor, and why things that are subversive/sad in real life can be funny onscreen. And you’re right — at least in my opinion. Sometimes they are. I like “The Simpsons.” Hell … I’ve even been known to chuckle at some episodes of the “Family Guy.” What can I say? I’m feminist, but human. Typically I don’t like things like “The Hangover,” where the entire joke is “I pooped my pants and then raped my friend” (or whatever. I know that’s not really the plot of the movie … I actually didn’t make it all the way through “The Hangover”), but I can occasionally find something funny and acknowledge the ways in which it’s problematic as well. The thing is, that the video not only addresses a kind of sad human interaction that it’s hard to make funny, but it also falls so flat, is written with a complete lack of deftness, etc., that it just fails to ascend to any kind of humor level for me. Probably someone could make this kind of interaction funny to me. But this guy didn’t.
YOHAMI: As summer_snow pointed out. Our disagreement (not to be confused with an argument; which is a supported position on a subject of disagreement) is about what you think important; and that you don’t seem to think arguments have been made.
And yes, I do think that for something to be funny it has t be plausible. Even the things whch are impossuble (e.g. Wile E. Coyote standing in space before he realises he is in mid-air and starts to fall) have to have an internally consistent justification.
Your comment that “two brother’s wouldn’t be funny because it’s not believable” supports my position. Added to your statements that it’s believable because of your experience, I don’t see that your position is really all that different; because you said the “non-plausible” setting (3. The cartoon represents manipulative dynamics inside of a couple, thus unfunny (and inaccurate) if done with heterosexual brothers IN MY OPINION) would lose the humor.
Which means the real argument is, “are women like that,” dressed as, “this is funny”. Why? Because you defend the video as funny, only if it’s about women in relationships, not if it’s about generically abusive relationships.
Actually, just out of curiosity, I wonder if Yohami would think that a similar video showing a beleaguered woman and her cruelly manipulative boyfriend is funny? Same sexual tension, right?
Bee,
Thanks for that response, you´re by far the more equilibrated person from the ones who are addressing my comments here.
I have a similar experience to you, being a straight male and have experienced / witnessed manipulative people, both male and female, but with a higher exposure to female manipulation.
The cartoon is accurate in how the females manipulate. I think males can manipulate in the same way, but, more often, in my experience, males have a different way to achieve the manipulation. So just reversing the genders in the video wouldnt be a parody but just something weird. I think in a proper reversed roles, the guy would just sell the girlfriend´s car and then surprise her with his new mercedes. The difference? that female manipulation the woman pushes the guy to “want” do stuff for her, while in male manipulation the male does his way not caring about the woman´s feelings, and then blaming her or not taking her in consideration / reacting to the drama he generated by pointing at her like she was the cause. Can this happen gender reversed? I guess so, but I havent seen it.
So again, I have seen a lot of manipulation. The video depicts female manipulation properly, the mechanics fit stuff I have seen, etc, and with the absurdity of the two cars, which I think is extreme, that means = humor. Maybe dark humor, but I laughed.
As an educational piece, thought, it fails. As a piece to show the nature of women, it fails, because not all women are manipulative people, and going into interactions with women assuming they are manipulative fails, same as it would to enter into relationships with men assuming they would just sell your car and damage you and let you sob while they mock you. But, all of that happens. A lot.
So again, if the author of the video thinks he is not mocking a segment of people called “manipulative people” but making it about “women” this is sad.
The hangover: I missed there was rape on it? See, Im not a feminist. I get that a feminist has a higher threshold for perceiving threats against women. Which is fine. In the same hand, I feel disgusted by some jokes about men where men are assumed to be inherently bad and I have been disgusted by popular shows. Heck, I love dr house, yet I get disgusted in a lot of episodes when there are male characters kicked in the balls and / or portraited as useless. So, I understand people getting offended by the cartoon, not finding it funny, etc.
“I wonder if Yohami would think that a similar video showing a beleaguered woman and her cruelly manipulative boyfriend is funny? Same sexual tension, right?”
There are many parodies which can be done to mock how badly some men treat her women. But if they show a beleaguered woman with a guy cruelly manipulating her, I would probably feel disgusted, unless, unless the situation was so absurd and clearly a parody that had humor on it.
I dont find manipulation amusing – I get disgusted by it. But in this case the two cars example was over the top enough to make the cut.