Oscars

jefferoo I agree with basically everything you stated..

and i'll add, I lost faith in the rest of the show when the Hobbit lost best makeup design

That Joaquin gif actually does a great job of summing up the entire evening. Someone could ask "Who won? What did I miss?" and that gif would give so many answers.

It's just an award show. Take it for what it is. It's not important for our civilization except that at least it can give *some* form of credibility to some movies, that Mr. and Mrs. everybody might go see a good movie instead of a stupid Michael Bay production.

In a certain way, anything to make people less dumb is a good thing. 'MURICA!!!

  On 2/26/2013 at 12:00 AM, Braintree said:

 

  On 2/25/2013 at 6:54 PM, rixxx said:

So I guess I'm the only one thinking his jokes were misogynist and outdated?

 

Here's a lady that shares the sentiment, vehemently: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2013/02/seth-macfarlane-and-the-oscars-hostile-ugly-sexist-night.html

 

I didn't watch the Oscars, so the article, to me, reads like a mishmash of random instances, but maybe you can discern its contents better.

I couldn't get through more than a few sentences of that critique. She seems to have zero sense of humor, and she calls MacFarlane "scrubby", what does that even mean in this context? I don't find him particularly unkempt or stunted, he looked pretty dapper.

Anyhoo, you hire a guy known for offensive jokes to host the Oscars, what do you expect? Also, you could just as easily argue that the freedom to laugh at his "misogynistic" jokes shows how far we've come - it's a fine line; in a previous era the same joke could be clueless misogyny, while in ours it could be "post-misogyny."

Speaking of post-misogyny, how about post-racism? Has anyone gotten up in arms about MacFarlane's joke about...hmm, now I can't remember, was it Denzel Washington? He said "I'm sure he'll forgive me for this, he has a great sense of humor, after all he was in those Nutty Professor movies." Basically riffing on the old "joke" that white people can't tell one black person from another. I groaned but also laughed that he had the balls to say it. If we're going to get up in arms about his so-called misogyny, let's at least not be selective, and go after his racism, too. Then after that we can ban all off-color humor and finally enter the politically correct utopia we've all been dreaming about.

  On 2/26/2013 at 1:38 AM, lumpenprol said:

 

  On 2/26/2013 at 12:00 AM, Braintree said:

 

  On 2/25/2013 at 6:54 PM, rixxx said:

So I guess I'm the only one thinking his jokes were misogynist and outdated?

 

Here's a lady that shares the sentiment, vehemently: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2013/02/seth-macfarlane-and-the-oscars-hostile-ugly-sexist-night.html

 

I didn't watch the Oscars, so the article, to me, reads like a mishmash of random instances, but maybe you can discern its contents better.

I couldn't get through more than a few sentences of that critique. She seems to have zero sense of humor, and she calls MacFarlane "scrubby", what does that even mean in this context? I don't find him particularly unkempt or stunted, he looked pretty dapper.

 

Anyhoo, you hire a guy known for offensive jokes to host the Oscars, what do you expect? Also, you could just as easily argue that the freedom to laugh at his "misogynistic" jokes shows how far we've come - it's a fine line; in a previous era the same joke could be clueless misogyny, while in ours it could be "post-misogyny."

 

Speaking of post-misogyny, how about post-racism? Has anyone gotten up in arms about MacFarlane's joke about...hmm, now I can't remember, was it Denzel Washington? He said "I'm sure he'll forgive me for this, he has a great sense of humor, after all he was in those Nutty Professor movies." Basically riffing on the old "joke" that white people can't tell one black person from another. I groaned but also laughed that he had the balls to say it. If we're going to get up in arms about his so-called misogyny, let's at least not be selective, and go after his racism, too. Then after that we can ban all off-color humor and finally enter the politically correct utopia we've all been dreaming about.

In my opinion, the whole article is poorly written. I got through about half of it until I figured out that she's going blow-by-blow what happened at the Oscars. I made it through half of it because I felt it was like a big puzzle I needed to put together.

But I agree with you. I assume the author has never watched an episode of Family Guy. Remember the song and dance number about AIDS [not HIV but for full-blown AIDS]? That should be considered far more offensive.

I agree with Stanhope when it comes to offensive comedy

Watched this last night, I thought Seth was pretty funny and delivered exactly what I was expecting. I don't know what a host has to do to get universal praise though, it seems like every year they are hated more and more

Also glad Jennifer Lawrence ate shit up the stairs. Glad Daniel Day Lewis won

  On 2/26/2013 at 2:07 AM, Braintree said:

 

  On 2/26/2013 at 1:38 AM, lumpenprol said:

 

  On 2/26/2013 at 12:00 AM, Braintree said:

 

  On 2/25/2013 at 6:54 PM, rixxx said:

So I guess I'm the only one thinking his jokes were misogynist and outdated?

 

Here's a lady that shares the sentiment, vehemently: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2013/02/seth-macfarlane-and-the-oscars-hostile-ugly-sexist-night.html

 

I didn't watch the Oscars, so the article, to me, reads like a mishmash of random instances, but maybe you can discern its contents better.

I couldn't get through more than a few sentences of that critique. She seems to have zero sense of humor, and she calls MacFarlane "scrubby", what does that even mean in this context? I don't find him particularly unkempt or stunted, he looked pretty dapper.

 

Anyhoo, you hire a guy known for offensive jokes to host the Oscars, what do you expect? Also, you could just as easily argue that the freedom to laugh at his "misogynistic" jokes shows how far we've come - it's a fine line; in a previous era the same joke could be clueless misogyny, while in ours it could be "post-misogyny."

 

Speaking of post-misogyny, how about post-racism? Has anyone gotten up in arms about MacFarlane's joke about...hmm, now I can't remember, was it Denzel Washington? He said "I'm sure he'll forgive me for this, he has a great sense of humor, after all he was in those Nutty Professor movies." Basically riffing on the old "joke" that white people can't tell one black person from another. I groaned but also laughed that he had the balls to say it. If we're going to get up in arms about his so-called misogyny, let's at least not be selective, and go after his racism, too. Then after that we can ban all off-color humor and finally enter the politically correct utopia we've all been dreaming about.

 

In my opinion, the whole article is poorly written. I got through about half of it until I figured out that she's going blow-by-blow what happened at the Oscars. I made it through half of it because I felt it was like a big puzzle I needed to put together.

 

But I agree with you. I assume the author has never watched an episode of Family Guy. Remember the song and dance number about AIDS [not HIV but for full-blown AIDS]? That should be considered far more offensive.

anyone watched last episode of gervais's derek?? what about the Chinese gag?

  On 2/26/2013 at 12:19 AM, ghOsty said:

That's not even the worst statement The Onion has made... They've made what could be some pretty offensive headlines during the Hurricanes and during the the tsunami and meltdown in Japan... I love The Onion, sure they're offensive sometimes but it's satire, and for the most part it's usually clever as hell. I'm sure it was some soccer mom who got all uppity about it.

That's probably because the collective nation of Japan isn't going to threaten to sue over an offensive joke. The studio, parents, and agents of a child actress on the other hand...lawyers could make money off that incident just for filing the lawsuit.

I'm always rooting for PES. And of course, Don Hertzfeldt, but he didn't even get nominated. Shame.

  On 2/25/2013 at 6:54 PM, rixxx said:

So I guess I'm the only one thinking his jokes were misogynist and outdated?

Nah, I'm with you. Though with Seth I always just feel that that's a given. Sometimes I think that maybe Seth is going for the ironically Misogynist/Racist shtick, but then I watch family guy and realize how idiotic it is (and also take note of its fan-base and how many of them happen to be sexist/racist) and think, maybe not.

With that said,I personally don't think the "We Saw Your Boobs" song was sexist. It's pretty dumb that every "good movie" has tits in it, but it's taboo for women to be topless (or braless even).

Edit: Alright, I've been reading articles on the internet, and I do have to say that a lot of these "feminists" are taking things out of context. Pretty sure they all just hate MacFarlane (understandably) and are nit-picking. One of the blogs say, "MacFarlane Said It Was Fine That No One Could Understand Selma Hayek, Because All They Want to Do Is Look at Her" when he also said Javier Bardem.

  On 2/26/2013 at 4:07 PM, Murveman said:

I'm always rooting for PES. And of course, Don Hertzfeldt, but he didn't even get nominated. Shame.

 

  On 2/25/2013 at 6:54 PM, rixxx said:

So I guess I'm the only one thinking his jokes were misogynist and outdated?

Nah, I'm with you. Though with Seth I always just feel that that's a given. Sometimes I think that maybe Seth is going for the ironically Misogynist/Racist shtick, but then I watch family guy and realize how idiotic it is (and also take note of its fan-base and how they all happen to be sexist/racist) and think, maybe not.

Yeah but even 'ironically' misogynist/racist is just as bad. There are very few people who can get away with it but tbh, I'm bored of all these comedians that have to be wankers all the time (Frankie Boyle is a perfect example).

What he said about Denzel Washington is disgraceful, I didn't get to see that as I couldn't watch anymore then a few snippets. The joke just kicks dirt in the face of an excellent actor that shouldn't have to deal with this shit is this day and age.

Here's an interesting article

Experts say credit is not always given where it’s due by the Academy’s 6,000-plus lifetime members, an assortment of working artists and professionals — from producers and directors to costume designers and make-up artists. (Notably, a 2012 survey by the Los Angeles Times found that the Academy was 94% caucasian and 77% male, with a median age of 62.) Nominations typically back films that are box-office hits or have a big Hollywood star. Politics, personal popularity and back-scratching among those who invested heavily in certain movies is also at work, Taplin says. The Academy did not respond to requests for comment, but its policy states that members use secret ballots, which are privately tallied by auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Ironic was the wrong word-choice. I meant perhaps he's critiquing misogyny/racism by making over-the-top jokes (I can't phrase what I want to say, I am not a wordsmith in the least), but like I said, much of his fan-base just thinks they're legit funny jokes, so I doubt it.

Maybe I have these optimistic/unrealistic ideas because I've watched too much Family Guy while stoned (not my choice, room mates love it).

Anyway, I'll read that article. It appears to be much more intelligent than the ones I've been reading.

Edit: The diminishing amount of care I had for the Oscars is gone.

in case anyone wonders, this is the boob song people are talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBV2DzS2NG0

"Irony."

The problem with oppositional culture, whether it's parody or satire, is that if the "joke" fails then it merely replicates the very thing it attempts to critique. I'm not so sure about MacFarlane, but that's what started to happen with Chappelle so he decided to GTFO before another WATMMer came up to him in the street and called him a n*gger.

Then again, if ever an audience of people - men, women, and children named Quvenzhané or Koyaanisqatsi - deserved to be treated badly, well...perhaps MacFarlane did God's work that night.

is nigger actually censored on this site?

not sure "the problem with oppositional culture" has anything to do with anything. complicating and critiquing humor is a big part of the problem, imo. i'm also not entirely sure that's why dave chappelle stopped doing chappelle's show (i assume that's what you're talking about). funny to see your copy paste of the long names there, i wouldn't know how to spell them either.

edit: looks like it isn't

HAHA, yeah...I googled and pasted and if I want you guys to think I'm an idiot savant, I have to get better at covering my tracks.

Chappelle said the above in an interview, almost verbatim.

interesting, there's a number of interviews with neal brennan that paint a more complicated picture of the chappelle situation.

Yes, and I don't mean to imply that it's the only reason. Chappelle is a deep mother fucker and had lots of valid reasons for leaving his show.

“The bottom line was, white people own everything, and where can a black person go and be himself or say something that’s familiar to him and not have to explain or apologize?”

“I felt like I was really pressured to settle for something that I didn’t necessarily feel like I wanted.”

His interview on Lipton was excellent.

i'll have to watch that again, there's so many contradictory portraits of him in the media, it's probably a combination of all of them.

  On 2/26/2013 at 5:16 PM, The Overlook said:

"Irony."

 

The problem with oppositional culture, whether it's parody or satire, is that if the "joke" fails then it merely replicates the very thing it attempts to critique. I'm not so sure about MacFarlane, but that's what started to happen with Chappelle so he decided to GTFO before another WATMMer came up to him in the street and called him a n*gger.

Good comparison. Honestly, I really doubt MacFarlane is critiquing anything at this point. He'd at least say something (or up and leave like Chappelle).

After watching Lipton, my impression did a 180. See, I didn't "get" the Chappelle show (nor did I watch it much) when it originally aired in part BECAUSE of the huge following he had consisting of bigoted rednecks. It seemed, from my uninformed "blind" perspective to be modern day minstrelsy.

I'll never forget a conversation I had with one of my video game store customers back in the day, a guy I knew to be a redneck.

"You talk a lot of shit about blacks. Why do you listen to hard core rap and watch Chappelle?"

"Because niggers are funny. They entertain me."

When I finished the Lipton interview with Chappelle, I went back and saw some of the genius in his show, but still found it a bit too easy to miss. Does an artist have a responsibility for how his work will be interpreted? That's another conversation and I'd argue no. From Jonathan Swift to Sasha Baron Cohen, they are often holding a mirror to society and we gasp at the reflection, but it's still us that's disgusting. Part of what people were pissed about with MacFarlane at the Oscars is that his humor fits perfectly with the misogynistic narrative of Tea Party politics, where the stakes for women are higher than they've been since Friedan was published. Like Chappelle, I think MacFarlane is a complicated figure and I know from his appearances on Maher that his politics couldn't be much more left wing.

i don't know if it makes sense to compare macfarlane to chappelle. i feel like macfarlane is about jokes, exclusively. of course the oscars have a team of writers so it's not as if he is actually writing his lines on the show. it's strange that people aren't investigating who the oscars hired as writers, as that might shed some light on the nature of the comedy in the show.

there's very little social commentary in family guy or ted. the south park guys might be a better comparison to chappelle, but i think they kind of proved that a show can maintain its integrity and relevance in the face of popular acceptance. and i don't know where you lived when chappelle's show was on, but it definitely wasn't just rednecks watching the show. maybe you just happened to be surrounded by rednecks? but i see what you're saying and that is a precarious line to walk.i don't think anything should be judged by the lowest common denominator of its audience.

  On 2/26/2013 at 12:58 AM, Marked x 0ne said:

jefferoo I agree with basically everything you stated..

 

and i'll add, I lost faith in the rest of the show when the Hobbit lost best makeup design

yes. We share a brain.

I left out that I actually did enjoy the musical number with the full cast of Les Miserables.

That was pretty cool. I feel like that sort of thing doesn't happen too oten at the Oscars.

Didn't see the movie though.

From the clips, it looks like AH did a great job. Over the years, she's grown on me. I actually really like her.

She also seems like a sweet person.

zaphod - I lived in the middle of Alaska surrounded by Bible Baptist rednecks, so yes, that was part of my experience of the show and not a good part.

Believe me, I don't think MacFarlane is in the same universe as Chappelle. Family Guy was kinda fun for three guilty minutes.

didn't Chapelle run off because he went nuts? Pretty clear to me just judging from his facial expressions/demeanor that he he had a Carrey-esque breakdown and was never the same...imo