Surprisingly not a problem for some shows, good example is Simpson golden age.
There is a gay episode but it’s mostly about Homer overreacting.
A lot of the satire of Simpson is trying to be functional in a dysfunctional system, which has aged like the greatest wine that frank grimes can’t afford.
I watched Cheers a while back and was surprised at how well it’d aged. Sitcoms are a second-monitor show for me, so it’s possible I missed something, but overall no episodes gave me the Ick too badly.
I think a lot of the time it’s Gen Z not understanding context. There was overt racism, but a lot of media that is considered racist now was either depicting the experience of people at the time or making fun of racists.
Blazing Saddles. Took me a bit to understand this when I was younger. When I first saw it, I thought it was simply outdated humor. Then I thought it was edgy. Then I finally grasped that the whole joke is actually directed at racist white folks and that their racism just makes them look really stupid.
I’d also include the controversy around “Baby It’s Cold Outside”.
The irony is that in fully understanding the song and the culture of the time it was written in, the song is literally the opposite of what the outrage junkies made of it. They think it’s a song about a guy keeping a woman at his place against her will (the notion that he actually drugged her drink (and in such a way that she could tell by tasting it) is especially hilarious) through subtle intimidation, and that rape is apparently imminent.
But in fact, it’s a very empowering (especially for its time, ~80 years ago) song about a woman who defies social/cultural norms/rules to do what she wants and go ahead and spend the night at this guy’s place:
All of her ‘protests’ have to do with her reputation specifically, she talks about how she “should”/“must”/“ought to” leave, but never once says “I want to leave”
“What’s in this drink” was a blame-shifting/plausible deniability tactic, not too different from how people blame their actions on alcohol even today. Although the song is very progressive, she doesn’t completely abandon the social rules, so she adds this bit as an ‘excuse’ for the fact that she is absolutely and willfully spending the night with this guy. For the same reason, she ‘can’t’ simply straight-up ‘say yes’ to him; it’d be unladylike to accept such an offer, after all. So she does the stuff in the first bullet point instead.
P.S. Also, the original songwriter wrote the song specifically for him and his wife to perform together for friends at a housewarming party. It wasn’t even considered to be released commercially until it became a huge hit at parties that they were invited to specifically to perform it. The idea that it’s a predatory date rape song is extra ridiculous with that context, aside from everything else.
But its no different from the other examples I gave. All three of those are empowering art that modern listeners take out of context and get offended by.
“Hey what’s in this drink” was a stock joke at the time, and the punchline was invariably that there’s actually pretty much nothing in the drink, not even a significant amount of alcohol.
See, this woman is staying late, unchaperoned, at a dude’s house. In the 1940’s, that’s the kind of thing Good Girls aren’t supposed to do — and she wants people to think she’s a good girl. The woman in the song says outright, multiple times, that what other people will think of her staying is what she’s really concerned about: “the neighbors might think,” “my maiden aunt’s mind is vicious,” “there’s bound to be talk tomorrow.” But she’s having a really good time, and she wants to stay, and so she is excusing her uncharacteristically bold behavior (either to the guy or to herself) by blaming it on the drink — unaware that the drink is actually really weak, maybe not even alcoholic at all. That’s the joke. That is the standard joke that’s going on when a woman in media from the early-to-mid 20th century says “hey, what’s in this drink?” It is not a joke about how she’s drunk and about to be raped. It’s a joke about how she’s perfectly sober and about to have awesome consensual sex and use the drink for plausible deniability because she’s living in a society where women aren’t supposed to have sexual agency.
I’d say that’s mostly true for comedy. But some of the earlier stuff was definitely like “point and laugh at this race”. Like the original looney tunes and stuff had some that were rough. They got better about it later but those early episodes had a few that were a little…close lol
But that wasn’t in the '90s. The last thing I can actually think of as an example of point-and-laugh at a race was Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). In the '80s there was Dukes of Hazzard, but it wasn’t overtly racist, they just only had black people as bad guys in the deep South. As a kid that went right over my head.
I think most examples in the '90s would be stereotyping races but not making fun of them. Overtly. Kind of like the token Asian or the token black guy to fill out a group of friends. I guess I want more examples to be given because when you’re younger a lot of that stuff goes of your head compared to when you’re older.
Id be careful blaming the newer generation. That’s what those snowflake boomers did, saying shit like, “Oh those millennials… We can’t even make a joke anymore” because their jokes suck ass, those little bitches.
Apu is tough because I know at least a dozen people just like him who own their own store and are somehow behind the counter every single time I walk in.
I’m gonna say something bold:
Surprisingly not a problem for some shows, good example is Simpson golden age.
There is a gay episode but it’s mostly about Homer overreacting.
A lot of the satire of Simpson is trying to be functional in a dysfunctional system, which has aged like the greatest wine that frank grimes can’t afford.
I watched Cheers a while back and was surprised at how well it’d aged. Sitcoms are a second-monitor show for me, so it’s possible I missed something, but overall no episodes gave me the Ick too badly.
I think a lot of the time it’s Gen Z not understanding context. There was overt racism, but a lot of media that is considered racist now was either depicting the experience of people at the time or making fun of racists.
Blazing Saddles. Took me a bit to understand this when I was younger. When I first saw it, I thought it was simply outdated humor. Then I thought it was edgy. Then I finally grasped that the whole joke is actually directed at racist white folks and that their racism just makes them look really stupid.
The quintessential example. Rocky Horror is another.
I’d also include the controversy around “Baby It’s Cold Outside”.
The irony is that in fully understanding the song and the culture of the time it was written in, the song is literally the opposite of what the outrage junkies made of it. They think it’s a song about a guy keeping a woman at his place against her will (the notion that he actually drugged her drink (and in such a way that she could tell by tasting it) is especially hilarious) through subtle intimidation, and that rape is apparently imminent.
But in fact, it’s a very empowering (especially for its time, ~80 years ago) song about a woman who defies social/cultural norms/rules to do what she wants and go ahead and spend the night at this guy’s place:
More detail here.
P.S. Also, the original songwriter wrote the song specifically for him and his wife to perform together for friends at a housewarming party. It wasn’t even considered to be released commercially until it became a huge hit at parties that they were invited to specifically to perform it. The idea that it’s a predatory date rape song is extra ridiculous with that context, aside from everything else.
Yes, that’s all true.
But its no different from the other examples I gave. All three of those are empowering art that modern listeners take out of context and get offended by.
OMG! He’s pressuring her into sex!
The song has a line where the girl asks what’s in her drink. You can interpret that however you want.
Not if you want to be accurate:
I’m not debating that at all. I’m merely pointing out that we live in a post-Cosby society.
She knows exactly what’s in the drink.
The context is that she doesn’t want to leave.
Now multiply that misunderstanding by 1 billion.
I’d say that’s mostly true for comedy. But some of the earlier stuff was definitely like “point and laugh at this race”. Like the original looney tunes and stuff had some that were rough. They got better about it later but those early episodes had a few that were a little…close lol
But that wasn’t in the '90s. The last thing I can actually think of as an example of point-and-laugh at a race was Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). In the '80s there was Dukes of Hazzard, but it wasn’t overtly racist, they just only had black people as bad guys in the deep South. As a kid that went right over my head.
I think most examples in the '90s would be stereotyping races but not making fun of them. Overtly. Kind of like the token Asian or the token black guy to fill out a group of friends. I guess I want more examples to be given because when you’re younger a lot of that stuff goes of your head compared to when you’re older.
Boss Hogg and Cletus were white villains.
Sorry my statement wasn’t that the only villains were black people, but rather that when black people were on the show they were always villains.
I’ll take your word on that.
Separate but related. I just looked at the cast from the 80s. There is a distinct lack of black actors in general.
Oh yea some of it was definitely just overt racism.
Yeah, if you find an overly racist character then the joke is probably directed at them being racist.
It’s amazing how many people are offended by Uncle Ruckus. Like, way more than are offended by Uncle Remus, incredibly enough.
The Boondocks just isn’t a show for the emasculated generation.
It wouldn’t have gotten made if they were in charge.
Id be careful blaming the newer generation. That’s what those snowflake boomers did, saying shit like, “Oh those millennials… We can’t even make a joke anymore” because their jokes suck ass, those little bitches.
Well Gen Z is quite young. Children understand trigger-words more, subtle context less so.
The very youngest of gen z is 15 right now, and the majority is adults
I’m only just beginning to understand what L.P Hartley meant when he said “The past is a foreign country”
Ageism on Lemmy, impossible.
As the other commenter has said, the youngest gen z aren’t children anymore - they’re teens.
We can put King of the Hill in that camp as well I think.
I think it’s a better and more rounded show than any of them.
It’s a bit awkward, because Kahn was Toby Huss doing a problematic accent, but is also generally praised for representation of SEA culture.
Oh yeah, I love that one! It makes fun of everybody! In good taste too. XD
Sorry Mr. Burns, but I don’t go in for these backdoor shenanigans. Sure, I’m flattered - maybe even a little curious… but the answer is no!
It was the best of times; it was the ~ B L U R S T ~ O F ~ T I M E S ~
The Simpsons was pretty progressive though
Most people don’t recognize how the Simpsons was satire.
Yeah, GrandWolf319 was commending the show. :)
I heard Frank Grimes didn’t even go to space
Apu has entered the chat.
Apu is tough because I know at least a dozen people just like him who own their own store and are somehow behind the counter every single time I walk in.