Last night Jules and I had fellow Shooting the Poo podcasters, Mitch and Dave (and Emma), over to watch the Oscars. (Mostly in fast forward).*
Because Jules and I and the rest of us were on a social media blackout we weren’t aware of the numerous controversies that erupted following the Oscars. I’m not going to repeat what others have said** but I am going to offer my insights.
First off, offensive shit aside (has anyone seen Family Guy?) MacFarlane was terrible. The Shatner bit was funny for the first two minutes but went on forever. Ted’s Jewish gags were topical in 1972 and, worst off all, he kept on chuckling after his gags – that self congratulatory pat on the back. It was the worst sort of clichéd stand up comedy. The only saving grace is he didn’t make a men are from Mars / women are from Venus gag.
As for the Onion calling a nine year old POC a cunt. Well first off, can someone – possibly the 500 or so sheep who retweeted the comment – explain the joke to me? Because no matter how many times I’ve read it, I just don’t see what’s been parodied. But you know maybe I’m missing something.***
And second off, I’m getting oh so tired of the internet apology. Yeah, The Onion apology is OK but it doesn’t come from the person who wrote the shitty tweet. I want to hear from him or her. I want some honesty. I want to know whether they stand by their ‘gag’, whether they think people are being too sensitive, whether they were angry when The Onion decided to take the tweet down. I want to know whether they feel they should apologise.
Because until we have that discussion, until we understand why someone would tweet something like that – unless they are a genuine bastard – we get no closer to understanding why this shit keeps happening again and again.
Anywho, expect the annual Shooting The Poo Oscars’ episode – where I’ll probably repeat most of what I’ve said here – shortly.
*Jules did the smart thing of recording the live transmission on Foxtel so we wouldn’t need to sit through the very dull acceptance speeches. And she made yummy dip.
** However the Salon have a number of good articles on both the Seth MacFarlane and Onion issues here and here and here. Oh and this excellent post from N.K. Jemisin.
*** I’m not.
Ian, you rock. I didn’t see all of it, but I had to turn the tv off while Wahlberg was on because otherwise something might have been destroyed. And McFarlane never, ever funny.
I don’t mind Family Guy – but I don’t think I’ve watched more then 5 episodes – and Ted was OK. I also don’t mind in your face humour if it’s smart and actually saying something.
But he was simply shocking. Kept going on about a billion people watching him all around the world. I bet it didn’t stay at a billion twenty minutes into the telecast.
I am an absolutely Oscar tragic, and I saw enough clips of McFarlane’s schtick throughout the day that for the first time since 1991 I didn’t watch the Oscars. He was that fucking awful.
The fast forward button on the FOXTEL remote was a godsend