What A Cartoon! - Aqua Teen Hunger Force "The Shaving"
Added 2020-10-12 04:01:00 +0000 UTCThis week, we're returning to one of our favorite Adult Swim series that always mixed horror and comedy so well: Aqua Teen Hunger Force! And for our second look at the series, we're discussing a classic Halloween episode all about Blood Feast Island Man, his missing mail, love of juice, and failed Freddy-Kruger-style zingers. Plus, you'll get to hear the guest of this episode berate one of our hosts! So sit back, listen in, and beware of unknown attic roommates!
Comments
On the subject of ironic blackface: I'm mixed (black American and Sicilian, ignore the avi) and was adopted into a multi-racial family with white parents. Ironic blackface doesn't automatically offend me and it can even be quite funny. The blackface episode of the Sarah Silverman Show was probably my 2nd favorite of the series, after the Tab one. I don't think most black people are automatically offended by ironic blackface, either. You'll certainly run into folks for whom it's a nonstarter, but black Twitter loves Tropic Thunder gifs as much as anyone else, if that's any indication. It really comes down what the "joke" is. That said, I don't presume to speak for all black minorities, just myself. The instances that do bother me are like the "who has it worse" plot from 30 Rock with Tracy in drag and Jenna in shoe polish. It ends with the lazily predictable liberal moral of "aren't we all equally oppressed"/"isn't it great we're rich"? To their limited credit, there is a scene where Twofer dresses Jenna down for what she's done, but there are no real consequences nor any depth to the “joke”. The Sarah Silverman Show starts off with a similar thread, but is actually clever in its examination of stereotypes and racism. Sarah gets extremely negative reactions from everyone the moment she steps out in blackface, but misinterprets the disgust and anger as the black experience; as if racism is always this in-your-face, hateful thing. It takes a further turn in the end where she appropriates the outrage to make her character’s lesson "people who do racist things are the real victims," a turn I suspect was inspired by the Michael Richards apology tour of the era, meant to satirize the "straight white men are the real oppressed class" crowd. The episode seems to embrace "cancel culture" ironically enough, as Sarah decries it now. What's really problematic about ironic blackface, at least to me, isn't so much that it's doing the offensive thing even if it's winking, but that A) it's an area of humor mined almost exclusively by white comedians because B) it relies on an assumption of post-racialism that doesn't really exist. It's the latter that makes the 30 Rock jokes so unappealing. There are no consequences and the differences between the characters are overcome easily. It's not dissecting issues of racism or sexism; it's patting itself on the back for the progress we've made. I find the film "The Help" far more offensive than the Sarah Silverman Show for that reason. It's smug and self-satisfied. Around the time that film came out a co-worker told me and a few other people about having worn blackface to a Halloween party, saying it was "to show how race doesn't matter anymore." I was too shocked to respond, honestly. Thankfully, one person did chime in to point out that wasn't his place to decide. But that’s why that stuff wasn’t as uncomfortable circa 2006 or whatever as it is today. Despite the Bush era, and perhaps because of the rise of Obama, the notion of a post-racial America probably did feel still feel plausible. It’s not like my life has been completely free of racism, but what I did encounter tended to be more on the side of my co-worker’s ignorance rather than what Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, and too many other deaths have revealed the ugly reality to be. I honestly don’t remember much, if any, of the Aqua Teen episode “Shake Like Me” as I’d stopped watching regularly, but I do wonder what went through Carey Means’ mind when he got handed that script from a couple of white writers. I mean, Donald Glover was even in the writer’s room on 30 Rock and Community and that stuff was still making it to air. It’s encouraging that this stuff at least gives people pause now. All that said, I don’t want to give any fodder to the “they couldn’t make Blazing Saddles today” crowd, either. I don’t think taboo jokes are or should be off limits. They just require a lot more thoughtful construction and a bigger pay off than what was being done back then. Mugging at the camera and saying “ain’t I a stinker?” isn’t enough of a punchline when you’re dredging up some of the most awful parts of our history for laughs. PS: No, “White Chicks” isn’t ok. It’s racist and sexist in its own right and if you asked that question you’ve got a lot of work to do. Cancel the Wayans by all means, please!
Ron Sterling
2020-10-15 02:03:11 +0000 UTCShake’s “your mother was that dog” backstory sounds like a reference to The Omen, where the body of a jackal is discovered to be the “unholy mother” of Damien.
Robert Flaxman
2020-10-14 03:33:12 +0000 UTC
