as seen on tv
Senator
Some of my favorite TV shows are on those Xfinity reruns of decades ago. Mayberry RFD. Green Acres. The Beverly Hillbillies. (Full disclosure – the whistling “Mayberry” theme song is the ring tone on my phone.)
Growing up in rural Pennsylvania as I did, it was easy to identify with folksy characters who may not have college degrees but still managed to figure out the difference between right and wrong.
I used to include “All in the family” on my list. But its humor seems really dated now, and often pointedly un-funny. Bigotry was played for laughs, and every white character over the age of 30 was either presented as a moron or a racist.
Fresh Prince of Bel Aire was never a big draw for me either, although it shared some DNA with both Beverly Hillbillies and All in the Family. I totally get the idea behind “Fresh Prince”. Philadelphia is a violent place which you should flee at all costs, and everyone deserves wealthy California relatives in a posh neighborhood that come to your rescue, where – despite their money – they still encounter subtle (but non lethal) racism at the hands of their neighbors and public servants.
Racial injustice is inherently hard to play for laughs. As is religious intolerance. Which is probably why there are no top shelf Islamic or Fundamentalist Christian comedians. Speaking of religious intolerance, does China have any comedy shows? I withdraw the question. But I wonder what our TV and movie studios will churn out after the Peoples Republic of Jailed Nobel Peace Prize winners buys them all? They have already acquired the studio Legendary Entertainment for $4 billion; the AMC theater chain; Disney is partnering with China to produce films. However, the Chinese have banned a mind boggling list of US films:
- Ghostbusters the all girl reboot (2016) “Promotes superstion” (no, sorry China - it promotes pointless remakes and bad scripts)
- Avatar (“Undercurrent of rebellion and revolution”)
- Ben Hur; The Departed; Batman; Pirates of the Caribbean, and dozens more.
Beverly Hillbillies was (allegedly) responsible launching a tidal wave of banjo/bluegrass music in Japan. And Will Smith led to the rise of the non-threatening androgynous male Japanese rapper. However, what sort of American cultural fare may have led to the rise of Sailor Moon, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus (the short haired, masculine sounding “tomboy” cohort)? But I don’t regard Sailor Moon as a touchstone of Japanese culture. Instead, I consider films like “Seven Samurai” to be a more acute insight into the way the Japanese mind works. (not really – but see how TV and films can create false memes?)
The latest American shooting – six police gone in 60 seconds in Baton Rouge yesterday – was the work of a New Black Panther who apparently was concerned that “more crackers believe in ghosts than in racism”. (his actual facebook post).
So he shot a bunch of white and black cops indiscriminately, presumably to protest the awful Ghostbusters movie released Friday, and the fact that a black Baton Rouge perp was shot by police after threatening pedestrians with a hand gun; a high speed vehicle pursuit; a foot chase, and then producing his gun when the tazer didn’t take him out. THIS police take down is the reason to start ranting about crackers, ghosts, and fomenting a race war?
Of course its not. Gavin Long the Baton Rouge police executioner was a known mental case who legally changed his name to “Cosmo Seterprena” and dispensed online advice regarding nutrition, religion, and politics. Cosmo/Gavin variously claimed affiliation with Nation of Islam, ISIS, A Floyd Mayweather pyramid franchise scheme, and the “Washitaw” of imaginary Africans who came to America centuries before Columbus but have since all mysteriously vanished. Oh, and Cosmo/Gavin was a also a former marine sergeant with a good conduct metal who was a military data management specialist and never saw combat. Go figure.
To recap my gun stance: I think we need to obey the 2nd amendment unless or until it is lawfully modified by a constitutional process. That said, I’m more of a fan of concealed carry, than “open carry”, and I endorse the police who want “open carry” banned from the vicinity of both political conventions. Whether you think Jethro Clampett or some Gavin Long is likely to take the next shot, that ban seems prudent.
Reader Quiz - When Allstate pays millions for the right to become "Official auto insurance company of Ghostbusters", and puts cast member Leslie Jones (image below) in its TV commercials, is this automatic proof that a film is crap? Has anyone who isn't shilling for one side or the other in the gender/culture wars actually seen the movie? If so, what did you think? And is Chris Rock going to thank us at the next Oscars because this is exactly what he had in mind when he called for more diversity and positive black roles in Hollywood films?
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