rolling "Is This Racist?" thread

the Dumbo crows joke was probably the best race joke Family Guy ever did

I just watched an episode of the doco series on those guys who do the terrible viral YouTube local ads - "Commercial Kings" - and it was one I havent seen online, a salon aimed at black customers where the owner was trying to do a pitch to "non black ladies" and I was squirming with discomfort all the way thru at how they were handling the jokes... I dunno if I was being oversensitive?

Like, thew 2 twats who make these ads are so hipster it would make Whiney's eyeballs bleed, maybe that doesnt help matters.

the Dumbo crows joke was probably the best race joke Family Guy ever did

― Bam! Orgasm explosion in your facehole. (DJP), Tuesday, January 17, 2012 12:14 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i havent seen it but was it stolen from paul mooney?

this is the difference between Family Guy and South Park for me, SP has a lot of gay-bashing, racial humor, anti-Semitism, etc. etc., but they always manage to paint it through the eyes of some pretty deplorable characters, whereas Family Guy will just straight up do a cutaway where an Asian person is in a car and "LOL THEY CAN'T DRIVE!"

The LOL Muslims/ 'any Middle Eastern people, but obviously not Israelis, y' know Arabs and Muslims and dudes who wear turbans' in Family Guy is pretty repulsive (to this UK viewer at least)

Besides Cleveland, was there ever a non-white character on the show where they didn't immediately call attention to the character's race?

http://www.thesharkguys.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ollie.jpg

you mean Ollie Williams of the Blaccu-Weather Forecast

whiney I think you've got a lotta good points here but the "make black people act wacky" thing above, that whole agency-denying aspect of white people like you & me describing the motivations of nonwhite ppl - that is a bad look imo

p. sure that in family guy the deplorable character through whose eyes we are seeing lol stereotypes is an implied omnipresent narrator or w/e ie no they don't have a character buffer btwn the viewer and the depiction but i'd disagree that it's somehow a flat, literal and unironic statement of belief for all that

lol i've never heard them say "Blaccu-Weather"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7UBlZcZSE0

ie no they don't have a character buffer btwn the viewer and the depiction but i'd disagree that it's somehow a flat, literal and unironic statement of belief for all that

I have no problem believing that as far as the misogyny goes.

p. sure that in family guy the deplorable character through whose eyes we are seeing lol stereotypes is an implied omnipresent narrator or w/e ie no they don't have a character buffer btwn the viewer and the depiction but i'd disagree that it's somehow a flat, literal and unironic statement of belief for all that

I remember some interviewer that was grilling Seth on this and he just kept saying "well, Peter is supposed to be an idiot, so everything he says is wrong", which is fine, but that ignores that there is a ton of racism in the show outside of "the dumb shit that Peter says", something that even "edgier" shows like South Park doesn't have

that's not really true, there is plenty of racism in all of these shows to fill everyone's daily allotment

there's always been a distinction for me, not just with Family Guy but also shows like Mind of Mencia and 2 Broke Girls. I don't remember where I read this but basically the saying goes "the funnier you are, the more offensive you can be" which IMO is pretty OTM, shows like Chappelle's are pretty clever which makes you feel like the writers are going for laughs on another dimension than just "stereotypes lol"

like I don't have a problem with racist humor, but if it's not funny (or doesn't try to be) then what are you left with?

^ seems to me to be the point of this thread, it's the funny!/not funny! game with "racist!" in place of "not funny!"

i refuse to be the frogbs pawn in this pond

(not beefing, mind) xp

i mean it's obviously all "racist" to some degree, i think the better question is "is this offensive?" which IMO most posters ITT aren't really going to be good judges of

...

(maybe I should have changed my display name before posting that)

hahahahahahahaha

@frogbs Not so much "is this joke reenforcing the oppression/stereotyping of non-whites", more "as a white person is it OK if I laugh at/listen to/watch this"

You can deal with racial humor or racist stereotypes without actually being racist, it's just a really difficult task because to some people even acknowledging a race-based stereotype is seen as racist.

@frogbs Not so much "is this joke reenforcing the oppression/stereotyping of non-whites", more "as a white person is it OK if I laugh at/listen to/watch this"

does anyone actually feel like watching/listening to racial humor is "not okay" because it'll turn them into racists? (or...?)

... because, in the case of Family Guy, it's boring shite that you could probably have gotten away with in the UK like 30 years ago

i.e. 'Allo, 'Allo?

Well, it's old hat, red nose humour

You can deal with racial humor or racist stereotypes without actually being racist, it's just a really difficult task because to some people even acknowledging a race-based stereotype is seen as racist.

― mh, Wednesday, January 18, 2012 11:14 AM (58 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah but the flipside of this, which i thought Whiney was getting at in a worthwhile way, is that to some people acknowledging a race-based stereotype in any kind of knowing or humorous or ironically distanced way absolves you of any kind of possibility of seeming racists or approaching the subject tastefully or responsibly. there's a bit of a naughty 'ain't I a stinker' hue to it as well as a strong whiff of 'if I bring this subject up AND preemptively signal that I'm not endorsing a racist mindset in the same breath I can preempt any accusations of being a racist' maneuvering. at some point this WAS a clever and perhaps even smart way to deal with this kind of thing, but now that it's a standard tool of every 3rd show on TV and is often done really reflexively and carelessly, it's just kind of nauseating.

yeah, exactly that.

I pretty much agree with that with the unfortunate caveat that ironic racist caricature heavily informs most of my current favorite shows

sorry that tosh.0 is your favorite show

lol

the really sad thing is that I did actually watch Tosh.0 for like three weeks before going "wait, NO"

Tosh.0 is basically just videos of ppl throwing up on each other and dick jokes, right?

Tosh is actually one of the people guilty of that sort of thing who I don't mind as much because there's so little distance between him and the joke, he's not playing a fictional character or voicing a goofy-looking cartoon or putting his words in the mouth of a minority to soften the blow, he just stands up there saying the horrible noxious but sometimes pretty funny thing as himself and lets you think whatever you want about him.

Yeah I appreciate that Tosh doesn't really try to defend himself at all nor does he ever pretend his show is supposed to be anything more than crass jokes and gross/funny videos, the reason why I'll defend him over Family Guy is that he's a lot funnier and doesn't always go the obvious route the way FG does

when was the last time you actually watched Family Guy

are you seriously getting haughty about people underestimating the nuance of Seth MacFarlane

are you seriously getting haughty about somebody stanning in a ridiculous manner on ilx

can we all stop using the word haughty? it reminds me of a constipated horse

hee-haughty

are you seriously getting haughty about people underestimating the nuance of Seth MacFarlane

I'm getting haughty about people overestimating the nuance of Tosh.0!

http://documents.clubexpress.com/clubs/289698/graphics/The_Haughty_Horse_Logo_2011.jpg

when was the last time you actually watched Family Guy

I watch it a lot at the gym b/c the machines I use are generally stationed in a place where I have to choose between that, "Uncover Boss", or "The X Factor", I don't know how many new-ish episodes I've seen but I've watched more of it than I want to admit

ie no they don't have a character buffer btwn the viewer and the depiction but i'd disagree that it's somehow a flat, literal and unironic statement of belief for all that

― Seriously, who votes for Drake? (Nicole), Wednesday, January 18, 2012 7:13 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

OTM. the family guy's misogyny is pervasive, nasty and seemingly undistanced. i find it much more offensive than the lol racism bullshit.

"uncover boss" sounds like the worst game show ever

depends on yr boss