Vice Principals with Danny McBride and Walton Goggins

i don't think it makes much difference. the humor is in the eye of the beholder. i don't think it's a funny scene, period. if viewers think "haha these guys are morons" that's a valid viewpoint but so is "haha that bitch got what was coming to her."

I'm confused in general when race matters and when it doesn't. I was brought up not to see it, and see and treat everyone as the same. I've seen this show and honestly did not even consider a reading like Ian and the other media critics are offering...

i'd rather watch a movie about how a black woman succeeds as an educator despite the narrow-minded ignorance of her co-workers. i'd even be okay if it had a few dick jokes.

― ian, Tuesday, July 26, 2016 6:11 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this line keeps running through my head over and over in the mr monopoly voice and i'm losing it

wish you would lose your login tbh

race always matters to someone. if you were brought up to treat everyone the same that's great, but it's also a convenient excuse for ignoring the huge problem w racism in america -- i was always taught that skin color doesn't matter too, but i'm still acutely aware that people of color often endure struggles of which i am completely ignorant.

the monopoly guy has a voice???

True

I agree that this show isn't terribly successful at what it's trying to do, but this line from the second of ian's links is strange to me:

"After the previous principal (Bill Murray, in a cameo) leaves his post because his wife is dying (and there's a joke about that -– how hilarious!)"

Whether you thought the joke in Vice Principals was successful or not (this one landed for me), it seems like one should at least be open to the idea that this could be hilarious before watching a comedy.

But in Eastbound, you could root for former professional baseball player and unrepentant redneck Kenny Powers to get his mojo back

what is this moronic position - for 99% of Eastbound Kenny was a fucking horrible sociopath

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, July 26, 2016 4:58 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is true! but i still think we are rooting for him! that's kind of how allegiance in fiction works...

i mean, you're kind of rooting for him b/c he's just entertaining. and b/c you're privy to his inner life in a way that's not as true of other characters.

i fully accept that eastbound & down is "anti-social" in the midcentury sense

xp kinda like Michael in the US Office, which I'd guess may be a good reference for understanding why someone would find this show unenjoyable

i like the first few seasons of the office, but eastbound and down seemed determined not to get stuck in the same kind of rut as that show, by switching it up each season

also by, you know, getting cancelled

Eastbound and down was cancelled?

well, it's over in any case

not only not cancelled, they came back for an extra season a couple of years after stopping it on purpose

2nd ep was way better than 1st

the trashing the principals house scene was great bc of how long and deranged it was

its def supposed to be uncomfortable to watch, im not abt to read recaps abt it but prob if one has a large problem w it, dont watch a danny mcbride/jody hill show prob

Hill's stuff is the definitive document of macho white American insecurity, even moreso than the peak Ferrell vehicles, precisely because it flirts with outright ugliness. it only falters when it likes its characters too much (which is why, though it would be better with McBride as star, Observe and Report is imo his best thing)

meant to say *current* macho white insecurity, and shit's hardly limited to the States really

*watches taxi driver*

ugh, the way this guy hates women and gay people is not good to me, its sad. i don't think its a good movie period. if viewers think "omg this guy is a moron" that's a valid viewpoint but so is "haha those people he shot got what was coming to them."

i'd rather watch a movie about a politician inspiring a town to come together and fighting for better outpatient treatment for people with mental illness.

i think taxi driver is similar to e&D in that the proximity we have to the protagonist, our access to them, makes us somewhat sympathetic to them even though we can also apprehend them as awful. added to that is the visceral thrill of misbehavior.

but i also think that E&B (and mcbride) does work a little harder to make the protagonist perversely likable, even if it continually undercuts that (in fact that's kind of the basic pattern of the show)

imo Taxi Driver revels in its violence and transgression more than O&R does, the latter literally features its protag failing a psych evaluation

yeah the comparison only goes so far. one is a comedy, the other is deadly serious.

I feel guilty now for just thinking the house-smashing scene was ridic and hilarious.

can this thread be a safe space for us to Lol at problematic show we like in peace? is that so much to ask?

so far 2 ways this differs from eastbound

-way darker. Kenny powers was an egomaniac but ultimately a good guy. Goggins is just pure vengeful evil from the get-go.. and he's dragging mcbride down with him
-less Actual Jokes, particularly the imagist innovations-in-vulgarity which were sprinkled across eastbound every minute (was recently fondly remembering 'he looks like a bag of mashed up assholes' from the first ep)

best moment in e2 was when they were making faces at each other while the principal was leading a prayer

otm on both pts

can this thread be a safe space for us to Lol at problematic show we like in peace? is that so much to ask?

― flopson, Wednesday, July 27, 2016 7:10 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sounds like a pretty boring thread tbh

so... don't post in it

*watches taxi driver*

ugh, the way this guy hates women and gay people is not good to me, its sad. i don't think its a good movie period. if viewers think "omg this guy is a moron" that's a valid viewpoint but so is "haha those people he shot got what was coming to them."

i'd rather watch a movie about a politician inspiring a town to come together and fighting for better outpatient treatment for people with mental illness.

― woke-ing class zero (s.clover), Wednesday, 27 July 2016 02:41 (14 hours ago) Permalink

Hey Sterling go fuck yourself.

hey just wanna make sure this is a discussion happening in 2016th year of our lord

theres a show where two white dudes get passed over for a promotion by a black woman and then they destroy her things then burn her house down. is that right?

yes... now pls leave us alone

xp. also a lot of the "funny" lines are McBride calling people gay.

omg.. i fn hate you ppl

cool bro

xxxposts Counterpoint: beautiful post, s. clover.

Some of you guys are really bad at understanding comedy but I'm sure there is gentle comedy out there for you if you look hard enough.

countercounterpoint: most comedy is terrible and regressive, sorry i cant find it in my heart to yuck it up at racial terrorism

Here's a hint: successful black woman principal isn't the butt of the joke here. Also, McBride & Goggins are the protagonists but they are not meant to be sympathetic protagonists. Discuss.

clearly not capable of discussion

the reactions to finding this a bit iffy/not that funny sure are "interesting"

Like yes this is some trying-to-be 'edgy' evil white guy shit that tries to have it both ways (too-)subtly satirizing dumb racists but also reveling in immature laughter at offensive jokes, yes it's about Bad people who nonetheless have small pathetic chaotic triumphs of petty acts of evil set to pumped up music, yes probably some trump assholes or internet trolls *relate* to McBride's character in a creepy way... YOU GOT ME. now leave us alone!

https://whitegirlsbelike.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/kenny-powers-moped-gif.gif

I'm somewhat sympathetic with the viewpoint that a portrayal of reactionary white dudes who behave like eight-year-olds when they don't get what they want is sorta NAGL in the Age of Trump, but I think for me that's because they just happen to be more inescapable these days. Sociopathic dickholes (when presented as such rather than as heroes to be cheered on) are perennial comedy fodder for me.

^^^

Some of you guys are really bad at understanding comedy but I'm sure there is gentle comedy out there for you if you look hard enough.

― Night Jorts (Old Lunch), Wednesday, July 27, 2016 12:17 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

im sure u thought this was some emasculating burn here, but I LIKE GENTLE HUMOR and im not sure why that should be an insult or a refutation to me thinking this is fucked up.

is it possible that you dont think this is a fucked up ground for laughs bc you cant see yourself being the object of mcbride/hill's "ironic" bigotry?

the reactions to finding this a bit iffy/not that funny sure are "interesting"

― ælərdaɪs (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, July 27, 2016 1:22 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i agree that it's not as funny as Eastbound (kind of a black comedy western) and said as much above, my reaction is to ppl who *Dont Even Like Comedy* (wtf??? you don't like laughter??) trying to Stinkpiece it up in our thread

xxxp the fragility of your enjoyment of this show (I also enjoy this show) to that line of discussion and the resulting defensiveness could actually work as part of this show

wrong # of xps, but it probably belongs in 'posts I had second thoughts about' anyway

starting to think this might be the best thing McBride & co. have done yet tbrr

Direction is definitely a bit showier, and the plot construction seems more deliberate and complex with all the flashbacks and shifting focus around the various characters. A bunch of Scorsese-esque tracking shots and flashy camerawork (lol'd at the vomiting-on-the-viewer/inside-the-toilet shot)

should this be split off? I could c&p the thread

it's too damn good to not have it's own thread.

agreed

"but Mr. Baby Billy..."