Not a total defense (by any means) but the context of the 'saw your boobs' bit...

[cthulu2016]

Last edited Tue Feb 26, 2013, 04:25 PM - Edit history (3)

I agree that it was sexist, misogynist and not all that funny.

And I am not a fan of Family Guy... it's funny at times, but the overall vibe hits me as unpleasant.

But it was presented as footage beamed from the future by Captain Kirk (in an effort to save the Oscars) as the skit that had made 2013 the worst Oscars ever. The idea was that Captain Kirk, from the future, was urging them to not do the skit, which would be recalled centuries from now as the worst Oscar moment ever.

So it was essentially the same set-up as "Springtime for Hitler" from the producers... the writers task was to come up with the worst possible thing... the conceptually most offensive, outrageous, unfunny, and disliked by audience possible Oscar musical tribute.

And on that it clearly succeeded. It was as weird and offensive as it needed to be for the meta joke (that people in the Star Trek future were still talking about how awful it was) to work.

((My personal problem with the meta-bit was that McFarlane wasn't much less offensive in the later parts of the show after Kirk "saved" the Oscars... I had hoped that McFarlane's earlier jokes before Kirk showed up were all being played off as intentionally offensive, but the later jokes were much the same.))


This is not a total defense, of course. Not everything in the world is made cool by saying, "But it was supposed to be offensive."

(No more than one can write a three page racist masturbatory screed on DU and save it with a sarcasm tag.)

It was there because that is McFarlane's brand of humor, and it is on him.

And comedy is always hard to pin down... it operates in the realm of ambiguous emotional reaction. The Simpsons once had the task of making the worst possible movie, which was a youtube clip of some guy being hit in the nuts with a football. It struck me that it was a perfect joke because I was laughing because I don't find anything at all funny about the "hit in the nuts with a football" genre while someone else was laughing because they are the problem... they laugh like crazy whenever they see someone hit in the nuts with a football!

Either way, you laughed. Tricky stuff.



I offer this as information for people who did not watch the Oscars and are getting the impression that it was presented as just another Oscar musical number to be appreciated for its own merits.



I am not saying that context saved the bit. Merely that there was a context that somewhat explains why there was *something* presented that was obviously dreadful and beyond the pale.

They could have had a skit about age difference in male movie star's marriages, a special award for producer with the most enlarged prostate, or a tribute to the Isreali armed forces, or giving out one-hour sobriety chips to people in the audience at the one-hour mark in the show...

"We saw your boobs" was the edgy-offensive Hollywood bit they chose as their exemplar of the worst the Oscars could be and that was their choice, and it is on them.

[mikeysnot]

1. Boobs

as in breasts, not John Boehner.

[Sheldon Cooper]

2. I appreciate the adding of some context.

I didn't watch, so I can only go on what I've read here and in some other blogs. Maybe they really were going for the truly awful, which would stand the test of time. Someone pointed out that the horrible Onion tweet, where they called the little girl a c-word, was trying for extreme satire. As in, who in their right mind would ever call a little girl that name? Sadly for them, they failed in a spectacular way, and had to issue their first-ever apology.

I think that the global war on women has left us with shredded nerves and zero tolerance, and there is nothing wrong with those feelings. I wish people would try to be more sensitive to it, instead of throwing salt in the wounds and then calling us humorless old b-words.

[cthulu2016]

4. I am not criticizing the criticism -- it was every bit as offensive as it set out to be

I just felt sorry for people who were assuming that it was presented as being the *norm*... presented with a straight face as an unexceptional run-of-the-mill Oscar skit, and as representing uncontroversial social norms.

That sense that te skit was normal or typical would be even more alienating than the skit itself was.

I would feel bad for someone channel surfing who happened upon the "Springtime for Hitler" number from "The Producers" and thought it was just a new sit-com about Hitler... as the new normal in TV broadcasting, if you see what I mean.

[leftyohiolib]

8. lol, love it "i didnt watch it but here is my opinion about the whole affair"

[JPZenger]

3. Agreed - maybe it would have worked better in that context if it was shorter... stopped in mid-play

[leftyohiolib]

5. well at least you watched it before opining

[cthulu2016]

6. I was both amused and offended

Amused because it had been introduced as "the skit that killed the Oscars" and it was as awful as promised.

Offended because it was a type of artistic slut-shaming... I like seeing boobs and certainly don't want actresses stigmatized for something that shouldn't bear any stigma.

[leftyohiolib]

9. agreed and these women have nothing to be ashamed about -

[misswizard1]

7. And they succeeded.