Lately I’ve been thinking about what’s offensive to whom and why. Not only is offensiveness subjective, but I’ve found that it’s often in great flux – that is, what people find objectionable depends on the situation (a la ethics) and can change over time.
Back in December I wrote a few posts about my mom. One thing that really impressed me about her in her last years was her openness to culture that she would’ve sealed her self off from for moral and political reasons when she was younger (nearly the opposite of most people, I’ve found, whose views and tastes ossify with age).
I thought of this recently as I chatted with two friends of mine before the Oscars. I was voicing my annual regrets at not having seen more than one of the nominated films, but was also happy that a film that I thought was pretty okay, “Slumdog Millioinaire,” was probably going to win big. My friends frowned. They hadn’t liked the film at all. We didn’t go into it, but I guessed they were probably offended by the film’s portrayal of women, or, to be more specific, of the heroine, who is a damsel in distress whose rescue by men secures a happy ending. I have no argument with what I imagined was their main, and dealbreaker-for-them objection (and, to be clear, we didn’t discuss it, I’m just guessing this was their issue with the film). But then I think about what Sheila Berger would’ve thought of the film. And what she would’ve thought of it as her fifteen-, and thirty-years-ago self. Thirty years ago, in 1979, she too would’ve been offended (as would I) and probably would’ve thus harshly judged the film as a whole. It wouldn’t have been a matter of choosing to disapprove, but rather an inability to enjoy after her initial objection.
But as my mother grew older, while she didn’t back away from feminism, per se, she backed off her radicalism, or rather, her absolutism about it. That is, some kinds of sexism stopped being dealbreakers. In her last decade or so, I think she just liked enjoying pop culture. And, since we’re speaking of movies, her taste for Kristowski and other foreign films aside, she loved her some “Sleepless in Seattle,” “French Kiss,” and other romantic comedies and James Bond and other action/thrillers that she at some point just decided she’d rather let slide than be mad at. But beyond those, when she started watching “South Park,” and liking it a lot, I was really blown away. Satire or not, offensive to challenge obscenity laws or not, that show is offensive. Or is it? That’s what I’d like to just start a conversation about here today, and hope that some of you reading will chime in.
The reason I’ve been thinking about it, and especially offensiveness in satire this past week or so is because of one joke from a “Family Guy” I saw recently. For some reason the show’s fictional town of Quahog was having an epidemic of teen “ear sex,” that is, kids sticking it in each others ear holes instead of the more traditional spots. It was all big to do, and on the evening news, the local anchor ends a story on the aural (if you will) sex scandal, by, in his oh-so-anchor-y tone, telling us that the whole thing has even spawned a new expression, one that points to the dangers of the new deviance:
“Once you go black, you go deaf.”
Anja and I roared with laughter at this. But then we discussed how far the show was pushing it. Was this over the line? Was it, in fact, offensive? It’s a joke that plays on an old stereotype, and an old rhyming expression that expresses that stereotype that I’m sure you’re all familiar with. But is the “Family Guy” joke re-asserting the racially offensive trope, if you will, or just commenting on it? I definitely see it as the latter, and happily (and a tad guiltily) chuckle every time I think of it, but, well, what do you think? Is playing off a stereotype for a laugh just a sneaky way of re-using it?
I’ve always been annoyed by comedians like Jackie Mason, who make jokes about Jews (his own people), as I’ve always seen it, because it somehow then gives him permission to joke about blacks and Puerto Ricans. Is “South Park,” with its depiction of, hmm, you can really take your pick, gays, Jews, blacks, women, the list goes on , and on, but let’s say Arabs as terrorist idiots who speak in gibberish based on the words Osama and babaganush, offensive? Or is it a vital, politically sound commentary on the state of the world and Western bias? Again, I definitely come down on the sound commentary side of things, but I wonder if
a.) that’s just self-serving of me?
and
b.) I would have felt the same when I was 21 and more radical myself?
Have I softened? Sure? Is it a good thing? I think so. It certainly lets me enjoy more art/TV/film, etc. But when I went back and reflected on “Slumdog” I really saw my friends’ point. It didn’t much change the way I feel about the film as a whole, but it surprised me that I hadn’t even thought about its inherent sexism when I initially watched the movie.
How far I’ve come, or how inured I’ve become, or just two sides of the same coin?
