Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Somehow I Became Respectable

theparisreview.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 120 posts

Re: Somehow I Became Respectable

#21

Post by coldtea »

Loughla wrote: post #10

Honestly, inside me it makes me wonder if we're seeing the cultural movement toward more progressive ideals, or if we're just seeing the cumulative generational shift away from what their parents stood for. Meaning - WWII's "the greatest generation" was a relatively conservative generation, and it's gone more liberal in terms of social movements ever since. Are we going to keep seeing this movement toward liberalism,…

>Are we going to keep seeing this movement toward liberalism, or are we going to see children rebel against their parents and move toward more traditional and conservative values?

We've already had it, remember Family Ties, the Yuppies, that "hippie" had become a dirty word, the "stick it to the Man" type a caricature, and so on?

Those were still within the framework of Baby Boomers though. Now we'll see even more backlash. It's a tide, not a line...

Re: Somehow I Became Respectable

#22

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

jedberg wrote: post #18
acomjean wrote: post #8

Compared to our current politics, John Waters is kinda respectable. I saw him at a university auditorium a couple years ago. Entertaining. Plus he was great on the Simpsons. Time seems to take the shock out of things. Maybe its the non-stop access to interesting things on the internet and photos and videos of everything taking the rumor and imagination out of things. GWAR's shows were mythic but now we have a nice wi…

It's funny that you mention the Simpsons, which itself used to be so counterculture that you were a bad parent if you let your kid watch it. Now it's so mainstream that they can't find a plot that offends people anymore, not so much because they toned it down, but because society caught up to the Simpsons.

>they can't find a plot that offends people anymore,

I doubt that is true. I bet that it is more like the people they offended could not really do much about that offense other than yell about it which just made the sows writers more popular in Hollywood.

Now, if they come up with a plot that offends, they are likely to get de-platformed and lose their ability to find a job in Hollywood.

Re: Somehow I Became Respectable

#25

Post by rogerkirkness »

Loughla wrote: post #10

Honestly, inside me it makes me wonder if we're seeing the cultural movement toward more progressive ideals, or if we're just seeing the cumulative generational shift away from what their parents stood for. Meaning - WWII's "the greatest generation" was a relatively conservative generation, and it's gone more liberal in terms of social movements ever since. Are we going to keep seeing this movement toward liberalism,…

Gen X / early millenials are the last progressive liberal generation for sure. If you really think about what late millenials, etc. are about, it's both conservative and classical liberal, but not particularly 60s esque.

Re: Somehow I Became Respectable

#26

Post by pjc50 »

Loughla wrote: post #10

Honestly, inside me it makes me wonder if we're seeing the cultural movement toward more progressive ideals, or if we're just seeing the cumulative generational shift away from what their parents stood for. Meaning - WWII's "the greatest generation" was a relatively conservative generation, and it's gone more liberal in terms of social movements ever since. Are we going to keep seeing this movement toward liberalism,…

Maybe this is where all the young fascists are coming from. To be genuinely outrageous these days you've got to hurt people, or threaten to.

Re: Somehow I Became Respectable

#28

Post by ticmasta »

jedberg wrote: post #18
acomjean wrote: post #8

Compared to our current politics, John Waters is kinda respectable. I saw him at a university auditorium a couple years ago. Entertaining. Plus he was great on the Simpsons. Time seems to take the shock out of things. Maybe its the non-stop access to interesting things on the internet and photos and videos of everything taking the rumor and imagination out of things. GWAR's shows were mythic but now we have a nice wi…

It's funny that you mention the Simpsons, which itself used to be so counterculture that you were a bad parent if you let your kid watch it. Now it's so mainstream that they can't find a plot that offends people anymore, not so much because they toned it down, but because society caught up to the Simpsons.

First that job went to Southpark, then Family Guy.

Now we show the most offensive plots of all but call it "reality TV"

Re: Somehow I Became Respectable

#29

Post by ticmasta »

mruts wrote: post #24
sp332 wrote: post #20

Alice Cooper said years ago that he couldn't shock audiences anymore. Shock just seems not to be a thing audiences do now.

[flagged]

IMO there's a big difference between shock and intolerance. Shock may usually (but not always) lead to a negative reaction, but intolerance seems more like a default position.

To put it another way, shock is someone who jumps when you scare them; intolerance is someone standing with their arms crossed who's already made up their mind.

Re: Somehow I Became Respectable

#30

Post by 4ntonius8lock »

"First the establishment will ignore you; then they laugh at you; then they crack down on you and then you become part of the establishment." Someone

I'm glad everything he represents is now accepted. I remember watching Pink Flamingos in the early 2000s when I was discovering cinematography and understanding the industry and it's evolution. It has shock value, but it was deeper than that. When I saw his film, it reminded me a little of Warhol in a way.

I'm actually glad the acceptance is so quick, just 13 years ago the United States federal government arrested someone for 'obscenity-related charges' in film production, though admittedly it was considerably more disturbing footage than what John Walters ever produced. *

I truly wonder what's the next set of values to go through this process. By definition we can't know what they are and speculation has a terrible history of accuracy, especially if it is what we know as the truth (as defined by the majority, i.e. the establishment)

Also wonder if as technology accelerates the rate of social change, so will the typically generational cycle speeds of acceptance of new ideas.

* Danilo Croce https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2007/June/07_crm_410....

Post reply on HN