Hey, didn't Disney make those war-time toons where they made fun of Germans? I guess they'll probably slap a warning on them now...
The Muppet Show: Disney+ adds content warning of negative depictions of cultures
21–30 of 90 posts
Re: The Muppet Show: Disney+ adds content warning of negative depictions of cultures
#22I adored the Muppet Show as a kid. Tried watching it with my daughters this weekend, since it just became available. "Dad, this is weird. This is really weird. It's not even a show! Just weird little scenes!" ["not even a show" = no connective plot] These kids have all kinds of precision-engineered laser-guided entertainment aimed squarely at their cerebral cortex. They don't need the Muppet Show like I did, I guess.
"...Just weird little scenes!"
Does this not describe YouTube too?
Re: The Muppet Show: Disney+ adds content warning of negative depictions of cultures
#23I adored the Muppet Show as a kid. Tried watching it with my daughters this weekend, since it just became available. "Dad, this is weird. This is really weird. It's not even a show! Just weird little scenes!" ["not even a show" = no connective plot] These kids have all kinds of precision-engineered laser-guided entertainment aimed squarely at their cerebral cortex. They don't need the Muppet Show like I did, I guess.
I think this is just a general change in entertainment. When media out was limited to fewer shows being created and the audience so much broader it was necessary to try and throw "something for everybody" into each show. The Muppet Show is kind of the height of this with celebrities, silliness for kids, sly asides for adults, etc.
I'm not sure the Muppet Show was that; the very setting was a behind the scenes look at the operation of a live variety show of yesteryear, and iirc everything fit into that theme?
Re: The Muppet Show: Disney+ adds content warning of negative depictions of cultures
#24FWIW, I'd rather see a disclaimer about the show reflecting the time it was made in, than to have the show changed to reflect our current times.
Re: The Muppet Show: Disney+ adds content warning of negative depictions of cultures
#25"Disneyland is presented as imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest is real," is one of my favourite quote fragments. (Baudrillard)
It should be updated to mention that content warnings are presented as meaningful to make us believe that criticism elevates us above an experience. The real point of the content warning is to indoctrinate kids into that particular critical framework.
Re: The Muppet Show: Disney+ adds content warning of negative depictions of cultures
#26Argh. My dream is that one day people will understand that a really large chunk (probably the vast majority) of piss-ripping found in humour isn't actually racist or misogynistic but is actually the complete opposite in making a statement about the stupidity of the protagonists' racism or misogyny.
Fawlty Towers 6th episode "The Germans" is a classic case in point. The entire premise of the episode was not "Germans are stupid" but "the idiot who is xenophobic who is being horrible to Germans is stupid". I don't know anyone - least of all any Germans - who are in the slightest bit offended by this. It's one example, but it happens time and time again. Literally the only people actually being offended are - who...?
Anyway. Sigh.
Re: The Muppet Show: Disney+ adds content warning of negative depictions of cultures
#27I adored the Muppet Show as a kid. Tried watching it with my daughters this weekend, since it just became available. "Dad, this is weird. This is really weird. It's not even a show! Just weird little scenes!" ["not even a show" = no connective plot] These kids have all kinds of precision-engineered laser-guided entertainment aimed squarely at their cerebral cortex. They don't need the Muppet Show like I did, I guess.
"...Just weird little scenes!" Does this not describe YouTube too?
At least all Youtube video's have a common thread of promoting VPN, with little bits of humor or information in between.
Re: The Muppet Show: Disney+ adds content warning of negative depictions of cultures
#28Re: The Muppet Show: Disney+ adds content warning of negative depictions of cultures
#29Hey, didn't Disney make those war-time toons where they made fun of Germans? I guess they'll probably slap a warning on them now...
No warning needed. It’s ok to mock them if they’re white.
Re: The Muppet Show: Disney+ adds content warning of negative depictions of cultures
#30The same content warning has been added to 'Aladdin' (the 1992 cartoon, not the Will Smith shameless money grab). I'm wading into shark-filled waters here but could someone please explain the racist bits of Aladdin to me?
A quick Google found me: "It mispronounces Arab words including “Allah,” depicts nonsense scribble instead of real Arabic script, and codes its characters to reinforce racist and Islamophobic tropes. Main characters that the audience is meant to admire, like Aladdin and Jasmine, have Western features, lighter skin, and American accents, while nefarious or impoverished characters like Jafar and shopkeepers have beards…
90s parents were relieved it was just nonsense scribble and not some secret sex-related easter egg. Society's sources of moral outrage have morphed a bit.