I remember really enjoying How I Met Your Mother when it was airing. I tried for a rewatch recently and only made it a few episodes in because I was so disinterested. It felt empty, and the humor wasn’t hitting. I think it’s a combination of I’ve changed (I’ve aged out of the “20-something singles fool around in a fantasy version of NYC” demographic) and TV has evolved (good comedy shows are no longer just goofy hijink situations and setups for one-liners).
So instead I rewatched Archer season one (same era as HIMYM) and fortunately that one still slaps.
Oh man. So many and so much. Most of the “comedy” from the 80s, 90s, early 2000s is unwatchable. Older movies are sometimes straight up disgusting. I think it’s a sign for how we grow as a society to be more aware of the sexism, racism and other forms of disrespect that has been sold as comedy or just as “normal”. I consume much more consciously and through a more meta lense. For reference: I’m turning 40 this year
I like to watch those old shows because they are reminders that we really have made significant progress in my lifetime.
I tried to rewatch John Tucker Must Die as something to have on in the background the other night, and wooow did that not hold up. I only made it to where they give him estrogen (which is insane and terrible) and he starts acting like a stereotypical “girl on her period” before I bailed. So many of the movies targeted at teenagers and young adults in that era are so bad. They went all in on punching down, and the amount of rape and sexual assault is wild in retrospect.
There are so many examples of anti trans sentiment in older comedy. Just about all of them hinging on the “you can always tell” myth and/or highlighting how obviously wrong and confused the poor trans people must be. For someone whose only exposure to trans people was that for a long time, I can’t begin to say how damaging and limiting that was.
There’s just a lot of anti trans stereotypes in media that I tolerated before. It’s a lot harder to turn a blind eye to it when people use the same misunderstandings to try and tell me I’m sick and confused and bad for just being myself these days
Old media has become such a minefield because there’s just so much awful stuff that went over my head at the time. I’m scared to recommend anything that I haven’t rewatched/reread in the past few years.
It wasn’t all bad, though. One of my favorite TV shows is Babylon 5, a 90’s sci-fi that I watched as it aired but hadn’t seen again until late last year. All I really remembered were the cool space battles and devious political maneuvering, but it turned out to also be an incredibly progressive show. One of the main characters is first introduced while wearing robes that appear to have been partially made from a trans pride flag!
I quit smoking pot and no longer enjoy the Spin Doctors. Well, that’s half true. I heard them straight one day and decided if that’s the kind of thing I like when I’m high, I should quit.
I can no longer make it through a show with a laugh track. They just spoil the flow.
While they don’t always ruin the thing, so many old shows, movies, and music have a ton of blatant racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. sprinkled in that makes it less enjoyable. South Park’s Chef Aid album has a song that is a combo of Crystal Method, Ozzy, DMX, and I think Wu Tang called Nowhere to Run. It is pretty awesome, except for DMX inserting a few homophobic lines. That asshole ruined a great song!
Overall I notice mean jokes and cruel humor, which is still around to some extent but far less often without the person making the joke clearly an asshole. Stuff like Mel Brooks that included some humor about groups that were frequently mocked, but in a way that is mostly self aware parody, aged pretty well.
Mel Brooks
aged pretty well
Some stuff, yeah, but then you have Blazing Saddles. Woof.
Blazing Saddles is the epitome of Mel Brooks humor that has aged well. It’s an amazing satire of racism that is still on point for today (unfortunately).
Huh, I had the opposite reaction. I see your point about satirizing racism, but I couldn’t get past the gratuitous n-bombs every other line.
Tell me you don’t understand satire without saying you don’t understand satire.
If that’s what you got from my comment, you really shouldn’t be participating in this comment thread. Please leave the conversations for the grownups in the room, thanks.
