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The self-censorship point is completely ridiculous, and borders on complaining about "cancel culture'. It literally mentions Superbad as an example of a film th

The self-censorship point is completely ridiculous, and borders on complaining about "cancel culture'. It literally mentions Superbad as an example of a film that can't be made today, entirely ignoring that it got a spiritual successor two years ago in Booksmart, which was amazingly funny without punching down.

JKCalhoun 5y ago
Agree. Something like "Borat" could totally be made today. I'm not sure what they are on about.
- TylerGlaiel 5y ago
  yeah, they literally made a borat sequel last year. Eric Andre also released a very borat-inspired movie recently that was also great. its a dumb point
  - OhSoHumble 5y ago
    I'm neither for or against the author's argument. However, he addresses the fact that a Borat sequel was made by saying that it succeeded because the director is already successful and it's a sequel to an already successful comedy. I don't think the author's argument is that comedies can't be made but more that we're seeing less of them because there is more cultural friction today and that prevents aspiring directors from branching out.
    - sellyme 5y ago
      > I don't think the author's argument is that comedies can't be made They literally say "Borat could not be made today". Trying to justify that in a footnote has the same energy as advertising "Our product cures cancer*" and then having "*no it doesn't" on the back of the box. It's just an egregiously false statement. Maybe that wasn't their argument - they do emphasise the importance of being an established director, and that's a fair thing to assess. But when someone finds themselves having to add a footnote saying "When I said this couldn't be made today, I was ignoring that it was", that should probably be a hint that the argument actually being presented is pretty poor.
    - JKCalhoun 5y ago
      My take is that comedies don't play in China. They're making movies that they can package up for a world market. Comedies are local.
    - TylerGlaiel 5y ago
      ya and I addressed that by also mentioning the eric andre movie, which has a lot of the same energy as Borat did
Arainach 5y ago
Agreed. One of the canonical versions of this meme is "you couldn't make Blazing Saddles today", which is utter nonsense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzMFoNZeZm0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzMFoNZeZm0
- mnky9800n 5y ago
  That's a reasonable video but I feel like it could have been half as long
- smsm42 5y ago
  Looks like the author of the video misses the point by about a mile, taking it in the most literal sense possible. His argument is basically "yes, you couldn't make Blazing Saddles today because it was playing off the contemporary popularity of Western and its tropes, and since that is long gone, repeating it in a literal sense, as a Western parody, would be a no go now, because nobody cares anymore about Westerns". Which as I said, misses the point about a mile - the point is not about recreating the same movie, it's about making the same kind of movie - the movie pushing the boundaries and being as offensive as possible on purpose, the movie highlighting the hot topics not by solemnly lecturing the viewer, but by lampooning the hell out of it. The refutation of this point would be to provide an example of current irreverent offense-to-11 lampooning of current tropes-de-jour. I don't know - Marvel movies? Woke diversity-inclusion drama? Something else? So the author is right - nobody wants to literally make the same movie today, because the same movie is already have been made! It's however a prime example of being right on technicality and completely wrong on substance - the point is not to make a copy of Blazing Saddles, the point is making that kind of irreverent and boundless satire, which is appropriate in all times and all societies - but I can't see how Woke Hollywood could ever make something like that. Another argument is "but we don't submit to every woke demand and not everybody is getting cancelled" - of course not! If Hollywood tried to submit to every woke demand and avoid every complaint from twitter mob, no movie would be ever made at all. Of course, there's a lot of complaints that are ignored. That doesn't exclude the fact that there are clear boundaries where Woke Hollywood would never dare to tread. And irreverent no-holds-barred satire of the Blazing Saddles mold is out of these boundaries. Next argument is "well, there are stand-up comics and they aren't thrown in jail". Yeah, sure, we're not there yet. But we also not where we were when Blazing Saddles was made. We're somewhere in between the one and the other. And we're moving away from the Blazing Saddles.
deleted 5y ago
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JKCalhoun 5y ago

Agree. Something like "Borat" could totally be made today. I'm not sure what they are on about.

TylerGlaiel 5y ago
yeah, they literally made a borat sequel last year. Eric Andre also released a very borat-inspired movie recently that was also great. its a dumb point
- OhSoHumble 5y ago
  I'm neither for or against the author's argument. However, he addresses the fact that a Borat sequel was made by saying that it succeeded because the director is already successful and it's a sequel to an already successful comedy. I don't think the author's argument is that comedies can't be made but more that we're seeing less of them because there is more cultural friction today and that prevents aspiring directors from branching out.
  - sellyme 5y ago
    > I don't think the author's argument is that comedies can't be made They literally say "Borat could not be made today". Trying to justify that in a footnote has the same energy as advertising "Our product cures cancer*" and then having "*no it doesn't" on the back of the box. It's just an egregiously false statement. Maybe that wasn't their argument - they do emphasise the importance of being an established director, and that's a fair thing to assess. But when someone finds themselves having to add a footnote saying "When I said this couldn't be made today, I was ignoring that it was", that should probably be a hint that the argument actually being presented is pretty poor.
  - JKCalhoun 5y ago
    My take is that comedies don't play in China. They're making movies that they can package up for a world market. Comedies are local.
  - TylerGlaiel 5y ago
    ya and I addressed that by also mentioning the eric andre movie, which has a lot of the same energy as Borat did

Arainach 5y ago

Agreed. One of the canonical versions of this meme is "you couldn't make Blazing Saddles today", which is utter nonsense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzMFoNZeZm0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzMFoNZeZm0

mnky9800n 5y ago
That's a reasonable video but I feel like it could have been half as long
smsm42 5y ago
Looks like the author of the video misses the point by about a mile, taking it in the most literal sense possible. His argument is basically "yes, you couldn't make Blazing Saddles today because it was playing off the contemporary popularity of Western and its tropes, and since that is long gone, repeating it in a literal sense, as a Western parody, would be a no go now, because nobody cares anymore about Westerns". Which as I said, misses the point about a mile - the point is not about recreating the same movie, it's about making the same kind of movie - the movie pushing the boundaries and being as offensive as possible on purpose, the movie highlighting the hot topics not by solemnly lecturing the viewer, but by lampooning the hell out of it. The refutation of this point would be to provide an example of current irreverent offense-to-11 lampooning of current tropes-de-jour. I don't know - Marvel movies? Woke diversity-inclusion drama? Something else? So the author is right - nobody wants to literally make the same movie today, because the same movie is already have been made! It's however a prime example of being right on technicality and completely wrong on substance - the point is not to make a copy of Blazing Saddles, the point is making that kind of irreverent and boundless satire, which is appropriate in all times and all societies - but I can't see how Woke Hollywood could ever make something like that. Another argument is "but we don't submit to every woke demand and not everybody is getting cancelled" - of course not! If Hollywood tried to submit to every woke demand and avoid every complaint from twitter mob, no movie would be ever made at all. Of course, there's a lot of complaints that are ignored. That doesn't exclude the fact that there are clear boundaries where Woke Hollywood would never dare to tread. And irreverent no-holds-barred satire of the Blazing Saddles mold is out of these boundaries. Next argument is "well, there are stand-up comics and they aren't thrown in jail". Yeah, sure, we're not there yet. But we also not where we were when Blazing Saddles was made. We're somewhere in between the one and the other. And we're moving away from the Blazing Saddles.

deleted 5y ago

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