36 ms·

The Onion defends right to parody in Supreme Court brief

99 points by mgbmtl 4y ago

hulitu 4y ago
> The court’s decision suggests that parodists are in the clear only if they pop the balloon in advance by warning their audience that their parody is not true. Finally. Of course journalists do not need to warn anyone. I suggest next step is to force Hollywood to issue a warning before every parody movie. Or better before every comedy. Laughing is dangerous. Violence is fine.
- Joker_vD 4y ago
  > I suggest next step is to force Hollywood to issue a warning before every parody movie. Or better before every comedy. It's, uh, already a thing? You know, that "This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental" disclaimer you see in every movie and even video games?
  - hobofan 4y ago
    Which is usually part of the credits and not the title screen (_before_ vs. _after_ the consumed work).
    - Joker_vD 4y ago
      Some films put it in the opening titles. As for videogames — GTA V, for example, has "The content of this videogame is purely fictional, is not intended to represent or depict any actual event, person, or entity, and any such similarities are purely coincidental. The makers and publishers of this videogame do not in any way endorse, condone, or encourage engaging in any conduct depicted in this videogame" disclaimer on its second loading screen, right after the initial splash screen with Rockstar's logo. Notice especially the second sentence about game makers not endorsing whatever behaviour is depicted in the game. The first sentence, by the way, is patently false because GTA Online features a character "Dr. Dre", voiced by Dr. Dre — no way it was "purely coincidental".
    - thegreatdukd 4y ago
      It's usually as the dark screen intro to the actual video. Not sure whether I've ever seen it as the end credits.
  - jhbadger 4y ago
    Of course some films like Fargo (1996) went the opposite direction, claiming in the introductory text that it was "based on a true story which happened in 1987" which drove people crazy trying to figure out what real 1987 event it was based on before the Coen Brothers finally admitted that they were just messing with the audience.
    - ben_w 4y ago
      When I was a kid, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen was found in the "True Stories" section of my local VHS rental. Also took child-me far too long to realise the "Famous Historian" scene and the witch/duck trial in Monty Python and the Holy Grail wasn't supposed to be real.
    - bena 4y ago
      My favorite "based on a true story" film is Hidalgo (2004). It's about a guy who takes a mustang horse to some multi-day desert race in the Middle East. He wins, gets a bunch of money, buys a shitload of mustangs and frees them all. And it really happened... ish. Like, the guy the movie is based on, he did tell that story. But the actual race, never happened. There's no record of the guy ever setting foot in that part of the world. But yeah, he did tell the story in that movie.
      - jhbadger 4y ago
        We are beginning to realize that many of the events of Catch Me If You Can (2002), despite being based on the memoirs of conman Frank Abagnale, never happened. Abagnale was even a conman about the cons he performed.
  - TeeMassive 4y ago
    They're not obligated to do that. But lawsuits cost money.
ZeroGravitas 4y ago
I like the Onion. But some of the Babylon Bee 'satire' I see shared around is basically indistinguishable from 'fake news' since the audience has already been primed with fake news. I don't really see any harm in having some kind of safeword for fake news, when no deception is intended, similar to the 555 phone numbers in films, something that tips you off if presented out of context. I'm sure I've seen several sub-reddits where satire submissions need tagged because otherwise the conversation is derailed by people who don't understand the satire. Almost every "this is why the libs are crazy" style comment I see here on HN is a response to a satire comment from someone who they agree with politically. Satire is great, inventing a shared false reality by accident is less cool. https://www.reddit.com/r/AteTheOnion/comments/rx0kbw/people_getting_stung_by_babylon_bee/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AteTheOnion/comments/rx0kbw/people_...
- revolvingocelot 4y ago
  You think they're doing this by accident?
  - ZeroGravitas 4y ago
    Yeah, there's some trolls but the Babylon Bee folk seem to be genuine, as far as I can tell, even though I find their content unpleasant, unfunny and dangerous even as satire: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/06/babylon-bee-satire-from-right.html https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/06/babylon-bee-sati...
    - junofan 4y ago
      Dangerous? Come on.
      - ZeroGravitas 4y ago
        Yes. https://babylonbee.com/news/are-you-a-fascist-know-the-signs https://babylonbee.com/news/are-you-a-fascist-know-the-signs Is this satire or are they just genuinely angry about stuff that isn't really happening? Hard to tell. > You have more than one kid and you love being a parent: Dedication to the family is a distraction from service to the state. Just abort, you fascist – don't you want to be liberated?
cafard 4y ago
The brief itself is already on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33072030 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33072030
nyokodo 4y ago
You know the Kingdom is sliding towards tyranny when the Court Jester is arrested for doing his job.
pdonis 4y ago
The Onion's actual amicus brief is here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-293/242292/20221003125252896_35295545_1-22.10.03%20-%20Novak-Parma%20-%20Onion%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-293/242292/2022... Section 1 is hilarious.
- jarbus 4y ago
  This is golden

99 points by mgbmtl 4y ago

> The court’s decision suggests that parodists are in the clear only if they pop the balloon in advance by warning their audience that their parody is not true. Finally. Of course journalists do not need to warn anyone. I suggest next step is to force Hollywood to issue a warning before every parody movie. Or better before every comedy. Laughing is dangerous. Violence is fine.

Joker_vD 4y ago
> I suggest next step is to force Hollywood to issue a warning before every parody movie. Or better before every comedy. It's, uh, already a thing? You know, that "This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental" disclaimer you see in every movie and even video games?
- hobofan 4y ago
  Which is usually part of the credits and not the title screen (_before_ vs. _after_ the consumed work).
  - Joker_vD 4y ago
    Some films put it in the opening titles. As for videogames — GTA V, for example, has "The content of this videogame is purely fictional, is not intended to represent or depict any actual event, person, or entity, and any such similarities are purely coincidental. The makers and publishers of this videogame do not in any way endorse, condone, or encourage engaging in any conduct depicted in this videogame" disclaimer on its second loading screen, right after the initial splash screen with Rockstar's logo. Notice especially the second sentence about game makers not endorsing whatever behaviour is depicted in the game. The first sentence, by the way, is patently false because GTA Online features a character "Dr. Dre", voiced by Dr. Dre — no way it was "purely coincidental".
  - thegreatdukd 4y ago
    It's usually as the dark screen intro to the actual video. Not sure whether I've ever seen it as the end credits.
- jhbadger 4y ago
  Of course some films like Fargo (1996) went the opposite direction, claiming in the introductory text that it was "based on a true story which happened in 1987" which drove people crazy trying to figure out what real 1987 event it was based on before the Coen Brothers finally admitted that they were just messing with the audience.
  - ben_w 4y ago
    When I was a kid, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen was found in the "True Stories" section of my local VHS rental. Also took child-me far too long to realise the "Famous Historian" scene and the witch/duck trial in Monty Python and the Holy Grail wasn't supposed to be real.
  - bena 4y ago
    My favorite "based on a true story" film is Hidalgo (2004). It's about a guy who takes a mustang horse to some multi-day desert race in the Middle East. He wins, gets a bunch of money, buys a shitload of mustangs and frees them all. And it really happened... ish. Like, the guy the movie is based on, he did tell that story. But the actual race, never happened. There's no record of the guy ever setting foot in that part of the world. But yeah, he did tell the story in that movie.
    - jhbadger 4y ago
      We are beginning to realize that many of the events of Catch Me If You Can (2002), despite being based on the memoirs of conman Frank Abagnale, never happened. Abagnale was even a conman about the cons he performed.
- TeeMassive 4y ago
  They're not obligated to do that. But lawsuits cost money.

ZeroGravitas 4y ago

I like the Onion. But some of the Babylon Bee 'satire' I see shared around is basically indistinguishable from 'fake news' since the audience has already been primed with fake news. I don't really see any harm in having some kind of safeword for fake news, when no deception is intended, similar to the 555 phone numbers in films, something that tips you off if presented out of context. I'm sure I've seen several sub-reddits where satire submissions need tagged because otherwise the conversation is derailed by people who don't understand the satire. Almost every "this is why the libs are crazy" style comment I see here on HN is a response to a satire comment from someone who they agree with politically. Satire is great, inventing a shared false reality by accident is less cool. https://www.reddit.com/r/AteTheOnion/comments/rx0kbw/people_getting_stung_by_babylon_bee/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AteTheOnion/comments/rx0kbw/people_...

revolvingocelot 4y ago
You think they're doing this by accident?
- ZeroGravitas 4y ago
  Yeah, there's some trolls but the Babylon Bee folk seem to be genuine, as far as I can tell, even though I find their content unpleasant, unfunny and dangerous even as satire: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/06/babylon-bee-satire-from-right.html https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/06/babylon-bee-sati...
  - junofan 4y ago
    Dangerous? Come on.
    - ZeroGravitas 4y ago
      Yes. https://babylonbee.com/news/are-you-a-fascist-know-the-signs https://babylonbee.com/news/are-you-a-fascist-know-the-signs Is this satire or are they just genuinely angry about stuff that isn't really happening? Hard to tell. > You have more than one kid and you love being a parent: Dedication to the family is a distraction from service to the state. Just abort, you fascist – don't you want to be liberated?

cafard 4y ago

The brief itself is already on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33072030 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33072030

nyokodo 4y ago

You know the Kingdom is sliding towards tyranny when the Court Jester is arrested for doing his job.

pdonis 4y ago

The Onion's actual amicus brief is here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-293/242292/20221003125252896_35295545_1-22.10.03%20-%20Novak-Parma%20-%20Onion%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-293/242292/2022... Section 1 is hilarious.

jarbus 4y ago
This is golden