Too Far? Family Guy’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial ‘Joke’
by Glynnis MacNicol 11:08 pm, May 16th, 2010Here’s what happens: On a search to find the source of all dirty jokes (which eventually leads them to Virginia) Peter, Quagmire, and Joe pass through Washington, DC where they see the Washington Monument, the Obama Monument (it’s black) and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This is the part that is going to ruffle some feathers. Standing in front of the Memorial are two Vietnam Vets and a Vietnamese man who calls the Memorial a “scoreboard” and says “aw, what happened to your friends? Hey I know that guy, I killed him, he cried like a bitch. Vietnam! Undefeated!”
I just watched the whole thing as distasteful as the show is, wondering what the point would be to actually think something like this would be funny. Aside from the fact these cartoon characters were in a car, traveling where they couldn't see the Wall anyway, it is beyond reason they would be able to hear any kind of conversation at the Wall. The "writer" must have never visited it. It stands to reason he never understood it either. It's even a sure bet these "creators" wouldn't know what to say if they ever met a Vietnam veteran.
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I wonder what if they would repeat the joke Memorial Day weekend when the Nam Knights and other motorcycle groups show up to honor the Wall and all the names on it they call a "scoreboard!"
These pictures are from last year and just about as many will be there this year too!
A while ago I wrote a blurb about humor. It covered what I thought were the contributing factors behind how our brain handles jokes and things that do not generally fit.
ReplyDeleteI first identified a few things that generally resulted in a humorous situation. One or more of the following factors were involved:
1a) It doesn't make any rational sense, isn't logical, or it is simply incomprehensible.
1b) Something being "wrong" or contradictory to a particular social belief.
2) You can relate to it in some way, and it has a grain of truth to it, and it has something inconsistent or odd with it.
3) Its a vivid over-exaggeration of something
4) Interesting forms of pain, misfortune.
5) Something unexpected.
6) Exposing of faults, or humor at someone's expense.
Without getting too deep into it, I will just go ahead and jump to the conclusion I drew. I found that when your brain encounters something that doesn't fit into our reality (absurd in some way), our mind processes it off as something funny. This is especially true with "shock value" humor.
Now, of course where you might be predisposed to not find it funny if you find it too morally reprehensible. Anything that causes a deeply negative emotional response is not going to make you laugh.
Now, while I'm not condoning Family Guy here, they are following a very successful formula. We have Factor #1b (the joke was socially unacceptable), #2 (the historical events did occur), #3 (it was a stereotype of vietnam and American nationalism), #4 (focused on a specific misfortune), and #5 as it was completely out of the blue (like pretty much every joke in the show).
Now, obviously this type of show is offensive to a lot of people. My nationality has been made fun of on several occasions, and they've made fun of things I didn't like either. I can only imagine this joke would piss a veteran off.
With that in mind though, jokes are often at someone's expense. This doesn't mean that the people who laugh at these jokes don't respect veterans or have no empathy towards them. I'd say that this joke probably was very successful partially because so many people "knew it was wrong"... As long as they didn't know anyone who suffered from the war, it wasn't "real" enough to bring forth any feelings of distastefulness.
For the record, I have the utmost respect for veterans... and I'm sure things like this can seem horrible... and to some degree it is... but I think its just the nature of humor. By now, I'm sure there are a lot of blonde's, "polaks" and priests who feel slighted in the same way..
Thank you for trying to explain it to me but a joke like that about the Wall being a scoreboard is sick especially for the veterans and the families. The fact this Wall causes people from all over the country to travel on motorcycles every year by the hundreds of thousands to pay tribute and then have this cartoon call the Wall a scoreboard just shows someone's sense of humor trumps what that Wall means. Like I said in the post, I'd like to see the writers repeat the joke in front of a Nam Knight or any of the members of Rolling Thunder. They have a right to say whatever they want but so does everyone else. There are many jokes I find distasteful but they don't bother me very much. This one was as disgusting as they come but that's just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteOh man lighten up the show is hilarious
ReplyDeleteits disrespectful
DeleteThat is a matter of opinion. I don't think it is funny at all. The question is, why does this post bother you since it has been up so long?
ReplyDelete