When it comes to media and television, everybody has guilty pleasures. Things that you watch that you know aren't necessarily "good" or "popular" but you still enjoy it anyway. Even I'm guilty of it-especially so. One of these, for myself, for the longest time, has been the internet commentary show Tosh.0.
Tosh.0 is one of those shows that can be incredibly indicative of North Americans as both a media producing and media consuming society. The show is explicit and unforgiving and can be cruel, violent, and disgusting when it wants to be (Which is to say, always...). It also simultaneously, at times, displays a degree of genuine truth in it's shock humor and biting vulgarity.
As for what it says about us, it is very plain in displaying what we enjoy as a media reliant society. While many people may put on a kind face and pretend to be averse to humor relating to thing like racism, rape, disability or gore, Tosh.0 deals it in spades and yet still maintained a healthy fanbase in mainstream media. This is because, as much we may deny or ignore it, we are a society that enjoys laughing at the pain of others, taboo topics, and things you probably shouldn't talk about in a professional setting.
 |
| Comedy at its purest |
For example, Daniel Tosh's show consists mostly of himself riffing off, commenting on, and insulting viral videos on the internet. Most of the videos revolve around people getting into fights, or accidents, by their own fault or not, but all usually end in what the audience can assume is at least mild injury. His jokes are always insulting, often citing the person's stupidity for doing those things in the first place. It makes up a large section of the show and is never anywhere near nice or SFW and yet even I often find it hard not to laugh.
You can see for yourself here; beware of pop-up ads, of course. (http://putlocker.is/watch-tosh0-tvshow-season-4-episode-7-online-free-putlocker.html ).
Not even Tosh or the others who work on the show are safe from pain and humiliation. Regularly, the show's staff and often Tosh himself are put through ridiculous situations and inconveniences for the sake of a joke, whether through Tosh's pranks or ridiculous stunts. He himself even takes a bowling ball rolled down a water-slide to the crotch for the sake of a bit, with a massive bruise to show for it. Normally, some might take this kind of treatment and behavior as something to be concerned about, but here, the audience loves it and no joke is too far.
In the end, our enjoyment of these kinds of things beg one important question: Does it make us bad people to enjoy this kind entertainment? Many people debate this, some believing that the enjoyment of this kind of media makes us bad people.
I for one dispute this; while laughing at and making fun of things like this may not make us good people, I don't believe it makes us bad necessarily. In fact, I believe it can be healthy not just individually to laugh at these kinds of things and make the kind of jokes that Daniel Tosh and those like him make. If difficult or taboo things like this are avoided and ignored it becomes harder and harder to talk about them when it becomes necessary. If we can't as a society or individuals learn to discuss and even laugh at the hard things then we build barriers between us and the important issues, whether it's rape or how funny we find someone lighting themselves on fire through their own stupidity. In the end, our choices of entertainment within the media may shine a more negative light on us as people, but I believe it's a necessary one none the less.
 |
| Laugh through the pain. It's better than crying or talking about the weather |
No comments:
Post a Comment