http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrfqn7QsILE
I’ve recently gotten caught up with an independent, rather low budget, television show called Trailer Park Boys. The show surrounds a trio of alcoholic living in a Canadian trailer park, and follows their path of destruction upon the people around them. Many of my peers have a distinct love-hate relationship with the show. Some think it is genius, other question my intelligence just for being a fan. When considering what truly draws me to these 24-minute portions of buffoonery, it is a majority the lack of any real substance. The characters are obscene and profane as much as possible if not more, and treat their own friends like the scum of the earth. Similar to HBO’s Eastbound & Down, Trailer Park Boys relies on its usage of absurd concepts and farfetched pitches, along with its constant explicit content. After completing the shows entire collection, and movie, through Netflix dedication, I have stepped back and asked myself just why I have this obsession. Is it because I love to laugh at these idiotic characters? Do I feel that for some odd reason I share similarities with their ridiculous antics? Or is my attention truly grabbed by material with the substance of monkeys in a zoo? Either way as much as it hurts to love such nonsense, I can’t help laugh when I see Ricky ruining the lives of everyone around him. – C.S. Craig Shepherd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrfqn7QsILE
Good questions for yourself. You mention this in the context of Eastbound and Down. How do you think these shows project issues of social class? Are they unique? Are a lot of shows (reality or fiction) doing the same? Do you think this could have anything to do with your enjoyment?
ReplyDeleteI feel this way about a lot of the television I watch. I kind of feel bad when I watch things that I criticize and know that they are not funny but I still laugh extremely hard. It is perplexing because the creators of these shows know that we will laugh at these things because they are wrong. However, that is the exact reason we should not.
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