When the real world gives us events that are too implausible for movies, then everything can be plausible. When so many people believe ridiculous things just because someone told them, they can't recognize satire when they see it. What does that do to movies? If the movie is done well enough, it means that audiences will tend to swallow anything, no matter how ridiculous it is, even when the subtext says "this is bull."
Take the 2000 movie American Psycho. It's a horrific slasher film, but it's also a satire and black comedy. The problem is that rather few of the people who saw it understood that. The main character, Patrick Bateman, is presented as an absurd stereotype of privilege, greed, and toxic masculinity, a caricature of a stereotype, actually. Horrifically, some guys saw Bateman as a role model, while other people saw him and recognized someone they knew. And many just enjoyed the suspense and violence. Sure, some cinemaphiles saw the satire in American Psycho, but not enough to make the film the cult hit it is today.
Monday, June 12, 2023
When the Audience Doesn't Get the Joke
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8 comments:
I didn't like or understand that film. If someone were able to explain what it was satirizing, it might make more sense to me.
It's satirizing masculinity, because men are compelled to be violent psychopaths.
The only reason women are ever allowed above the glass ceiling is to look up their skirt.
The ones without underwear get to stay longer before awarded a golden parachute or being ambushed before they can set an example by proving they're competent and capable.
If you read the book you'd realize this was not satire.
The book is not the movie.
Lol.. my joke didn't go over very well. You said in your article "they can't recognize satire when they see it" so I tried to make a joke to that effect because the two are so dramatically different. Oh well. I'll do better next time.
Sorry about that. I have never seen the movie, nor have I read the book.
No worries! Thank you for the long years of entertainment. And the movie was bad, but the book was horrific.
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