Amy Poehler's Rape Joke

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

""In `Into the Woods,' Cinderella runs from her prince, Rapunzel is thrown from her tower for her prince and Sleeping Beauty just thought that she was getting coffee with Bill Cosby"

[Ptolemy_Banana]

I laughed.

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

Jessica Chastain's reaction is priceless:

[Dr_Liszt]

You Americans are funny. That joke was mediocre at best. I think I'd be like that black dude in the audience, just staring at everyone going "wtf?!"



Disclaimer: I did not intended the last comment as an anti american trash talk. I just think those jokes at the award shows are not that good.

[Derived Absurdity]

Lame.

[Cinemachinery]

That didn't get me nearly as much as the "I put the pills in the drink..." bit.

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

That didn't get me nearly as much as the "I put the pills in the drink..." bit.

I found that joke pretty meh. Everyone does badBill Cosby impressions and this one was pretty bad.

[Anakin McFly]

You know how people ask why we can't make jokes about rape when we make jokes about other horrible things like murder? I used to wonder about that, and why I thought jokes about murder were awesome but those about rape were sickening, and I realised - it's rape jokes like these that are the actual equivalent, vs those where the punchline is basically just 'lol she got raped', where the humour relies entirely upon sympathising with the rapist at the expense of the victim.

[Ptolemy_Banana]

You know how people ask why we can't make jokes about rape when we make jokes about other horrible things like murder? I used to wonder about that, and why I thought jokes about murder were awesome but those about rape were sickening, and I realised - it's rape jokes like these that are the actual equivalent, vs those where the punchline is basically just 'lol she got raped', where the humour relies entirely upon sympathising with the rapist at the expense of the victim.

You think Poehler's joke was sympathising with Bill Cosby?

[Derived Absurdity]

That's not even remotely close to what he said. That is, in fact, the exact opposite of what he said.

[Cinemachinery]

I found that joke pretty meh. Everyone does badBill Cosby impressions and this one was pretty bad.

I think that was part of it, man - both were doing as bad an impersonation as possible. I actually found that funnier than the pills reference itself.

[Gendo]

DA is correct; Anakin was saying that unlike some other rape jokes, Poehler's does NOT rely upon sympathizing with the rapist at the expense of the victim.

However, I'm not sure if I agree. Not that I think the joke sympathizes with Cosby at all, but the punchline of the joke does seem to be "lol she got raped." I mean "getting a drink with Bill Cosby" in this case is the equivalent of "getting raped", and the joke here is that she's not just under a sleeping spell; she was given rape drugs.

[thesalmonofdoubt]

However, I'm not sure if I agree. Not that I think the joke sympathizes with Cosby at all, but the punchline of the joke does seem to be "lol she got raped." I mean "getting a drink with Bill Cosby" in this case is the equivalent of "getting raped", and the joke here is that she's not just under a sleeping spell; she was given rape drugs.

I'm pretty much with Gendo here - If I was one of Cosby's accusers I reckon I'd be a bit uncomfortable that my situation was being used as Golden Globe Joke fodder given the context of the joke. Not so much because of whether it sympathised with Cosby or not but more because it just feels like its trivializing the whole ordeal.

[Anakin McFly]

You think Poehler's joke was sympathising with Bill Cosby?

That was a poorly placed comma. :(

Not that I think the joke sympathizes with Cosby at all, but the punchline of the joke does seem to be "lol she got raped."

Yeah, good point. But there's something different about the approach, and feels akin to 'lol she got killed' in slapstick comedy. i.e. the ridiculous wrongness of the whole situation, vs the ridiculousness of the victim. There's also an implicit 'lol Bill Cosby is a horrible person, amiright?' in there. Whereas it feels like a lot of rape jokes implicitly side with the rapist and ridicule the victim, which creates a whole different dynamic. But Salmon also has a point that it might be seen as trivialising the ordeal. Comedy is hard to analyse.

[thesalmonofdoubt]

But Salmon also has a point that it might be seen as trivialising the ordeal. Comedy is hard to analyse.

Yeah - well, ain't that the truth but I think a good rule is, if there's doubt, then probably a better idea to act on the side of prudence than to risk reasonable offense.

If your audience is effectively, the entire world, then an extra dollop of prudence is appropriate.