Is it teh funny? Discuss
Above is a YouTube video clip (link to it on YouTube here) from the cable comedy show Campus Ladies, an episode where the women research and then report to a class on the benefits of being "handicapped." Guest stars Janeane Garofalo.
This needs greater visual description, which I will add very soon. Here's the description from the Oxygen channel website:
When Joan and Barri's Sociology Professor asks his class to "live the life of someone struggling outside mainstream society," the Campus Ladies choose to be handicapped. But after Cassie Dipetrio (guest star Janeane Garofalo) befriends a wheelchair-bound Joan, the "perks" give her second thoughts.
Update: Okay, a visual/audio description. The clip is over four minutes long. It begins with the two women characters, Joan and Barri, getting out of an SUV where they've just parked at a curbside disabled access parking space. "We got the sweeeet spot Joannie!... And look where we are, right in front of the student store! The perks of being handicapped!" As they are chatting and getting an old Everest & Jennings manual out of the back of the vehicle, two young women come along and one of them says, "Excuse me. This spot is for handicapped people." Barri laughs a little and says, "Wellll, I don't know if you can tell, but my friend here is confined to a wheelchair." As she says this, Joan and she open the folded chair and Joan sits in it. Barri continues as she unfolds a white cane and puts away her dark sunglasses: "And I am legally blind." (Barri got out of the driver's seat of the SUV as the clip began.) The young women look at each other in amazement and shrug.
The scene switches to the inside of the student store where the women shop and chat:
"Do we get a discount? A handicapped discount?"
"We do, we get a huge quantity off just because we're (whispers) handicapped."
Joan is looking at tops hanging on a wall and gets out of the wheelchair to stand on the seat and reach for a shirt way up high. A woman (actor Janeane Garofalo) comes up to them in a manual chair, sees Joan, apparently surprised that she is out of the chair and can stand. She says, "Joan?"
When Joan and Barrie see her, they apparently know her and one of them says about Joan standing, "Hi Cassie, look it's-- Ohhh, it's a miracle! Oh, wait! Cassie!" Cassie wheels away quickly, upset. "Cassie! Cassie! Cassie!" they call after her. Barri: "Oh boy, I think she knows."
Joan sits back in the chair, shakes her head and says "Damn."
The scene switches again, this time to a college classroom where Barri and Joan are speaking to the other students while a male professor stands by and the listening students sit looking sceptical or frowning. The women finish each other's sentences in their enthusiasm: "There are so many perks to being handicapped, here are just some of them: Number one, they have whole special rooms and walkways devoted to handicapped people. Number two, you always get to park in a handicapped parking spot, even if you're blind and if you had a car, that's where you would park. Number three, you get super-duper discounts all over campus! I don't know if you guys know that. In the cafeteria, you always can get to the front of the line, and people always help you. Oh my gosh! Everyone's willing to carry your stuff, whether you're blind or in a wheelchair. You kind of have it made. So what we learned from being handicapped for a week, other than it was tremendous! Oh. My. Gosh! Did you guys have as much fun as we did? If you didn't have to lie to people and be dishonest, which we did with all the disabled kids on campus, and take advantage of a lot of stuff you wouldn't normally take advantage of... other than that it. was. out of sight! And what we learned overall is that handicapped people don't face nearly as many obstacles as you and I do in our daily life. They just cruise! It's excellent!"
Again the scene changes to what I believe is supposed to be a lounge area on campus for disabled students. Pictures on the wall show an empty wheelchair on a beach and another has crutches. There's a Foosball Table in the background and a half dozen students in the room. Janeane Garofalo's in her wheelchair in the center telling a young woman who uses a walker something about "I prefer you wear the helmet..." as Barri and Joan enter.
This is taking much more time than I expected, so a summary of the remaining dialogue: Barri and Joan apologize to the disabled students if they were offended, but assert that everyone is the same except that they (J & B) can run and see and escape buildings in earthquakes, etc. Joan's wheelchair is there, apparently having undergone some repairs and an heated discussion ensues where Joan says she's not sure she should take it back and Janeane's character repeatedly insists she can't have it back, they're not giving it to her. Joan doesn't appear to hear and keeps saying she can't accept it. Then the two mention donating money to make the campus "Snack Shack" wheelchair accessible and Janeane's frown becomes a smile.
One last scene occurs in the auditorium of some theater where the women use disabilities to get into the venue.
11 comments:
For some reason, the video isn't coming through on the newsfeed like it usually does... You might want to mention that it's there. (I only knew because I clicked through to comment!)
I'm afraid to watch it. I have a very bad feeling that it's going to remind me of precisely why I never watch television anymore. :-p I will try to make myself do so later anyway, and perhaps it'll be fodder for a nice rant on my own blog. ;)
I appreciate gimp humor, but that was so not funny.
Less than funny. I don't care for the implications at all...
how come it just doesn't seem quite right? have to agree with dawn.-frogger
That was not even close to being funny. I am so not amused!
I'm not at all familiar with this show, but I get the feeling it's one of those "jokes on them [as in the main characters] because they are so clueless shows." You know, one of those shows where everything that comes out of the character's mouth is supposed to be ironic because the character is so clueless. That being said, this clip is abhorrent. I am going to go ahead and assume it was written by someone who is AB and was trying to be clever. I feel like the problem is that those kind of jokes can't be made by someone who does not adequately grasp the privilege of being AB'ed (esp. when the actors playing the crips happen to be AB'ed themselves). Nor should those jokes be laughed at by people who have the privilege of being AB'ed. It would be like me telling a racist joke in order to be ironic - I know it's ironic and I don't really mean it, but it's still not ok because I have the privilege of being white. Any rate, this is a really interesting topic.
P.S. - the blog is back! There's not much up there right now, but now that finals are over I'll have some more time to write.
That was incredibly cringe-worthy. I'm not sure how I made it all the way through, but my hands covered my face for most of it. Yeesh.
One would have to be a simple-minded jellyfish to be offended by this sub-mediocre crap. I'm irritated knowing that the puppets at the Oxygen Channel likely patted themselves on their backs while bandying about words like "confrontational" and "edgy".
There's also a clip on YouTube of these same characters -- two middle-aged white women going back to college -- trying to join a black sorority. I would argue that clip is obnoxious for many of the same reasons, although the responses of the people the women insult are different. The black women repeatedly tell them off and try to explain how and why they are being incredibly rude, while the available clip of disabled folks does not show any disabled person speaking aloud and directly about their offensiveness. It's done with angry looks and repressed anger, then gratefulness at the charity instead. Maybe that's in the editing of the clip and not the content of the entire show, but it's telling either way.
IronJawedAngel: Good to see you after so long! Spot on with your comments, imo.
Too bad, since Janeane Garofalo is supposed to be a progressive and feminist, was on AirAmerica (might still be? But I don't get it in these parts any more, so I dunno) and has usually taken on strong female roles.
Do you think she meant it as "ironic"? Ugh.
And BTW, who caught the word CRIPPLE on LOST last week, used without irony, as a freaking NOUN?????? My friend argued that Sawyer (the character who said it) would probably say that kind of thing, but so what? Would the n-word get the okay from the network? "Faggot"? Sawyer would certainly say that one too. (((rolls eyes)))
Damn, I get so fed up.
My love for Garofalo cannot be hurt by this piece of bad comedy. I think AirAmerica died.
On LOST: Gah! I caught that too. And the reference that John wasn't a man while he was disabled. And the Others suspected he was their savior figure because he was healed mysteriously in the crash. Gah!
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