The Perry Bible Fellowship

Gurewitch, Nicholas. "Now Showing." The Perry Bible Fellowship. http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF209-Now_Showing.jpg. Accessed 3.29.09.

The Perry Bible Fellowship is a web comic that highlights absurdity or irony in mostly fictional settings and focuses heavily on the artistic aspects of the medium. Rarely does the strip express political views or attempt to change the reader’s opinions with a joke, but it sometimes makes observations about modern culture (this comic being one of those cases). This strip is obviously critiquing our society’s view of ancient wars and conflicts. Instead of learning any lessons from these historical events, the general populous seems to only want to see some stupefied and epic version of what was once a serious conflict. So the author turns it around on us. Instead of going to see a movie like Troy, people in the future may go to see a movie about World War II (which is an event still in the recent memory of our society) that is equally as shallow and nonsensical, and this hypocrisy is what allows for a humorous look at our culture.

The Soup: White Oprah

This E! Entertainment episode of The Soup, a weekly dose of edgy humorous commentary on pop culture and television, presents a preview of a fake new talk show hosted by Dina Lohan. “All of Lindsay’s friends call me ‘White Oprah’”, said Dina, a statement The Soup thought a riot in light of the many public problems in the Lohan family (anorexia, drug addiction, missing court dates, etc). The preview’s voice-over makes a joke out of the celebrity mom as qualified to counsel others by praising her marriage and how she raised her kids while images are juxtaposed of a scantily clad Lindsay partying and her husband in handcuffs.

This piece acts as a social corrective because of the harsh nature of the criticism about Dina’s job as a parent and role model. Some of the references seem like “low blows”—such as Dina’s expert status on “how to live vicariously through your child”. Because the studio audience laughed at Dina, the idea that celebrity lifestyle is based on corrupted morals is reinforced.

“White Oprah.” The Soup. Host Joel McHale. E! Entertainment. 15 Nov. 2006.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWMolBH1EUk&feature=channel>.

Extras

Ricky Gervais' follow-up to his original version of "The Office" was "Extras," the story of Andy Millman's (Gervais) pursuit of fame. Millman works as an extra on various movies being shot in England. As his career progresses he is offered bigger parts, such as theater roles and even the lead role in a low-brow sitcom. A recurring theme throughout the course of the series 12-episode run is Andy's desire to be famous while producing work he is actually proud of. Every episode of the show has various famous guest stars and they play parodies of themselves, further skewering what it means to be famous and successful. One example of this is Kate Winslet, who in the episode is playing the role of a nun during the Holocaust. She explains that the only reason she took the role was to win an Oscar. Ironically, in real life (nearly four years after Winslet's appearance on Extras), Kate Winslet won her first Academy Award for playing the role of a concentration camp guard during the Holocaust. At the end of the series, Millman learns what is truly important in life and re-examines his views on fame and celebrity.


Gervais, Ricky, and Stephen Merchant. "Kate Winslet." Extras. BBC-2. London, England. 4 Aug. 2005.

Weekend Update: Celebrity

These are two Saturday Night Live Weekend Update skits, both featuring Seth Meyers as the host. The first also stars Kenan Thompson as Charles Barkley. SNL, a sketch comedy show started in the mid-seventies which now airs every Saturday night at 11:30 pm, is well-known as a parody show, taking current events and trends and turning them on their heads. This first sketch, originally aired on 1/10/09, starts off with the political news of the week, followed by an in-depth interview with Sir Barkley on his recent traffic violation. The second clip, aired 2/7/09, is Seth's analysis of Michael Phelps marijuana scandal.

Barkley and Phelps are the latest in a line of celebrities to be skewered by the SNL crew for immature behavior. These sketches bring up the debate on how celebrities and potential role models ought to be punished for behavior that would probably go unnoticed if they were not famous. Any other young adult male, for example, could have used a bong profusely and not suffered the consequences, but Phels only did so once (to our knowledge) and is loosing millions of dollars because of it. While the Barkley sketch doesn't have much of a complete argument, Seth and the writers clearly see Phelps' treatment as too harsh. Meyers points out how ridiculous the standards are for Phelps, and how the 12-time-gold-medal-winner ought to be given a few breaks every now and then. As the show is aimed at Phelps' age group, the audience will probably tend to agree with them.

The Soup: Justin Gaston and Miley Cyrus

On E!’s television show The Soup, host Joel McHale is far from serious when he reports the daily happenings of Hollywood. He makes fun of anyone in the pubic eye like the Bush family or Al Roker. He raises questions like, “ Octo-Mom vs. Angelina Jolie: Who's the Hotter MILF?” and covers the important stories, such as, “Victoria Beckham's Inner Gay Man Speaks Out.” In this particular clip, McHale reports that Miley Cyrus and a possible boyfriend were seen holding hands at the mall, and reminisces about the good stories he used to report, citing Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.