Zack and Miri make a Porno

[Fritz Ashlyn]

Make fun if you will, Draco. We all know it's your response to all difficult questions.

Draco

...

Anyway, I still think you're overreacting. 10 years ago was 1998, man, and 90s comedies were all about crude humor. Hell, the 80s was all about the good old 'teen sex comedy' when they could get away with showing boobs without an automatic R rating. Tell me, what did the release of "Porky's" in 1982 "say about our society"? What did making a joke about confusing semen with hair gel in "There's Something About Mary" in 1998 "say about our society"?

A Kevin Smith comedy is going to have raunchy humor without being very graphic. Clerks II had a donkey show as part of the plot, for God's sakes, and it was hilarious. This movie is "Zack and Miri Make a Porno", not "Zack and Miri Make a Porno and We're Going to Show You Every Single Explicit Second of It". The "make a porno" part is just a vehicle for humor, not the focus of the movie. They do funny things while trying to make a low-budget porno to make a quick buck.

[G.Squirrel]

^ You said my second point much better than I did.

Maybe outcry wasn't the right choice of words. What I meant was that a movie about making porn is coming out, and no one is batting an eyelash. Not even some housewife in California with way too much time on her hands is saying anything. Five years ago, everyone mom in America would be pissed if this movie was coming out. Ten years ago, they'd be marching in the streets.

the ad agency promoting Zack and Miri have removed the "Make a Porno" part of the title from all television ads.

I don't have anything against this movie (even though I think the very idea is repulsive), I'm just worried about what it says about our society. It's not that someone's making the movie, its that it's being advertised in broad daylight and on channels that a lot of younger teens and older kids watch (the 12-14 age range, really). It seems to me like we're saying to our kids porn is okay.

How is this any different from the eighties, when movies such as Porkies or Animal House were advertised extensively on television when TV was even less regulated? It doesn't really say anything about our society, just that adults like the occasional raunchy comedy from time to time.

[Folken Fanel]

Eh, I can see that I'm beat. I wasn't even around for the eighties, and for the most part of the nineties I wasn't capable of making observations about society. Embarrassment is all I ever get when I try to sound intelligent.

[ShadowCell]

I don't understand how anyone who spends any significant length of time on the Internet could possibly be offended by this movie.

I mean, didn't you see that video about the girls and the cup? The day that starts showing up in the mainstream media is the day I weep for the death of Western society.

[Areku]

I don't understand how anyone who spends any significant length of time on the Internet could possibly be offended by this movie.

I mean, didn't you see that video about the girls and the cup? The day that starts showing up in the mainstream media is the day I weep for the death of Western society.

Believe it or not, it is possible to avoid stuff like that. Past a certain point, as you spend more time on the internet, it gets easier to identify that stuff before you see it.

It's not that someone's making the movie, its that it's being advertised in broad daylight and on channels that a lot of younger teens and older kids watch (the 12-14 age range, really).

This I can agree with. I'm not naive enough to think that this will be new to most of those kids, but... yeah, I still don't like that aspect of this movie's ad campaign. And in response to what SC said, this stuff isn't acceptable just because there's worse stuff out there.

[Xanadu]

Well w/e comedy or not, well really the fact that it's a supposed to be a comedy about making a porno just makes it kinda dumber...here this guy on a different site said it much better then I could.
[QUOTE=Heavenknight,Oct 25 2008, 08:58 PM]It's designed like many newer "comedies" to remove moral inhibitions from the public by making the obscene and the bizarre humorous. I don't plan on watching this "film".[/QUOTE]

[aberrance]

Well w/e comedy or not, well really the fact that it's a supposed to be a comedy about making a porno just makes it kinda dumber...here this guy on a different site said it much better then I could.

It's designed like many newer "comedies" to remove moral inhibitions from the public by making the obscene and the bizarre humorous. I don't plan on watching this "film".

That guy is an idiot.

It's a fucking satyrical movie. Boohoo, it's about making a porno. Your parents probably made one too. How about you watch it, then judge it with like....an informed opinion?

[ShadowCell]

For Christ's sake, guys, lighten up. If the only purpose of this thread is to bemoan the existence of a movie you haven't seen, then I'm just going to kill it.

[Kishiria]

I think we should be more concerned with the state of our society when a movie ike this is accepted by the public with no real outcry.

Consider this plotline:

The women of some warring countries decide that the only way to end hostilities is to dress up provocatively and then deny sex to their soldier menfolk. They form a pact to do this and it works when their men start to suffer from being denied.

The name of this production is Lysistrata, it does get raunchy, and it's from 411 B.C.E.

Pipicaca humour's been with us since humans started writing. The concept of things having to be squeaky clean is new, starting in the late 19th century.

[Xanadu]

Your parents probably made one too.?

wtc is wrong with you, I kinda doubt there are anywhere near the ammount of messed up people in the world to say that everyone's parents made a porno.
And it really says a lot about this site that the whole site is excited about a "comedy" about ppl making a porno...

[Chris]

Your parents probably made one too.?

wtc is wrong with you, I kinda doubt there are anywhere near the ammount of messed up people in the world to say that everyone's parents made a porno.
And it really says a lot about this site that the whole site is excited about a "comedy" about ppl making a porno...

You need to just shut up because you're trolling right now. If you can't deal with some dumb comedy that makes fun of porno movies and feel so uptight about this, you shouldn't have started this thread in the first place or gotten involved in the discussion.

[Sleepneeded127]

WTF this movies was GREAT! one of Kevin Smiths best yet. every one in the theater was laughing the whole time,

[thanatos]

While I'm sure that a movie about making a porno could be hilarious, I refuse to watch another movie featuring Seth Rogan. Knocked Up was simply to much agony to bear.

Seth Rogan should stick to writing since it worked out well for him in Superbad and, to a certain extent, Ali G.

[J-Lead]

Considering my trip through this thread was like watching a Fox News report on the movie, I found the film to be rather funny. It's nice to see Kevin Smith going away from his established characters once in awhile.

[Kenji]

Once again, we have the humorously long tail of the Puritans: "Violence is okay, but sex isn't," which for some people extends to "even to joke about." Sex is often funny, both sex and funny are a major part of life, art reflects life, and the fact that some people would choose their distorted worldviews over reality boggles my mind.

Anyway, when I get around to it, I'd like to see this. Seems like it'll be funny and Elizabeth Banks is hella hot.

[ShadowCell]

...what, and violence isn't funny? =P

[Areku]

Once again, we have the humorously long tail of the Puritans: "Violence is okay, but sex isn't," which for some people extends to "even to joke about." Sex is often funny, both sex and funny are a major part of life, art reflects life, and the fact that some people would choose their distorted worldviews over reality boggles my mind.

Where did anyone say "violence is okay"? If you're referring to the criticism towards the ad campaign, that's null and void (and the rest of my post operates on the presumption that this is what you're referring to). I disapprove of R-rated violence being shown on channels with younger viewer audiences as well, but there's not much point in complaining here when the problem is so wide spread (not to mention unrelated to this topic, until you dragged it in). Who are you to say that parents are wrong because they don't want their children to see commercials for this movie? (And yes, that would be part and parcel to your comment on "distorted Puritan views".)

Like I said, I don't have anything against the concept of this movie, I just don't like it and am not interested in it. Is it really mind boggling that some people don't share your tastes?

[Kenji]

Oh, not at all. Taste is taste and it's not shared throughout. And I really wasn't referring to anyone on this board in particular (despite what you seem to think), but there is a general double standard in regards to violence and sex. That's the way it is, it is a twisted thing by my definitions (since violence is far worse than sex, even sex as a commodity, by my personal estimation), and there's really nothing to it beyond that.

Is it really so wrong that I find this double standard so absurd and humorous? Or that I have my own theories on where this double standard originated from, culturally?

[Areku]

Oh, not at all. Taste is taste and it's not shared throughout. And I really wasn't referring to anyone on this board in particular (despite what you seem to think), but there is a general double standard in regards to violence and sex. That's the way it is, it is a twisted thing by my definitions (since violence is far worse than sex, even sex as a commodity, by my personal estimation), and there's really nothing to it beyond that.

Is it really so wrong that I find this double standard so absurd and humorous? Or that I have my own theories on where this double standard originated from, culturally?

Like I said, I was posting under the presumption you were referring to something already in this topic, mostly because I don't see why you would drag "sex vs violence" into this topic, seeing as violence has nothing to do with this movie. Yes, I agree that there is a double standard. I just don't see how it has anything to do with Zack & Miri unless in the context of the discussion on the ad campaign or if you were talking about anyone in this topic in particular, which you just said you weren't referring to. So why bring it up?

[Kenji]

Like I said, I was posting under the presumption you were referring to something already in this topic, mostly because I don't see why you would drag "sex vs violence" into this topic, seeing as violence has nothing to do with this movie. Yes, I agree that there is a double standard. I just don't see how it has anything to do with Zack & Miri unless in the context of the discussion on the ad campaign or if you were talking about anyone in this topic in particular, which you just said you weren't referring to. So why bring it up?

I just happen to think that the general complaint about sexual content is usually linked to that double standard, since many (not all) would not have such a complaint over the violence in another trailer. That's the sole reason I brought it up, since it's a very common double standard that people partake in without even thinking about it (myself included). So, even though it's a tangential matter, it does have something to do with the discussion at hand.

That said, I honestly wasn't expecting anyone to actually respond to it beyond, well, what ShadowCell posted.