I don't know why that isn't the kind of politically incorrect that gets you in trouble. Clearly, HBO means for us to laugh at the incomprehensibility of East Asian languages. ("It's something Chinese-y.") Remember when Rosie O'Donnell got in trouble for doing a crude imitation of Chinese?
ADDED: ""[I]n what many would consider heretical by Hollywood standards, the actors do not get their hair or makeup done. The existing overhead fluorescent bulbs serve as the only lighting set up."
"The three of us have joked that we are three of the bravest actresses in TV right now with no hair and no makeup," [Laurie] Metcalf says. "It's a luxury to not have to worry about it, but it's also a kick in the face - being willing to look like you've had a hard day on your feet."Metcalf (who played Roseanne's sister on the old "Roseanne" show) plays a doctor "who feels insulted by her assignment to the Billy Barnes unit. She wanted to be a medical-research star and is obsessed with collecting and analyzing feces, an ongoing metaphor for the show's bleak environment. The correct way to pick up an errant sample off a waiting room chair dominates an entire episode."
AND: Unlike all those TV hospital with that let "thin, beautiful, hyper-articulate doctors... demonstrate their intelligence and/or compassion""Getting On" gives "a trio of frumpy, middle-aged comediennes regular opportunities chance to be funny, unlikable and compelling."
Posts
28 comments:
It's the Chinaman tripwire.
The reason this one gets a pass is because no one is willing to attack a Black women as a racist.
That's funny. It's a cross between Lost in Translation and Gran Torino.
Language skills are valuable as ever.
I don't like compound stupid that results in awkward comedy. This is same special stupid that is "Modern Family".
When was the last time you saw a phone with a wired handset??
I was just watching A Christmas Story and they have a scene that makes fun of chines speaking English that is so hilarious.
The movie is better for it.
If that movie came out now, I'd imagine that scene would have been cut.
As a Person Who Does Not Speak Chines I Have Sweet and Sour Feelings on This.
By the way, why am I unable to watch Speedy Gonzalez carttons because they are racist, but Spanish Language television can use him to sell cars?
Well, I did guess right that she was speaking Cambodian.
I'm just waiting for that day when my mom's mind goes, and she starts speaking only French to the folks around her in Alabama, who are not really too big on parlez vous-ing le Frogtalk. Every now & then she'll call and start going on in French, and I'll tell her "Mamam, on parle Anglais ici" & she'll stop a second, and then continue in English.
What I want to watch is Morgan on CNN play American sports. He is playing English sports this week in Australia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ePx61TkXKY
Arrested Development is awesomely racist.
Laurie Metcalf is a wonderful actress.
They used the same technique I use. When someone doesn't understand, just say it louder.
Cambodian is "something Chinese-y" -- that's the quintessential microaggression.
Bottom line is you can make fun of any ethnic group that is white or yellow.
For better comedy on an assisted care facility - watch Derek. Ricky Gervais is brilliant.
The nurse in the blue dress played another TV character making fun of Asians: Ms. Swan. ("He look-a like-a man").
What's the target demo? As one struggling with what to do about a loved mother in need of more than devoted children can provide, I have zero interest in this and would suspect few boomers do.
A must. I've been saying it's the best new show out there, with the emphasis on "out there".
(Yes, that's Ann Morgan Guilbert, Millie Helper from "The Dick van Dyke Show", blowing Harry Dean Stanton.)
Raw in its delivery, politically incorrect, it works on a number of levels. Slapstick to poignant.
Themes: Insane bureaucracy. Workplace hierarchy. Grievance culture. Political correctness. Delusions of grandeur. Obsession. Desperation. Self-destructive behavior.
The characters build so try to watch from the first episode.
"No shit, Sherlock", Getting On is entertaining - complete with that special Swedish holiday treat, "peppercocker" and an overgrown pubic hair bush that needs trimming.
A video antidote for happiness.
@Sorun,
Ms Swan was a creation of Alex(andrea) Borstein, who is not only the voice of Lois on "Family Guy", she's also a producer & series writer. As such, she's fully acquainted with the full spectrum of racial & ethnic insult.
My son likes this show. He got me to watch the first episode. I had to leave the room. My mom lives in a dementia unit and this show struck too close to home for me.
On an objective level I could see the humor. But I could not laugh.
Fecal comedy.
I can get that from my grandchildren.
The next enlightening will be to normalize euthanasia.
This is every day life in a blue state megapolis. About as funny as sitting in traffic.
What, they can't put her on the phone herself? They don't have phones in exam bays or that gurney doesn't have wheels? That scene comes off as incredibly stupid and contrived. That, friends, is why 95% of TV is unwatchable to the tetchy (which I consider myself).
@I Have Misplaced My Pants...
Um ... Getting On is a comedy and putting the oriental patient on the telephone wouldn't have been funny. In the end, in order to get out of that skit, they turned on the phone's speaker.
Does being tetchy result from irritable bowel syndrome or vice versa??
"What, they can't put her on the phone herself?"
That was some pretty broad humor that I thought was out of keeping with the tone of the rest of the show, but I keep reading people saying how hilarious they found it.
Reminds me of a time I went to a play that had one line that was laugh-out-loud funny in a very silly way that wasn't like the rest of what was going on. Even though I have never laughed so hard in the theater, I think if I were the director I'd have reined it in.
madAsHell said..."When was the last time you saw a phone with a wired handset??"
This afternoon. In a nursing home.
madAsHell said..."When was the last time you saw a phone with a wired handset??"
Every day in my office.
I bet EMS workers can relate to this, especially in places like NYC. There are only so many translators and someone trying to tell you what's wrong with them in Wolof.
Post a Comment