In the course of discussing the gendered violence of the imagery deployed by Debbie Wasserman Shultz and trying to picture the kind of hitting implied by the phrase giving the back of one's hand, some of my mental images seemed like the sort of thing done by The 3 Stooges. This, of course, is nearly always man-on-man violence. (Occasionally, a woman is hit when a man moves out of the way.) What's gendered about 3 Stooges violence is that men typically —famously — find The 3 Stooges much funnier than women do.
I wanted a link for that last statement, googled "why don't women like the 3 stooges," and the top hit was a 2005 post of mine: "Why women don't like The Three Stooges." Ah, but I didn't say women dislike the violence. I said the Stooges weren't physically attractive enough. Further googling is frustrating because Google being what it is, material about the recent 3 Stooges movie dominates the returns. So I'll just say I've heard a lot of talk over the years about how men are far more amused by the Stooges because men and women experience violence differently. Women feel vulnerable and empathize with the victim, while men identify with the attacker. So they say.
Anyway, looking for examples of Stooge violence that could be called giving the back of one's hand, I watched the this montage of 3 Stooges. I was having that typical female response of not laughing at anything, but then one thing — and only one thing — made me laugh out loud. So I propose that you watch this well-edited set of acts of Stooge violence and take note of what, if anything, made you laugh. Then we can try to analyze the nature of the humor response. If it's the one thing that made me laugh and you are female, it will mean a lot to me.
September 4, 2014
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All males, whether they be 4 years old, 40 years old or 80 years old find the Three Stooges funny. Women's just don't get it. You know what they say - its not funny till someone gets hurt. Then its hilarious. Woo, woo, woo, woo....
I found everything funny, being male. I love the Stooges, my son loves the Stooges, my wife and daughter hate them.
three posts on Debbie's gaffe? we have a president that you voted for who has decided to enter the post-presidency phase 3 years before he leaves office, and you focus on this? How about the fact that it isn't being reported? or if it is, excused? Why do her gaffes get a pass no matter how ridiculous they are?
Why not create a tag entitled "Debbie Says Stupid Shit" and be done with it?
This male has never enjoyed the Three Stooges. Having been slapped a lot when I was a kid undoubtedly has a lot to do with it.
I thought shooting a second hole in the boat so the water could go out was funny. That's about it.
And by the way, my very feminine daughter finds the stooges absolutely hilarious
I have never found the 3 Stooges funny. Guess I should double check my gender.
"three posts on Debbie's gaffe? we have a president that you voted for who has decided to enter the post-presidency phase 3 years before he leaves office, and you focus on this? How about the fact that it isn't being reported? or if it is, excused? Why do her gaffes get a pass no matter how ridiculous they are?"
Multiple posts on the same subject — like this and (last week) Obama's tan suit — shouldn't surprise you. Blog posts are:
1. Best kept short. So if I have more things to say instead of going long, I break it up. If I were writing, say, a magazine article or a book, there would only be one thing.
2. Put up quickly. So, often, particularly after reading and participating in the comments, I think of additional things to say. If I were writing an article or a book, I'd think of these things in the long writing process. So the issue is whether to do updates on one post or do another post.
3. Beginnings for conversations in the comments. By putting up a new post, I'm keeping comments thread separate and encouraging better and more comments by getting the new material back up to the top where it's more likely to be seen and to be regarded as new.
It's all hilarious! The shaving cream "say aaah" bit had the highest laugh to violence ratio.
I loved the Three Stooges when I was a child, but on viewing them as an adult, they bore me. Too repetitive, formulaic, and witless.
Even the Marx Brothers become repetitive and formulaic after their earliest few films. My favorite of the old comedians is W.C.Fields.
Never considered it a gender thing until the media pointed it out, years ago. I'm a woman and I have never gotten the Stooges, even though I do enjoy a lot of slapstick comedy. The only thing that made me laugh in the clip was them crashing into the gurney. "meh" on the rest.
I laughed twice: once when Curly blocked the eyepoke from Moe, then when he pulled out dentures from a person's mouth and said "Octopus!"
Incidentally, referring to the Stooges being unattractive, that was something Curly hated about having to shave his head for the films; he considered himself a ladies' man, and with a full head of hair he wasn't all that unattractive.
I've found that women don't like W.C. Fields either.
I found the funniest ones were those involving interactions with inanimate objects - stepping on a rake, tree splitting, falling out of the hospital bed, etc.
Every moment was hilarious.
Men like teamwork; the Stooges are the anti-team. They can't do anything right, ever, and their leader Moe is a thug, a Hitler in short pants. (I saw his son speak a few years ago, and he said his Dad was, in life, a very sweet man.)
My favorite scene had them playing tree surgeons who come to hospital to cut down a tree. They end up locked in a patient's toom with an old man, the tree limb outside the window.
Meanwhile, the man's daughter outside is pleading to get in the room, while Moe shouts, "Chop it off! Chop off the limb!" Of course, the daughter thinks it's her father's leg!
Then there's the scene where they take a NYC taxi to the Great Pyramids of Egypt, and the fare is something like $50,000.
I find the 3 Stooges just plain stupid and always have. The only thing I thought was funny was when the tree was split and I just then noticed one of the Stooges was wearing a really frilly dress. I didn't see it before so it sort of surprised me and I thought he looked ridiculous and a bit cute in a weird way.
Other than that. Dumb.
That device Curly was holding by the man's mouth was actually a dental tool, perhaps actually called an "Octopus."
The top part clamped around the top of the tooth while another piece somehow grasped the root, and then a handle was rotated (like a cork screw?), hopefully pulling out the tooth, but as often as not shattering the roots.
All without anesthesia.
Male. The only thing that made me laugh was the reasoning behind shooting the second hole in the boat.
My favorite Stooges scene:
The boys are ice fishing. Somehow their lines get tangled under the ice and Larry and Curly pull Moe up through the hole they sawed in the ice. Larry brains Moe with a crow bar and Curly exclaims "Hey, that fish looks like Moe!"
Gets me every time.
I had a great-nephew who, when he was little, always referred to them as "The Three Students".
My 4 year old daughter thinks the 3 Stooges are hilarious. I don't laugh at all. Not sure what that says about us.
Speaking of cavemen, cavewomen, sexual attraction, sexual aggression and clubs to the head...
"You stole our girls you horse thieves!"
My favorite 12 seconds of W.C. Fields: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNodf6HdAUA
Seems to be a pattern emerging: males who do not especially like T3S found the gurney and the hole in the boat bits the most funny, although not all that much.
Me too.
Never liked them. Only watched the entire 2.30 as a favor to you! (Small return for all the enjoyment your blog gives me.)
Only laughed when the fire sprayed between Moe's legs.
Sort of ashamed to admit it, but I did laugh. But not very hard.
The rest - no.
I'll take L&H's "hard boiled eggs and nuts, humph" bit over anything T3S have ever done.
Male here. I've never got the stooges. This is probably the longest I've ever watched them and i found nothing funny - just stupid. I smiled a little on the boat bit and the spinning bed maybe because my wife says I can sleep through anything.
The whole thing is a meh.
It's catharsis. If you grew up in the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s, and some of your little playmates got sick and died or some got polio or you had crippled or feeble relatives who were locked away and your parents were ashamed or you saw the sheriff put your neighbors' possessions out on the street or you had teeth pulled without anesthesia or maybe you actually saw lynchings, this was (and remains) a way to laugh off some of life's pain. Today the worst some people experience is having to hold a yoga pose too long.....
Not a big fan of slapstick but I always loved the blatantly absurdist humor. Like the time they're trying to think of how to disguise themselves to gain access to a desert sultan's palace. Naturally, they choose to dress as Santa Claus.
My brother once told me, "I figured out why women don't like The Three Stooges."
I asked, "Why?"
He replied, "They're not funny."
In retrospect, I'm not sure if "They" refers to the stooges or to women. It's a pretty good response either way. :)
The bit I liked was when they were running through the hallways. The way Curly just nonchalantly walked by after the others called him in the correct direction.
Women once respect their man and hated the silly stooges act.
But now women love the silly stooges act because they see all men that way.
Gendered violence would be better represented by "The Benny Hill Show", where men gawk at women exhibiting their self-portraits in a salon. It's disquieting, or perhaps disappointing, that generational feminists, backed by their opportunistic male partners, have adopted that behavior as their model virtue. Something that they would like the general population to accept as "normal".
traditionalguy:
Not all men, but other women. Specifically generational feminists, and their opportunistic male partners.
They see the slapstick morality and politics of women like Schultz, Davis, and Goldberg and it offends their sensibilities and logic. The dearth or selectivity of common sense in an advanced state of "civilization".
Canoe made me smile a bit, the rest was just classic Stooges slapstick that my husband and sons would be laughing at.
The thing that made me laugh was when Moe said to a tree limb — that he'd just stepped on and caused to hit him in the face — "Remind me to kill you later."
I guess I like verbal humor.
Or Moe showed his vicious anger but toward an inanimate object, so no person was threatened.
"Why women don't like The Three Stooges."
As the reincarnation of Curly (with the California driver's license to proove it), I can attest to the contrary.
(avatar/pic from "Disorder in the Court")
How about species violence? Wily E. Coyote vs The Roadrunner?
The bathtub/plumbing clip made me smile. That's about it.
Googling, I see that "Remind me to kill you later" was more famously said in a different context, Moe saying to Curly: "Remind me to kill you later." Curly responds: "I'll make a note of it!.....I ain't got a pencil." And Moe says: "I changed my mind, I'm going to kill you right now!"
I'm guessing the tree bit came later and was especially funny since you can't bully a tree they way you bully Curly.
Watched it twice, 'cause the first time all I could think was -- what would Ann have liked? Came up empty both times. St. George in the comments describes episodes that sound sort of funny: the mistakes are verbal rather than violent (so, too, was the drunk driver bit in your clip and I tried hard to think of it as funny, but couldn't). I suppose I smirked at the boat hole. Dumbness is slightly more amusing than violence.
Ann, I guessed that Moe's line "remind me to kill you later" would be one you liked. Maybe after ten years I know you a little. :)
what, if anything, made you laugh.
Most of 'em, but esp. "Say ah".
St. George: It's catharsis. If you grew up in the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s, and some of your little playmates got sick and died or some got polio or you had crippled or feeble relatives who were locked away and your parents were ashamed or you saw the sheriff put your neighbors' possessions out on the street or you had teeth pulled without anesthesia or maybe you actually saw lynchings, this was (and remains) a way to laugh off some of life's pain.
Those things happened to women, too, and they didn't think the Stooges were funny back then, either.
tg: But now women love the silly stooges act...
No, we don't.
Hospital gurney.
As a boy, I preferred Laurel and Hardy. Grew into W.C. Fields and the Marx Bros. Was never a fan of the Three Stooges.
In this, I laughed out loud when after the appearance of the matron/grande dame at the top of the stairs. we get "why you imbecile, I'll...thwok!".....and she takes it on the nose.
My daughter laughed or smiled a number of times but her big laugh outloud moment was the Moe/branch "kill you later" clip.
Was it the "Flaming Phallus of Doom" blow torch?
Whilst contemplating Stooges, I conjured up this Stepin Fetchit clip on You Tube.
Imagine doing that exact film today, replacing Fetchit with Obama--a lazy, good-for-nothing, stupid, shiftless fool harassed by an overbearing, loud-mouth angry wife.
"Obama, I don' hear no strategy churnin'!"
Oh, mercy. The horror.
Sorry Surfed, NOT all males find them funny. I hated the Stooges. Wasn't too hip to Soupy Sales either. Bugs Bunny is probably the best comic personality from that era IMHO. I know I'm way in the minority here, but who cares!
"Remind me to kill you later."
That was the funniest one to me too. A few others made me chuckle, but yeah, that one.
I have fond memories of watching the Stooges with my Dad on WPIX from NYC. The show was hosted by Officer Joe Bolton. My favorites were always the plumber shows. Oh, and I'm a guy and find them funny to this day.
This montage is crap. There was no eye-gouging. There's a bit where Curly blocks Moe's attempted eye-gouge, but that's not funny out of the context of Moe's many successful previous eye-gouges.
Eye-gouging never gets old.
They weren't just pretty faces...
"According to a published report,[4] Moe, Larry, and director Jules White considered their best film to be You Nazty Spy!. This 18-minute short subject starring Moe as an Adolf Hitler–like character satirized the Nazis in a period when America was still neutral and isolationist about WWII. You Nazty Spy was the first Hollywood film to spoof Hitler, and was released nine months before Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator. Reportedly this film caused the Stooges to be placed on Hitler's so-called "death list" because of its anti-Nazi stance."
http://stooges.wikia.com/wiki/The_Three_Stooges
Yeah, the hole "to let the water out". And I'm male.
I love the sound effects, especially cork-popping and the sounds Curly makes such as: "Yah-ah-ah". We still say, "Oh, wise guy, eh?" around here. Moe's line about killing you later didn't get a laugh out of me though.
The physical stuff makes me cringe but I do like all the mis-hits and dodges. Also it makes me smile knowing that it completely cracks my sons up.
I think its similar to the humor they like now of Will Farrell. So stupid it's funny.
"1. Best kept short. So if I have more things to say instead of going long, I break it up. If I were writing, say, a magazine article or a book, there would only be one thing.
2. Put up quickly. So, often, particularly after reading and participating in the comments, I think of additional things to say. If I were writing an article or a book, I'd think of these things in the long writing process. So the issue is whether to do updates on one post or do another post.
3. Beginnings for conversations in the comments. By putting up a new post, I'm keeping comments thread separate and encouraging better and more comments by getting the new material back up to the top where it's more likely to be seen and to be regarded as new."
No kiddin'? You thought about Debbie's gaffe all day? I'm puzzled. You have a bunch of terrorists who've declared their own caliphate (not boko haram, the other bunch/ other caliphate) and are killing anyone who doesn't convert to their special brand of Islam, not to mention 2 American journalists, and you devote 3 posts to Foley, none (0) to steven sotloff, and one (1) on the mass beheadings. Yet you fixate on a tan suit (not the emptiness inside it) to the tune of 4 posts (I counted) and 3 on Debbie Wasserman Schulz's bullshit #waronwomen gaffe.
No shit it was an allusion to gendered violence, thanks for explaining that, do you think she deployed that imagery for any other purpose? Do you have to explain crap like that to your students? If that is the case, I may have to go the pro se route if I am ever in court.
TigerMeg wrote:
"Reportedly this film caused the Stooges to be placed on Hitler's so-called "death list" because of its anti-Nazi stance."
Yeah, Hitler had had no problem with the Three Stooges being Jewish; it was only when they made their film that he got really mad.
Thank you for the Stooges montage. I love them my wife hates them. On the drama side, men generally love The Godfather, women not so much.
Cookie: "Even the Marx Brothers become repetitive and formulaic after their earliest few films. My favorite of the old comedians is W.C.Fields."
Ahh, savor the sweet sweet taste of agreement.
Don't get comfortable with the long term idea of it of course.
"The thing that made me laugh was when Moe said to a tree limb — that he'd just stepped on and caused to hit him in the face — "Remind me to kill you later."
I guess I like verbal humor."
Ever see Commando?
Sully: Here's twenty dollars to get some beers in Val Verde. It'll give us all a little more time with your daughter.
Henriques: Heh.
Matrix: You're a funny guy Sully, I like you. That's why I'm going to kill you last.
Followed up much action later with:
Matrix: Where is she, Sully?
Sully: Kiss my ass!
Matrix: I can't hear you!
Sully: I'll say it a little louder, get fucked!
Matrix: [holds Sully upside-down over a cliff by his leg] Listen, loyalty is very touching. But it is not the most important thing in your life right now! But what IS important is gravity! I have to remind you Sully, this is my weak arm!
Sully: You can't kill me Matrix! You need me to find your daughter!
Matrix: Where is she?
Sully: I don't know. But Cooke knows, I'll take you to where I'm supposed to meet him!
Matrix: But you won't.
Sully: Why not?
Matrix: [holds the hotel key he stole from Sully that Cooke is staying at] Because I already know
And then the classic quote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd1kzNBt4f4
from Mark Knopfler: We had the back of Maggie's hand. Times were tough in Geordieland...Why Aye Man..A dismissive gesture?
Belushi used similar physical comedy, I wonder if the the gender question would be answered the same for him?
Belushi used similar physical comedy, I wonder if the the gender question would be answered the same for him?
Those were the highlights. Imagine those highlights separated by 70 minutes of dull talk and bad acting and you got yourself a 3 stooges movie.
I found it funnier when I was six.
Here's the one Three Stooges scene that can actually be called (harrumph!) charming, even if they did have to go colorize it...
"Remind me to kill you later" also made me laugh. The rest... meh. It was fast-paced and kind of visually interesting, lighthearted, but not really funny to me.
"Reportedly this film caused the Stooges to be placed on Hitler's so-called "death list" because of its anti-Nazi stance."
Since the Stooges were Jewish I suppose he was planning to kill them twice.
Several things made me smile, but there were only two chuckles. No belly laughs. The first was when Moe said "give me the torch," and got it full blast on his butt. Why was this funny? Several reasons. All who enjoy the Stooges know full well that what they are seeing is contrivance, illusion, will-o-the-wisp violence. It's just like cartoon violence --Daffy Duck is bound to get a shotgun blast full in the face and suffer only indignity. What's funny is the position of his bill after the smoke clears. Will it be blown clear around to the back of Daffy's head, or will it be seen to be perched on his noggin like a ridiculous hat? The next giggle comes from Daffy's stoic acceptance of the Elmer Fudd's dangerous idiocy. (video refernce)
The Stooges are a live-action cartoon -- nothing more, nothing less. Moe gets a hot seat via Curly's stupidity; it's pure cartoon. What's funny? It's not Moe's pain. It's Moe being so brainless that he always fails to realize that directing Curly with such an open-ended instruction as give me the torch is an unfailing invitation to disaster. And as always it's Moe's ass that's dissed. The little dictator gets his comeuppance.
Most of the mayhem -- the head bonks, the eye boinks, the slaps -- are straight out of commedia dell'arte. It's not very funny in and of itself, but it serves to establish and reinforce the stereotypes. It's like when Wile E. Coyote pursues the roadrunner. The chase itself isn't really funny, but it's necessary to the story. What's funny is when the violence escalates. In Coyote's case the jokes develop around his ludicrous contraptions which backfire like Rube Goldberg weapons of mass destruction. In the Stooge's case the humor crescendos when Moe's violence escalates, e.g. Moe takes a saw to Curly's head, which results in a ruined saw. Or when Curly plays on Moe's conscience to score a silly joke:
Moe (outraged by Curly's behavior): Why you... (boinks Curly's eyes with his fingers)
Curly: I can't see! I can't see!
Moe (mortified that he has blinded Curly): Take it easy, kid. I didn't mean to hurt ya... What's the matter?
Curly: I had my eyes closed, nyuck, nyuck, nyuck...
Sometimes Stooge humor is derived purely from the unexpected. Curly was a master at this. One of these intrusions of the unexpected was the other laugh provided by the clip. The boys are fleeing down a corridor from some threat. The corridor ends in a T junction. Moe and Larry turn right; Curly bears left. Moe and Larry run back into view to help Curly navigate to safety, which he does, not in a panicked run but in a leisurely stroll, complete with Curly's inimical la-dee-dahing. Now that's funny.
I never cracked a smile. I wanted to, I almost did when the shaving cream got shoved into Curly's mouth instead of Moe's.
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