This isn't meant as a flame or anything, but I found the material about Schindler's List offensive (putting on flame-proof outfit). I guess the part that bothered me the most was Judge Reingold's final lines where he mocks Schindler's lines re: this watch, this pin, etc. It didn't bother me so much when Jerry and Rachel were making out during the movie, but some of that other stuff wasn't funny to me (and I'm not even Jewish). Go ahead, all of you that want to make fun of me, do so, but I just think they went a little overboard.
Dalma (fending off all flames with my anti-flame shield)
Don't worry. This isn't a flame. However, I'll have to disagree with you. When I sat down to watch Schindler's with my mom and dad, my dad make a comment about how awful it was that people could eat big tubs of popcorn while watching the film. "Dad," I said, "it's a movie about the Holocaust, not the Holocaust itself." I think the same kind of thinking applies here. Look, I really thought Schindler's was an extraordinarily powerful film. But it just that: a film. Actually, it's become more than that: it's become an event in popular culture. There's nothing wrong with making fun of that fact. Millions of people have seen the movie; it's not as if someone watching Seinfeld last night would some- how put any stock in their satire. It's just playful.
Well, while on first glance Jerry might seem to be BBQing the latest of America's sacred cows (the movie; *not* the event itself), I laughed. He spoofed the only real spoofable part of the movie--the scene where Liam Neeson loses it at the end of the movie. Spielberg did a fine job with the film, but that scene was admittedly overdone, whether it actually happened or not.
As for Jerry and Rachel (?) getting busy in the theater, it is such an absurd juxtaposition that it necessarily becomes funny.
No need for the outfit, Dalma....always good to discuss the issues.
It's funny, I keep thinking of Letterman's signature line re: Madonna -
"Ya know, I think that Madonna....loves to shock us."
The Seinfeld gang have tried to shock us lightly with several of their episodes... from the infamous "King of Your Domain" episode, to the wheelchair maniacs episode, to the lip-reading episode, to the young kid cussing episode, to the..... well, I think you get my drift.
I think, as they so ably displayed in the lampooning of political correctness in the cigar store Indian episode; Screw being politically correct. We thing there is something funny in many of the things people are afraid of talking about. By laughing at these situations and ourselves, we can both help addressing and discussing the issues, as well as not take ourselves so seriously.
Sometimes they miss badly when trying to "shock" us... but sometimes they are head on. The hit their stride with the masturbation episode, but sometimes I yearn for the simpler early years - like losing the car in the mall parking lot in New Jersey. Sometimes, simple is good. It's how they made their name and initial success.
But I gotta tell ya..... the Schindler episode was terrific. Best show in a long, long time.
Jim
P.S. Part of the lampooning of the final speech was I'm sure a reaction to what many critics thought was an overdramatic and manipulative speech that kind of went against the incredible in your face reality and underplaying of the rest of the film. (How's that for a nice run-on sentence?)
Yeah. I think this subplot (which, you must admit, was very minor) was similar to the wheelchair episode or the cigar store Indian episode. If anything, they're about the characters' fears of not being politically correct. Or maybe that's just rationalizing. Dave