Dude Not Funny: Black Comedy

So what were the Far Side suggestions, anyway?

It is perfect. Simple, yet not too depressing, not to mention really hilarious.

Let's go with this.

It's good, although the quality could have been higher. But at least single crowner it first. Some people are happy with the current one.

I think the problem is inherent in Black Comedy. Next thing you know someone makes a thread about how his brother committed suicide and how this is not funny and we have to get something milder. And then we end up having a picture of someone slipping on a banana peel.

edited 13th Mar '11 12:26:18 AM by Catalogue

Put a crowner and then just let things happen.

Like I said, even if we do reach a conclusion here, chances are someone somewhere will come and whine. Maybe something like a lampshade?

If someone whines, let him/her. I mean, I can't complain about that since I'm one of those whiners anyway.

Well, if we're going to fix it let's fix it once and for all. Maybe a picture to reference Black Comedy as opposed to actually being an example. Otherwise it's pretty subjective.

Wasn't there the picture of the original Riding the Bomb moment from Dr Strangelove before?

edited 31st Mar '11 5:37:13 AM by GameChainsaw

While I would challenge the quality of that image, I presume it's taken down for being a duplicate.

Yep, there was a thread about that already.

I don't know who replaced the most recent image with just a caption box, but...

1) Doing that does nothing for the page itself; for the time being, I modified the message it contained as only being visible at the top of the editing markup.

2) Saying that images depicting Black Comedy are "disturbing" is not something true of every example of Black Comedy. I suggested this text-heavy image in the last Image Pickin' thread we had on this.◊ It conveys the trope and nothing is "disturbing" about it. It's entirely possible for a Black Comedy image to not be "disturbing."

To be frank, that image is terrible. Too much text, and it's pretty hard to figure out what's going on. If you have to explain an image it's no good.

Honestly I don't see what the problem with the baby and microwave one was.

Unfortunately, it was offensive to some people.

I think if we wish to replace it, we have to change our approach greatly, since if we give a straightforward example, someone, sometime, will go protest over here complaining that it's offending him/her.

^^ My point wasn't to use that image; we still don't have to put any image on the page. My point was that Black Comedy images aren't necessarily "disturbing" and barring this page from having an image on that basis is preposterous.

^ I'd very much like to request a crowner on the image that WAS recently pulled just to see how many tropers actively have a problem with it. Just because "some people" may find something uncomfortable or unsettling doesn't mean we automatically pull something. "Some people" found the image on Bury Your Gays uncomfortable; that doesn't mean we took it down—we had a crowner, and the LARGE majority of people who voted in it did not have any problems with it. "Some people" once found the entire Anal Probing page uncomfortable; that doesn't mean we cut it from the wiki—we looked baffled at the person who was upset and moved on.

Not everyone is going to be pleased with everything on this wiki; that's why we use crowners to decide what makes the majority of people here happy and go with that.

edited 31st Mar '11 10:24:17 AM by SeanMurrayI

Did the previous image that got pulled get pulled unilaterally, or was there a discussion somewhere that I just missed? Because I was around when the microwave image first got picked, and it had enough support that I think there should have at least been discussion before pulling the image. I mean, by definition this trope is going to be offensive to some people.

edited 31st Mar '11 11:13:11 AM by JapaneseTeeth

^ From what I can tell from the page's history, the blind man cooking the baby was swapped out for this image◊ first found on the bottom of page one of this thread. Shortly after that, an individual troper (who, as far as I can tell, never even got involved in this discussion) removed it and replaced it with a notice that images for Black Comedy are too "disturbing" without ever consulting anybody.

edited 31st Mar '11 11:27:58 AM by SeanMurrayI

Exactly. I suggested that those willing to change it prepare a single prep crowner first, but eventually someone changed it without. This replacement was later also pulled.

My stance is, if we're going to replace it, we can't just pick one which we consider "less offensive". Someone somewhere will find it offensive. (The replacement was about suicide, and "next thing you know someone makes a thread about how his brother committed suicide and how this is not funny and we have to get something milder.")

Either we picture is in the form of Discussed Trope, we keep it imageless, or we keep the current picture. Don't try to mellow the Black Humor down. That it's offensive is Inherent in the System.

So should we put the original baby picture back up until we decide whether or not a new picture is needed? It had plenty of support when it was put up and was pulled without discussion.

^We can put it back up for now, as there wasn't much consensus to take it down the last time, but I would like to look for a replacement that's baby-free.

Black Comedy covers a lot of stuff, and I'd hate to see that page with an image that would better fit one of its more specific subtropes (in fact, that's where the old image was just moved to, as I now realize); it just doesn't entirely feel right.

If we'd want to keep things in the same vein as The Far Side or whatever, I'll put out this picture◊ as a possible replacement.

edited 31st Mar '11 11:42:06 AM by SeanMurrayI

I think we should, but I suggested that one, so maybe my vote shouldn't count.

I'll look for an example where it's discussed.

edited 31st Mar '11 11:42:17 AM by Catalogue

Turns out the microwave picture is already on Dead Baby Comedy. Honestly, the picture probably fits better on Black Comedy, which is about the style. Dead Baby Comedy is about the genre, not literal comedies involving dead babies.

^I think a dead baby picture on Black Comedy just adds more confusion to things if it's not supposed to have anything to do with Dead Baby Comedy.

Probably another can of worms entirely, but I know there's a camp of tropers here that associates Dead Baby Comedy with dead babies used for a laugh; if that ain't the trope, then we'd have a much bigger problem to sort out altogether.

Either way, we don't need dead babies to convey Black Comedy and it would just cut down on confusion if there weren't any in an image.

edited 31st Mar '11 11:47:15 AM by SeanMurrayI

WHAT! Wasn't an example from Cyanide And Happiness there before?

I must agree with Japanese Teeth. Dead Baby Comedy isn't about literal babies, it's about a genre. It's a rather misleading name.

I can see your point. I begin to seriously suggest clearing up the confusion and defining the tropes sharply before continuing on the image pickin' talk.

edited 31st Mar '11 11:55:24 AM by Catalogue

On a sidenote, I'd suggest the last four panels of this for Dead Baby Comedy... sure, it doesn't say that the baby isn't going to survive this, but it does cross the line twice.

edited 31st Mar '11 8:40:42 PM by neoYTPism

I don't think that's really supposed to be cruel, just weird.