The Cracked Thread

Where do they talk about it?

Huh, I can't seem to... find the articles where they mention it. I really thought it came up in the "Why Hollywood is retarded" article, but I can't find it.

Yeah, I believe it was in that "things Hollywood doesn't get right" or somesuch a few days ago. It was a cool scene, but not insane or anything.

http://www.cracked.com/article_22964_5-baffling-lies-society-told-you-about-fat-people.html

Overweight education.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-great-ideas-internet-ruined-by-turning-them-into-memes/

So today Sargent decries the overuse of 'Manic Pixie Dreamgirl' criticisms....and then immediately misidentifies Clara as one. Because saving the Doctor and the countless billions who've relied on him means she has no agency.

Oh and http://www.cracked.com/article_22894_5-secret-racist-messages-buried-in-your-favorite-pop-culture.html typical massive overeaching.

I was on board for the concept of the second one, then they lost me at the first entry.

...how? It's pretty well established that Star Trek tends to do Planet Of Hats, and for a series that preaches diversity and acceptance, they're not really great about it.

The District 9 example was really bad.

Neill Blomkamp did nothing to hide it was an Apartheid allegory and the Nigerians are, well, the roaming Nigerian gangs that are terrorizing the Nigeria-South Africa border, you could ever argue the movie's portrait of them was very light.

For the Prawns it was heavily implied most of the prawns we see are drones and that something happened to the "leadership" caste, if you pay attention the brown and orange prawns are the regular workers, yellow are the military and green are the leadership caste, if you notice that Christopher and the fully mutated Winkus are both green and the other Prawns rally around them.

Hence why despite them being more advanced they managed to be rounded up. The opening outright states that after a few weeks, a team breached their base ship and cracked it open just to find most of the prawns starving and diseased.

Besides most white characters were portrayed as complete and uncaring bastards, even Winkus start helping Christopher out of selfish reasons, when he realizes his boss plans are to cut him up.

edited 29th Sep '15 6:51:59 AM by AngelusNox

That's the worst part. I fundamentally agree with their point, but it's poorly done and some of their examples are just awkward and awful. Like this line: "His decision to join Starfleet instead of the Vulcan Science Academy causes a huge rift between him and his father. That is the extraterrestrial equivalent of a Tiger Mom disowning her child for choosing Vassar over Harvard" just seems like a hilarious reach/desperate attempt at a joke that falls flat, even though I already am on their side.

Or "Meanwhile, female Ferengi are forbidden from wearing clothes, the inverse of how Orthodox Jewish women are always expected to dress modestly" is a joke (uh... not literally. He means it as an actual point. That's the joke). I can totally get behind "the Ferengi are Space Jews" but, uh, "wears clothing" isn't exactly an exclusively Jewish custom. Pretty sure "women are expected to dress modestly" would apply to literally anything with "Orthodox" before it.

edited 29th Sep '15 7:28:08 AM by Larkmarn

Exactly.

The biggest flaw in the Star Trek entry is that it's wrong. Word of God is that the Vulcans are the race based on Jews - desert homeland, focus on logic and reason, "live long and prosper" being a rough translation of "shalom aleikhem", their bowl cuts were probably meant to evoke yarmulkes - and that the Ferengi weren't space-counterparts of any race in particular, instead being inspired by the concept of Western capitalism taken to fanatical extremes. How they came across is a different matter entirely, of course. (I also like how Catholics are apparently a race now.)

On a lighter note, have some dumb censorship.

That dumb censorship article was excellent.

Though I feel like the MGS entry misses the point. Censorship was going to make the scene awful anyway, so they just said "fuck it" and decided to make it hilariously over-the-top instead. They know that they're not going to find a "good" way to censor it, so at least make it entertaining.

Kinda like how "THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FIND A STRANGER IN THE ALPS" is better than the original. Just bleeping it? Not funny. But the TV cut embraced the censorship and was better for it.

edited 29th Sep '15 7:51:10 AM by Larkmarn

I liked this one.

In this article, everyone's favorite Manic Pixie Dream Girl, J.F. Sargent, rants about a bunch of First World Problems. It can't be a good article, though, because it doesn't even pass the Bechdel Test. But that's okay, it's not supposed to be good; it's satire.

Yeah that was good.

Metal Gear in general has an interesting relationship with censorship.

MGS4 has a loading screen that flashes various warnings about the dangers and risks of smoking, just under a gorgeously rendered, vividly detailed Solid Snake thoroughly enjoying his cigarette.

edited 29th Sep '15 10:18:14 AM by TobiasDrake

@Angelus Nox you do know Nigeria and South Africa are thousands of miles away from eavhither ?

Well shit, I was thinking about the Nigerian gangs in the South African border.

http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1870-cars-had-flamethrowers-people-had-guns-1990s-south-africa.html

Speaking of Neill Blomkamp, South Africa and violence.

Don't even look at the new title to prevent further confusion.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/why-comparing-donald-trump-to-hitler-makes-perfect-sense/

And Cracked sinks to a new low. You get no points for guessing who wrote this.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/20-signs-youre-the-chosen-one/

Oh Bucholz never change, never change.

Wow. Really?

God damnit that article actually went up?

The link was broken and i actually thought they'd had a stroke of sanity and pulled it! What is the obsession American's both Right and Left have with claiming their country today is in fact comparable with some place that is/was obviously much worse off?

Someone needs to inform Brown about Godwin's Law.

http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1878-we-basically-sell-poison-6-realities-supplement-stores.html

I need to send this to all "Its natural so it is healthy" folks I know.

The article was actually about how a lot of what Trump is saying and promising and his "rise" is comparable to hitler. But no I forgot you dont actually read anything bu the titles and get angry.

The Hitler-Trump article actually had some good points, but they went against the thesis. Yes, Trump is trying to reach out to poor blacks. He's a politician with a team of expert advisors. But his big constituency is white men without higher education angry about losing power; if they sense he's catering to a rival demographic they self-define as against, he risks losing them. Yes, he's peddling policies that are similar to those of liberals; but that only makes it easier for the Democrats to steal his thunder and sound more convincing with it. None of that makes him like Hitler beyond the usual lines of extreme right populism.

Reminder that Hitler did and said things no-one could get away with even in contemporary Britain, let alone today. He talked of invading Russia in Mein Kampf. His speeches on the Jews made it clear he wanted them out of the country one way or another. The Nazis ran their own private army during elections. (And the Jews were not "immigrants".)

A better comparison is Le Pen. His 17% of the vote letting him into the second round was a shock, but it galvanised everyone from the moderate right to the extreme left to go for Chirac. That is the real threat of Mr Trump: he has no chance of being elected, but if he comes too close to being nominated he will taint the Republicans for some time. He is the Libertarian Party's best hope.