Memes to Movies: "Karen" trailer deployed

XsjadoBlayde

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Prepare yourselves, "Karen" has now entered the big screen...


Tonally appears the tongue is lurking somewhere between the cheeks no doubt, my intrigue is enough to be sold already. Thoughts?
 
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Prepare yourselves, "Karen" has now entered the big screen...


Tonally appears the tongue is lurking somewhere between the cheeks no doubt, my intrigue is enough to be sold already. Thoughts?
Only BET can make something as stupid as this. I take it Jordan Peele wasn't available.



 
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Xprimentyl

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I gotta say, movies that are *this* zeitgeist-y and intentionally topical to grab attention feel a bit disingenuous. That said, feeling that way going in might make it more tolerable, like sex with an ex: you know what you're getting and don't plan on sticking around afterwards. Though I feel with it being played straight with an as on-the-nose title as "Karen," it might have worked better as a comedy, i.e.: we know how serious this issue can be, now let's make fun of how ridiculous it actually is. Selling it as a thriller just feels like it's going to be a couple of hours of fictional national news, and who asked for that?
 
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I gotta say, movies that are *this* zeitgeist-y and intentionally topical to grab attention feel a bit disingenuous. That said, feeling that way going in might make it more tolerable, like sex with an ex: you know what you're getting and don't plan on sticking around afterwards. Though I feel with it being played straight with an as on-the-nose title as "Karen," it might have worked better as a comedy, i.e.: we know how serious this issue can be, now let's make fun of how ridiculous it actually is. Selling it as a thriller just feels like it's going to be a couple of hours of fictional national news, and who asked for that?
I won't be watching; not worth the attention, nor the guilty pleasure.
 

hanselthecaretaker

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I gotta say, movies that are *this* zeitgeist-y and intentionally topical to grab attention feel a bit disingenuous. That said, feeling that way going in might make it more tolerable, like sex with an ex: you know what you're getting and don't plan on sticking around afterwards. Though I feel with it being played straight with an as on-the-nose title as "Karen," it might have worked better as a comedy, i.e.: we know how serious this issue can be, now let's make fun of how ridiculous it actually is. Selling it as a thriller just feels like it's going to be a couple of hours of fictional national news, and who asked for that?
Yeah it would be more palatable as a dark comedy or black humor flick IMO (no pun?)
 

Xprimentyl

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Yeah it would be more palatable as a dark comedy or black humor flick IMO (no pun?)
I'd say it could be an outright comedy with a typical Ben Stiller or Will Ferrell character, a clumsy oaf who finds a reason to call the cops every 20 minutes, and ends up the butt of physical gag every time until he finds common ground or understanding with his new neighbors.
 
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hanselthecaretaker

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I'd say it could be an outright comedy with a typical Ben Stiller or Will Ferrell character, a clumsy oaf who finds a reason to call the cops every 20 minutes, and ends up the butt of physical gag every time until he finds common ground or understanding with his new neighbors.
Yeah I think an all out “evil” Karen character would work best in some monster of the week show like Supernatural or something.
 
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XsjadoBlayde

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I gotta say, movies that are *this* zeitgeist-y and intentionally topical to grab attention feel a bit disingenuous. That said, feeling that way going in might make it more tolerable, like sex with an ex: you know what you're getting and don't plan on sticking around afterwards. Though I feel with it being played straight with an as on-the-nose title as "Karen," it might have worked better as a comedy, i.e.: we know how serious this issue can be, now let's make fun of how ridiculous it actually is. Selling it as a thriller just feels like it's going to be a couple of hours of fictional national news, and who asked for that?
To be honest, I watch a lot of deadpan comedies from around Europe and the UK and I'm not entirely convinced this isn't meant as a deadpan comedy yet. The US isn't known for dabbling as much in that subgenre, but they noticeably do with varying success and an alternative lens. Will have to see.

(I've no memory of making this thread, had a mini panic when I clicked open on the OP)
 
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Xprimentyl

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Yeah I think an all out “evil” Karen character would work best in some monster of the week show like Supernatural or something.
I just realized why Ben Stiller came to mind. I recently watched Duplex, an early 2000s movie wherein he and his wife are terrorized by an "innocent" old lady who's a tennant in their duplex. It's basically the gaslighting case of one party acting reasonably, the other acting absurdly, and all objective observers drug in to officiate side with the latter leading the former to act more and more unreasonably until they go over the cliff into absurdity themselves, so every Ben Stiller film ever. Yeah, "Karen" has been done before, and it really doesn't need this "thriller" take.

To be honest, I watch a lot of deadpan comedies from around Europe and the UK and I'm not entirely convinced this isn't meant as a deadpan comedy yet. The US isn't known for dabbling as much in that subgenre, but they noticeably do with varying success and an alternative lens. Will have to see.

(I've no memory of making this thread, had a mini panic when I clicked open on the OP)
Maybe I don't understand the aim or tactics of dark/black/deadpan comedies, but nothing about this feels even remotely humorous outside of it being patently absurd situations reflective of a lot of recent, real-life events. Like the movie I Care Too Much, apparently THAT was a dark comedy, but it wasn't funny. It was absurd, for sure, but funny? No. Is black/dark/deadpan comedy kinda like sadomasochism wherein the pain is the pleasure, i.e.: not laughing is the point?
 

Gordon_4

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I just realized why Ben Stiller came to mind. I recently watched Duplex, an early 2000s movie wherein he and his wife are terrorized by an "innocent" old lady who's a tennant in their duplex. It's basically the gaslighting case of one party acting reasonably, the other acting absurdly, and all objective observers drug in to officiate side with the latter leading the former to act more and more unreasonably until they go over the cliff into absurdity themselves, so every Ben Stiller film ever. Yeah, "Karen" has been done before, and it really doesn't need this "thriller" take.


Maybe I don't understand the aim or tactics of dark/black/deadpan comedies, but nothing about this feels even remotely humorous outside of it being patently absurd situations reflective of a lot of recent, real-life events. Like the movie I Care Too Much, apparently THAT was a dark comedy, but it wasn't funny. It was absurd, for sure, but funny? No. Is black/dark/deadpan comedy kinda like sadomasochism wherein the pain is the pleasure, i.e.: not laughing is the point?
Dark comedy can be hit and miss. Robocop has parts that are dark comedy; most famously Kinny getting shot by ED-209. It starts out as horrifying but the more he’s shot the more Wyllie Coyote-esque it becomes. And then once the man is deader than Julius Cesar, they’re still rushing for a paramedic. And Jones and the Old Man are talking rather calmly as if all ED did was make a fart noise during the demo and not killed a man.

And then there’s like everything that happens in MASH the film.
 

XsjadoBlayde

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I just realized why Ben Stiller came to mind. I recently watched Duplex, an early 2000s movie wherein he and his wife are terrorized by an "innocent" old lady who's a tennant in their duplex. It's basically the gaslighting case of one party acting reasonably, the other acting absurdly, and all objective observers drug in to officiate side with the latter leading the former to act more and more unreasonably until they go over the cliff into absurdity themselves, so every Ben Stiller film ever. Yeah, "Karen" has been done before, and it really doesn't need this "thriller" take.


Maybe I don't understand the aim or tactics of dark/black/deadpan comedies, but nothing about this feels even remotely humorous outside of it being patently absurd situations reflective of a lot of recent, real-life events. Like the movie I Care Too Much, apparently THAT was a dark comedy, but it wasn't funny. It was absurd, for sure, but funny? No. Is black/dark/deadpan comedy kinda like sadomasochism wherein the pain is the pleasure, i.e.: not laughing is the point?
Hm, well comedy doesn't have to be a black or white thing, and more often than not, aren't. Comedies can be serious when they want, can be scary, depressing, tragic, all manner of unpleasant or awkward emotions, in fact I kinda prefer it when humour is infused with elements of despair and horror cause it reminds me of day to day struggles in life trying to squeeze some glimmer of hope out of the endless void of terror in a vain attempt to justify spending another day wasting resources resisting entropy. Like, A Field in England is an interesting example that starts somewhat comedic but gets far darker, trippier and brutal as it goes on.
I don't think I Care A Lot is asking people to laugh at most of it, there's a couple of moments of slapstick, but otherwise it was riding a slightly brighter coloured social horror narrative that the film Nightcrawler with Jake Gyllenhaal in did. But that's kinda the issue with genre labels overall: some films don't really fit easily into the ones they're given, and that is a blurry nuance most people don't think about before they go into any movie.
 
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Xprimentyl

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Dark comedy can be hit and miss. Robocop has parts that are dark comedy; most famously Kinny getting shot by ED-209. It starts out as horrifying but the more he’s shot the more Wyllie Coyote-esque it becomes.
See, that doesn't strike me as "dark comedy" so much as it does "'80s-level of ridiculousness," like, he didn't just get killed, he got SHREDDED so you can be extra impressed with the levels of "science" we made up that went into making him Robocop."

Hm, well comedy doesn't have to be a black or white thing, and more often than not, aren't. Comedies can be serious when they want, can be scary, depressing, tragic, all manner of unpleasant or awkward emotions, in fact I kinda prefer it when humour is infused with elements of despair and horror cause it reminds me of day to day struggles in life trying to squeeze some glimmer of hope out of the endless void of terror in a vain attempt to justify spending another day wasting resources resisting entropy. Like, A Field in England is an interesting example that starts somewhat comedic but gets far darker, trippier and brutal as it goes on.
I don't think I Care A Lot is asking people to laugh at most of it, there's a couple of moments of slapstick, but otherwise it was riding a slightly brighter coloured social horror narrative that the film Nightcrawler with Jake Gyllenhaal in did. But that's kinda the issue with genre labels overall: some films don't really fit easily into the ones they're given, and that is a blurry nuance most people don't think about before they go into any movie.
My gut has always told me "dark/black comedies" were those whose subject matter used the macabre or disturbing for humorous purposes. Example, probably my favorite joke: "What do broccoli and anal sex have in common?... You probably won't like them as an adult if you're forced to try them as a child." Horrible joke, yet tremendously funny because of the level of absurdity and directness it uses to make light of what, objectively, has significant and dark implications. THAT'S funny to me. Stuff like "I Care A Lot" and "Karen" don't appear to try that; they just bring up absurdly dark situations and let viewers see how it pans out for those who create them. Where's the humor? The self-awareness? The "we get it, but the punchlines put everything in context for the obvious joke"?

I get that dark humor isn't for everyone, i.e.: you're not going to fill a theater with a random assembly of movie-goers and get an equal reaction from all of them, but for it to be "dark" AND "humorous," there has to be an obvious "don't take this seriously" vibe, and I don't get that from "Karen"'s trailer, so I don't see any reason to think there's any tongue-in-cheekiness about it. I think this is an attempt to capitalize on a modern trope of entitled white women taking righteousness into their own hands and weaponizing authority against black people which... isn't interesting OR funny.
 

Gordon_4

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See, that doesn't strike me as "dark comedy" so much as it does "'80s-level of ridiculousness," like, he didn't just get killed, he got SHREDDED so you can be extra impressed with the levels of "science" we made up that went into making him Robocop."
You’re confusing two different scenes. Kinny is a member of the OCP Board who gets killed by ED-209 when Jones is demonstrating it to his colleagues. That scene is brightly lit and absurd in every possible way: the calling for a paramedic for an obviously dead man, Jones describing it as a glitch, the Old Man complaining that this will put Delta City back months in development, and Morton diving in to use the opportunity to shill the Robocop idea direct to the Old Man. And to top it off, when Johnson says to Morton it’s a shame about Kinny, he replies “That’s life in the big city”. Like fuck you need to laugh at that to stave off the horror.

Murphy’s murder is tonally different; the music is tense and the lighting is grimy and the injuries more personal. Plus Boddiker’s gang making all their malicious remarks and Boddiker himself giving Murphy a coup de gras cos he’s getting bored with the torture and wants to leave. There’s also the implicit knowledge that the scene in the boardroom isn’t one that could happen because no one tests a weapon platform that way in real life, but a cop or other innocent person being tortured and murdered by criminal sociopaths? Got ample anchoring in reality.
 
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Xprimentyl

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You’re confusing two different scenes. Kinny is a member of the OCP Board who gets killed by ED-209 when Jones is demonstrating it to his colleagues. That scene is brightly lit and absurd in every possible way: the calling for a paramedic for an obviously dead man, Jones describing it as a glitch, the Old Man complaining that this will put Delta City back months in development, and Morton diving in to use the opportunity to shill the Robocop idea direct to the Old Man. And to top it off, when Johnson says to Morton it’s a shame about Kinny, he replies “That’s life in the big city”. Like fuck you need to laugh at that to stave off the horror.

Murphy’s murder is tonally different; the music is tense and the lighting is grimy and the injuries more personal. Plus Boddiker’s gang making all their malicious remarks and Boddiker himself giving Murphy a coup de gras cos he’s getting bored with the torture and wants to leave. There’s also the implicit knowledge that the scene in the boardroom isn’t one that could happen because no one tests a weapon platform that way in real life, but a cop or other innocent person being tortured and murdered by criminal sociopaths? Got ample anchoring in reality.
Yes, you are correct. But even still, there's no confusing a dark comedic moment with a tonally dark comedic film. Robocop could not have been carried with a series of moments as the one you've suggested as a "dark comedy."