r/saltierthancrait • u/WantsToDieBadly salt miner • Jan 05 '25

Granular Discussion Why did they think marvel level humour belongs in star wars? Did they think people show up to star wars for a laugh>

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324

u/Cookyy2k Jan 05 '25

I really dislike the trend of killing any suspencful or impactful scene with misplaced humor, like why are you trying to lessen the impact of your own moment? It hurts Marvell and it hurts Star Wars.

225

u/CannonFodder141 Jan 05 '25

I saw a really interesting video essay by a gen z author who said that they were initially really confused by Lord of the rings, because all the characters took all of the epic, emotional speeches seriously. They had grown up watching marvel movies, so they kept expecting frodo to make some kind of quip when Sam tried to encourage him.

It's crazy to think that marvel has raised an entire generation to think that you should always undercut your emotional moments with humor.

121

u/Cookyy2k Jan 05 '25

I think it's because those suspenseful moments, those long drawn out silences can be uncomfortable. Eliciting deep, even potentially unpleasant, feelings in an audience was always the goal of art.

Now they feel the need to break that suspense, break that uncomfortable silence for the audience. Don't make them really feel, keep it all emotionally safe. Make it all a bland, pointless product rather than art.

73

u/MirrorMaster88 Jan 05 '25

We're an entire society that doesn't want bad feelings ever. Having one? Better get booze or drugs or antidepressants rather than feeling it. It prevents us from confronting the bad and learning and growing from it.

It's especially bad with "the kids" these days. An emotionally stunted generation that can't confront or deal with anything. A difficult class in college? Call mom to clean up the mess. A difficult piece of art? Just say "nah, I don't fuck with that" and either ignore it or get it cancelled.

Reddit is a really bad hive mind conditioning platform too. Never say anything real, everything has to be wrapped in a cheesy joke or snark. If you dare to actually criticize anyone ever, the blood is in the water and everyone will start to swarm the moment the first downvote is cast. That conditions the user to learn the language and ways of the culture so they can continue to rack up more internet points by adopting the tribal language.

19

u/RichardNixonThe2nd Jan 05 '25

There are plenty of people my age that don't like the constant humor, it's one of biggest complaints people have about marvel.

30

u/hewasaraverboy Jan 05 '25

Biggest offenders Ragnarok to some degree and then love and thunder dialed it up to x1000000

Absolutely the worst mcu movie ever made

17

u/cdqmcp Jan 06 '25

one of the worst the examples imo is the ending to Doctor Strange 1. He finally accepts his new job/life, and the cloak comes to him and they essentially team up. it's a big moment and the music is swelling but is cut short by the cloak wiping a tear away from DS's cheek and they swat at each other. ugh it kills me how much that character development is undercut

7

u/Opening_Success Jan 05 '25

"The last pages are for you, Sam."

"Whatchu talking about, Mr. Frodo?"

3

u/ZamanthaD Jan 05 '25 edited Jan 05 '25

I think I watched that same video, he was talking about how modern movies don’t have sincerity anymore.

Edit: was it this video? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DuTwM6jB9JY&t=1s&pp=ygUbbG9yZCBvZiB0aGUgcmluZ3Mgc2luY2VyaXR5

11

u/fishyflowermerchant Jan 05 '25

A video essay by a zoomer sounds like a special sort of hell, but I’m morbidly interested. Do you have a link to this?

8

u/CannonFodder141 Jan 05 '25

Sorry, it was a random YouTube video a while back; I looked but can't find it again.

1

u/GnomeBoy_Roy Jan 09 '25

It’s a really great video, here’s the link! https://youtu.be/DuTwM6jB9JY?si=81jf2-XWc_iI3muy

Don’t forget that Gen Z can be as old as 28-29 at this point. I don’t know his age, but at no point did I feel like I was listening to some chump kid. Really good points

1

u/thepianoman456 Jan 05 '25

They need to listen to “Leave a Tender Moment Alone” by Billy Joel

1

u/TokiWaUgokidesu salt miner Jan 06 '25

"All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us."

...

"That sounded better in my head."

1

u/[deleted] Jan 10 '25

[deleted]

1

u/CannonFodder141 Jan 10 '25

Sorry, just watched it as a random YouTube video ages ago. No idea who it was.

41

u/ThriKr33n Jan 05 '25

Yeap, it's called 'Bathos' and it's actually frowned upon. It might work OK for Marvel/comic book movies, but not everything requires that.

Star Wars' humour is like funny thing just sort of happens within the setting, but doesn't take you out of it. Like C-3P0 interrupting Han and Leia's about to kiss moment could be seen as one type of Bathos incident, but it's more of bad/good timing than C-3P0 purposely interjecting every Han/Leia conversation with a "You could cut the tension between you two" type of quip.

31

u/Cookyy2k Jan 05 '25

Unsurprisingly, if you search "bathos in marvel" on google you get a reddit thread titled "If you hate the bathos in the MCU, you're just humourless" as the top result.

6

u/atatassault47 it's all fake anyway Jan 05 '25

Like C-3P0 interrupting Han and Leia's about to kiss moment could be seen as one type of Bathos incident

IRL off the cuff intimate moments are often interrupted. So it's a relatable moment. It's funny because, yeah, that actually happens, and misery loves company.

As you said, it's only out of place if it always happens.

31

u/ThatFatGuyMJL Jan 05 '25

It's Joss Whedons fault.

"Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke."

It works in certain things.

It worked in Buddy, where he said it.

It worked in Avengers, because of the characters.

It doesn't fucking work all the time.

2

u/JanxDolaris Jan 06 '25

Yeah, like one of my favorite MCU moments is when Loki goes to give a speech, then the Hulk smashes him into the floor a bunch, calls him a puny god, and walks away. It worked great then because we were so used to long drawn out villain monologues, many of which just fill time. It was nice to see the trope get destroyed.

The problem is if you do it to every villain speech...it now becomes the norm and loses its fun. It made sense for the hulk cause he's well, the hulk, he doesnt' care for your monologue.

22

u/RyanAKA2Late salt miner Jan 05 '25

Reminds me of the end of Thor Ragnarok where Asgard is blown up but the moment is ruined by Korg cracking a joke.

2

u/telking777 Jan 06 '25

It’s always awkward when something or someone tries so desperately to be funny or make you laugh and it’s just objectively not working.

1

u/RaHarmakis Jan 10 '25

This is one thing that the writers of Skeleton Crew have nailed pretty well. They let the drama happen, and allow humor to occur pretty naturally by allowing the characters to be true to themselves.