I expected Korean's and some others to over react to it like that but not the Marmot. Jeeze Bobby, maybe you have been in South Korea too long? You seem to have lost the ability to understand satire and to read everything as a dig at South Korea. Maybe Stig and I need to bastardize "Turning Japanese" into "Turning South Korean" and dedicate it to the Marmot?
When I saw it I immediately thought of ... China. The Panda kind of reinforced that for me. I didn't even think of North Korea. Just China. Most of the people I know thought of China or the Norks too. Or that is was just a statement about sweat shops in general. Not a poke at south Korea.
I don't remember Marmot getting his panties in this much of a bunch (or any type of bunch) any other time the Simpson's took a direct dig at any other country. And I still don't think this was a direct dig at South Korea or an attempt to "defame " the artists who work at AKOM.
By the way Bobby, IF it was supposed to be aimed at AKOM, and not a general statement on sweat shops or even one aimed at china or the NorKs, how would it be defaming the artists who are portrayed as sweat shop slaves? Wouldn't it be defaming the company and the people who run it? And Fox? And Groenig? And anyone associated with Simpson's Merchandise? How would it be defaming the artists? Interesting leap of logic there.
Hell, as some of Bobby's own readers pointed out, this isn't the first time the Simpson's has shown the cartoon being made in a sweat shop. It was shown being made in a sweat shop in an earlier episode, complete with a "South Korean" soldier prodding a slow cartoonist with a bayonet if my memory doesn't fail me. (And it didn't fail me. One of Marmot's readers mentioned it too (it was a 1992 episode) and provided a link to a screencap.) That didn't raise Marmot's ire but something with Panda's (China), Dolphin heads (Japan?), and unicorn's (there are no unicorns in South Korea Bobby, they are a fantasy creature) does? Wow.
I wonder if he is equally upset with their OBVIOUS insult to South Korea over calling things the "something of the something"?
Much ado about nothing. Like I said, I expected over reactions from South Koreans but not the Marmot. I guess he turned into an adjosshi. If it could happen to him could it happen to ... you?!?!? (Oh wait he left South Korea didn't he? Damn it has a residual efffect!!!!)
I wouldn't say that the "something of the something else," was an obvious did at Korea. You have to be familiar with Korea first for that joke to take on that connotation.
ReplyDeleteActually 30 rock takes a lot more shots at Korea and Koreans than The Simpsons does. But I agree with you, I didn't see anything blatantly offensive about the opening sequence. I watched it with my Korean wife, and she thought it was funny, she didn't seem to think that it had anything to do with Korea either.
Just more sweatshops and china. Only a portion of the opening sequence dealt with the cartoons being drawn in a sweatshop, the rest was about the merchandise...which actually probably does come from a Chinese sweatshop.
3gyupsal
ReplyDeleteYou are spot on. It wasn't obvious. I was trying to be facetious and appear as illogical as saying the opening was aimed at South Korea. And I failed. :( Next time .... I will definitely probably maybe make it work. ;)
I haven't really watched 30 Rock. :(
Hell, the McGill comment was aimed directly at Canada. I wonder if I should be offended? Naw, it was pretty funny. :)
Hey, the something is something joke is just made better when in the Korean context. In a way it is a joke just for us despite the fact that it probably wasn't intended for us.
ReplyDeleteMy first time in Korea, I lived in a dorm for six weeks with a bunch of Korean highschool kids. We took a trip to some islands off the coast of Mokpo. Everybody told me that we were going to the Korean Caribbean. The place that we ended up was certainly nice, but I don't think that it was anything like the Caribbean. If I went to the Bahamas or Jamaica, I would probably be disappointed if I had to sleep on the floor, or swim in cold water. They could have called it the Korean Cuba without the exciting music scene or mojitos, but even that might have been a stretch.
The fact remains that they should try to think of other ways of explaining places like that, because if you say something is the Korean something else, you just set someone up for disappointment, when there are a lot of really awesome places to go in Korea like Jirisan. Don't tell me that it is the Korean Mt. Everest, tell me that it is the Korean mountain of wisdom, which is what Jiri means.
Well said. Promote it for what it is not what you wish it was.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think the opening was funny as such. It certainly could be taken as a "generic" kind of statement about sweat shops, but not necessarily about Koreans specifically. I thought of it as more about Chinese than Koreans. It just didn't have a punch line to it, so I was left with a kind of flat, mystified feeling after it was over.
ReplyDeleteIt reminded me of a "Family Guy" sweat shop gag, where Stewie is sewing shoes together. He sews his hand to one shoe and asks to go to the hospital. The guard brings in a pregnant woman who immediately delivers a child that is used to replace Stewie.
I wonder what Bobby would have to say about that?
Stig
ReplyDeleteI never saw that episode of FG.
The panda, dolphin, and unicorn bits made me chuckle.