Date: 2012-09-07 16:02:56 Created: 2012-09-07 12:02:41
There was a link to Youtube among my tweets this morning, commented as "So true and so funny". The video was titled "Shit Apple fanatics say" and was a very well produced and acted collection of often very recognizable lines, expressions and figures of speech. So indeed, good points on the "true" part. But it left me with a very strange feeling. It was trying to be funny, but it got there so rarely and often tried so hard that it just left me feeling awkward. Yes, that is a thing I have heard many people say. Yes, that is a thing I have said myself. The reasons why it is said pop up in my mind.
And then … nothing.
No twist, no funny angle, not even a serious attempt to poke holes in arguments. It was as if the writer collected things and just hoped they would be funny in themselves without trying to understand them. Or, in the worst cases, piled on the strangeness (hello long-winded right-click discussion). The best things were short and sweet and worked, but the rest made me wonder if those were just pure luck.
"Of course you say that", I hear you say, "you are one of the fanatics yourself." Well spotted. I smiled in recognition at a few details, but should a well done piece not have made me smile or laugh at my own perceptions much more often? Smart, witty criticism is a great thing, but much of this felt like it rested on the assumption of there being two firm camps - Us and Them - and anything They say automatically being funny. What do you call that, some kind of alienation humour?
To sum up: it left me cold. Cold about the writer, cold about the person behind the tweet, and a little sad about the wasted energy and care. So much potential, if only the script had got some more polish.