"...but for a second you were, like, CW hot."
February 2, 2014 12:28 PM   Subscribe

Sexy Pool Party (SLYT)
posted by Jacqueline (42 comments total) 16 users marked this as a favorite
 
It seemed like people here could use a little cheering up today. :)
posted by Jacqueline at 12:28 PM on February 2, 2014 [9 favorites]


"...but for a second you were, like, CW hot."
Wasn't that line in the Dove ad a few posts below?
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:40 PM on February 2, 2014


"Wasn't that line in the Dove ad a few posts below?"

Not that I can find? Anyhow, CW is known for having teh hot menz so I wouldn't be surprised if "CW hot" were a semi-common phrase.
posted by Jacqueline at 12:49 PM on February 2, 2014


I used to date a hot woman who would pant like a dog, but the problem was I couldn't take her out anywhere.
Not even the dog park. Movies were totally embarrassing. And don't get me started on her table manners.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 1:05 PM on February 2, 2014


Why would a dog turn into a human woman?

This wasn't funny enough to distract me from feeling kind of shitty about that.
posted by telegraph at 1:21 PM on February 2, 2014 [5 favorites]


Why would a dog turn into a human woman?

Yeah, I mean, you'd expect something that looked like a sexy Wookie speaking in Doge. That would just be reasonable.
posted by XMLicious at 1:27 PM on February 2, 2014 [9 favorites]


What a twist!
posted by sacrifix at 1:30 PM on February 2, 2014


This isn't a documentary video about a real life magic pool party where a real dog really was sprayed with a sexy hose. The makers of the sketch didn't have to come up with a creative way to sexualize a dog, and they didn't have to portray a human woman as merely a sexually attractive subhuman animal. Were they going for a laugh? Sure. Do I think this video was made to demean women? No. Does it? Yes.
posted by telegraph at 1:35 PM on February 2, 2014 [5 favorites]




Now this is how you sexualize a dog.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 1:43 PM on February 2, 2014 [4 favorites]


I looked through BriTANicK's older videos some time ago. What's interesting is that you can see them gradually figure out how to incorporate other actors, particularly the girlfriend character, into their comedy. At first they have her just standing around and nodding. Then they make her the "straight man", so to speak. Finally they learn to trust her (them) enough to deliver a fair share of the punchlines and be just as funny as the guys themselves, and the result is (in my opinion) their best work yet. Nice going, Brian and Nick!

Edit: "Straight man" isn't really what I'm going for... What's the term for a character that reacts like a normal person (with incredulity and horror) to increasingly outlandish events?
posted by narain at 1:46 PM on February 2, 2014 [1 favorite]


This isn't a documentary video about a real life magic pool party where a real dog really was sprayed with a sexy hose.

Before I was just bugged by the woman/dog thing. Now I am actively disappointed.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:34 PM on February 2, 2014 [3 favorites]


Edit: "Straight man" isn't really what I'm going for... What's the term for a character that reacts like a normal person (with incredulity and horror) to increasingly outlandish events?

Straight man. It's not that the person is "straight" as in stodgy or unmoved, it's carny-speak for a rube or non-performer.
posted by Etrigan at 2:47 PM on February 2, 2014 [2 favorites]


Clockwise hot?
posted by MtDewd at 3:49 PM on February 2, 2014


I thought the dog part worked okay. The alternative would be to have a less-attractive woman turn into a more-attractive woman, which would have been a bit mean.
posted by Umami Dearest at 5:01 PM on February 2, 2014 [6 favorites]


What this sketch really does is demean Cypriots.
posted by The White Hat at 5:53 PM on February 2, 2014 [3 favorites]


The alternative would be to have a less-attractive woman turn into a more-attractive woman, which would have been a bit mean. Why would that be mean if it happened to a woman when it's the exact premise of what happened to the men in the video?

I'm sorry I keep phrasing my protests as rhetorical questions. The answer of course is that our society teaches young women that their value resides primarily in their appearance, but not so to young men. There are lots of working female comics right now who have managed to turn this issue on its side and be OK with not being smokin' hot but it's not the norm.
posted by telegraph at 6:13 PM on February 2, 2014


There's plenty of media that teaches young men that their value resides in their appearance.

In any case, it's no less ridiculous for a nerdy white guy to transform into a ripped black guy than it is for a dog to transform into an attractive woman. Why single that part out to be grieved about?
posted by mrbigmuscles at 6:43 PM on February 2, 2014 [3 favorites]


It was OK. . .but then the "Serenity 2" sign on Fillion's trailer push it into "win" territory.
posted by Danf at 7:20 PM on February 2, 2014 [4 favorites]


My take was that it was satirizing a beer commercial, because there is probably a Bud Light or Silver Bullet commercial somewhere in which a dog is transformed into a woman. Or, it was a Snoop Dogg video.
posted by Brocktoon at 8:35 PM on February 2, 2014


Not even the dog park.

Well you were warned not to approach the dog park.

The other alternative would've been for the dog to turn into a more attractive dog. Or a more attractive other animal. Like having a weird looking mutt turn into a graceful horse.
posted by NoraReed at 10:32 PM on February 2, 2014 [1 favorite]


Satirizing a beer commercial in which the beer that is thrown to Nick is a martini when pulled out of the pool? (I liked that bit. And the Serenity 2 reference.)
posted by Zack_Replica at 11:55 PM on February 2, 2014 [2 favorites]


It was worth it for the martini, but only the martini.
posted by mannequito at 12:29 AM on February 3, 2014


I bet this would be even funnier if I knew what CW or who Nathan Fillion is.
posted by ubiquity at 5:05 AM on February 3, 2014


In any case, it's no less ridiculous for a nerdy white guy to transform into a ripped black guy than it is for a dog to transform into an attractive woman. Why single that part out to be grieved about?

perceive: a ripped black guy is still a human being, yo
the difference there is what is being grieved about, do you dig
posted by titus n. owl at 8:01 AM on February 3, 2014 [3 favorites]


Eh, I didn't find it offensive when the mice in Cindarella became footman, I didn't find this offensive.

Personally, my favorite BriTANick sketch is "Boy's Night In."
posted by Diablevert at 9:29 AM on February 3, 2014 [2 favorites]


I bet this would be even funnier if I knew what CW or who Nathan Fillion is.

can't tell if making fun of or just being one of those "I don't even own a television" people
posted by ook at 10:03 AM on February 3, 2014 [3 favorites]


I bet this would be even funnier if I knew what CW or who Nathan Fillion is.

That sort of comment is like the reverse of coming out of the pool: Boasting about your ignorance never fails to make someone look less attractive.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 10:30 AM on February 3, 2014 [1 favorite]


Eh, I didn't find it offensive when the mice in Cindarella became footman, I didn't find this offensive.

Footmen are not constantly objectified. Well, except, possibly, by Downton Abbey viewers.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:49 AM on February 3, 2014


Footmen are not constantly objectified. Well, except, possibly, by Downton Abbey viewers

To me the joke was funny because it continued the escalation of the joke by transforming a non-human into a human, the only way to raise the stakes following the second switch for nerdy white dude to built black dude. I've watched a bunch of their stuff, and building in that extra step or two of escalation is the thing they do especially well --- in their best sketches, the build up to their jokes stretches out longer than you expect it to and turns stranger and funnier because of that additional fourth or fifth beat in the build up. Some of their other sketches had lines or jokes which struck me as sexist, this didn't ring that bell for me.

I definitely think if the joke had ended there --- if the punchline transformation was woman-into dog and we were supposed to laugh at the dude's disappointment with her dog-like, unsexy personality, then I think it would ring that bell. But instead I think the dudes' reactions play as more confused than repulsed, and the female character is accepted as a equal partner in the final transformation into Ultimate Sexiness, aka Nathan Fillion. So to me it just reads as primarily a part of the chain of escalation; the funny part isn't that women are dog like but that the power of emerging from a pool can transform even the non-human. Nathan Fillion barks at the end, as well.
posted by Diablevert at 11:37 AM on February 3, 2014 [4 favorites]


I don't even own a Nathan Fillion.
posted by benito.strauss at 11:41 AM on February 3, 2014 [2 favorites]


In the interests of equal opportunities I am making up for the sexy bitch thing by intensely objectifying Nathan Fillion in a wet t-shirt. brb
posted by billiebee at 11:44 AM on February 3, 2014 [1 favorite]


Looks like this sketch was sprayed with the MeFi hose which has the reverse effect on things and now I can no longer enjoy its humor and levity
posted by Apocryphon at 12:05 PM on February 3, 2014 [5 favorites]


I enjoyed its humor and levity. Others can enjoy their indignancy and self-righteousness.
posted by kuroikenshi at 12:21 PM on February 3, 2014 [2 favorites]


kalessin, who was that singing?
posted by eggkeeper at 12:50 PM on February 3, 2014


It's a grieved comparison because whether or not it's intended, the choice of transforming character to beast or beast to character is facile and unbecoming of artists/creators we're asked to believe are funny or creative.

I've always thought Ovid had his points.
posted by Diablevert at 1:01 PM on February 3, 2014


It's a YouTube sketch; I, too, doubt it will be much talked of in 2,000 years. But transforming an animal into a person is not prima facie evidence of hackery.

I mean, meh, in the end, really. I can see why other people felt it was sexist, I've explained why I didn't, it is just a YouTube sketch after all, worthy of neither fretfulness nor jerimiads, so, bygones.
posted by Diablevert at 1:31 PM on February 3, 2014


I am skeptical that this work of art compares favorably with Ovid's.

It might just take getting sent into exile by the Divine Augustus to fix that...
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:32 PM on February 3, 2014


there are a lot of times i will watch a thing and find it funny or enjoyable, and later either i realize in hindsight, or someone else sees from their being-a-different-person change of perspective, an aspect that is troubling and bothersome to me. this does not always automatically negate the funny or enjoyable aspects of the original: sometimes it does, sometimes it's still a funny or enjoyable thing but it is a funny thing with a problem in it

in this case with this video i was like "haha that's ... actually, wait, the concept was funny but why the hell does the dog turn into a sexy babe? i feel this could have been handled better"

so like i can deal with things having problematic aspects
but what really annoys the hell out of me
is when expressing those aspects and the problems with them invites a chorus of people to loudly proclaim that feminists don't have any sense of humor and some people just Like Being Upset and ugh why can't you people just calm down and enjoy a funny thing instead of Constantly Complaining All The Time Like You People Always Do
that chorus is far more annoying than whatever the problematic aspect of a thing is most of the time
posted by titus n. owl at 1:34 PM on February 3, 2014 [1 favorite]


Are these beans on my plate?
posted by valkane at 5:10 PM on February 3, 2014 [1 favorite]


I disagree, it's far more annoying for people to nitpick the shit out of something and make a mountain out of a molehill.
posted by kuroikenshi at 8:26 PM on February 3, 2014 [3 favorites]


> ... it's far more annoying for people to nitpick the shit out of something and make a mountain out of a molehill.

MetaFilter: You don't have to read the comments.
posted by benito.strauss at 7:47 AM on February 4, 2014


« Older Award-winning Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman Found...   |   Hvis googly tar oss Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments