Misperceptions
Oct. 20th, 2005 01:34 pmRead something a while back by someone campaigning to prevent _The Honeymooners_ from being put on DVD because the show promoted violence against women. Which resulted in a confused "Huh?" from me.
Seems this person was taking "To the Moon, Alice!" by itself, with no knowledge of the characters or background. Worse (according to the critic) it was being used as a running gag, making the threat of violence seem trivial.
Now, anyone familiar with the show knows that the reason this bit was funny was that Ralph Cramden was completely incapable of laying a finger on his wife. That the character was an ineffectual blowhard who only succeed when he dropped the bravado and let his true self show through, as painful as that often was. The critic not only didn't get the joke, but completely missed the charm of the character and the genius of Gleason.
Stickmaker
Seems this person was taking "To the Moon, Alice!" by itself, with no knowledge of the characters or background. Worse (according to the critic) it was being used as a running gag, making the threat of violence seem trivial.
Now, anyone familiar with the show knows that the reason this bit was funny was that Ralph Cramden was completely incapable of laying a finger on his wife. That the character was an ineffectual blowhard who only succeed when he dropped the bravado and let his true self show through, as painful as that often was. The critic not only didn't get the joke, but completely missed the charm of the character and the genius of Gleason.
Stickmaker