Imagine for a moment Johannes Gutenberg and his friends strapping on dildos and staging fake, outrageous group sex for the entire world to see. Would they have done it if they had the means to do so?
-----
Dried-out contacts shriveling on my now-reddening eyes, a class approaching sooner with each passing second, and the idea of a sleepless night. It is 3:30 in the morning and there is hardly any feasible reason that I should be awake. There is no place more inviting right now than my bed, but there is something keeping me from it, the warm glow of my computer creating this mental stranglehold that I would not be able to get out of if I tried. I’ve found inspiration, motivation. I’ve found Stella.
A comedy trio consisting of David Wain, Michael Showalter, and Michael Ian Black, “Stella” – the name they go by – has created twenty-seven short films that can now be found on the internet. Each skit focuses on some theme, whether it is turkey hunting, the search for Santa Claus, moustaches, or friendship. I wonder sometimes about the internet and the evolution of the human psyche, considering the original reason for mass communication – spreading the word of God. I wonder this, you see, because at 3:30 in the morning I am watching Turkey Hunting, the one where the three go on a hunting trip only to end up accidentally shooting their hunting instructor dead, resulting in a scene of necrophilia between David Wain, his dropped pants, and the corpse.
This act should have produced a revolting and absurd scene in your mind, and rightfully so. How could the idea of laughter ever cross one’s mind, especially after learning that David gets raped by an angel in Whiffleball, a skit that also involves Cracker Jack boxes full of temporary swastika tattoos? This draws me in, captivates me, and, yes, makes me laugh. In the back of my mind, as socially disrespectful as it is to depict the raping of a corpse or an angel of God raping a human (rape is a common theme, as is the appearance of large dildos), it is intriguing and I want to – need to – see it. In order to better understand myself, I just need to accept that it pleases me to be watching this absurd comedy. After all, trying to understand human nature, such as the desire to watch three men constantly dressed in suits make light of suicide with farts, is hard enough; harder still is trying to convey this genius humor and its message. It is unfortunate that people aren’t willing to embrace the dark recesses of their humor (although the DVD of these limited-released shorts sells for $76 on eBay, telling me I’m not alone), settling short for pithy shows and movies with tired themes that won’t test a person’s moral fibers.
Their cult popularity, in addition to the influx of highly successful short films online, provides some sort of inspiration and avenue for us - the little filmmaking group I am a part of with my closest friends. For the hundreds or so that have seen our movies, the response has been positive, with one short film winning a competition that has now put us in another on a larger, national scale. A recent movie we made was called “cute,” especially for what we were given in terms of rules as it was part of another competition. I watch Stella, and I wonder how far “cute” gets you. When we figure to start getting into bigger and better things is anybody’s guess, and it is impossible to determine the subject matter of it all. But they have a niche, as boundary-pushing as it is, and their success reminds me of our glaring obstacle we will one day have to overcome. While what we make will never be as graphic or sexually explicit, it will be important to find an audience. Cult status even breeds TV shows, even if they only last ten episodes - a DVD that I easily purchased.
To become a stronger intellectual or to understand humanity can be done by reading the news or discovering some philosophy through a dry book written by a dead, bearded foreigner. Rather than tread through the same news and internet rhetoric – social disdain for war, rising gas prices, tragedy after recycled tragedy – the screen looking back at me is David, Michael, and Michael performing oral sex on Mrs. Claus while her husband is out delivering presents in Searching for Santa.
Did…you guys know that I have a cock? she asks, as she pulls up her red dress to reveal the staple of the Stella shorts – a large, fleshy dildo.
I do now, and I’m all the better for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment