When has something been too mean-spirited or cruel for you to enjoy?

[TrulyBritish]

As for real life, I reached the peak of my standards for humanity when some idiot that I have on Facebook for whatever reason though that it would be a good idea to post a video of some teenage girls throwing puppies from a bucket into a river. I barely made it five seconds before my entire day was ruined.

Bloody hell. I didn't even see the video and reading that sentence makes me sad. :c

It may interest you both that the video in question was being plastered all over the Internet with the intention of identifying the girl. It paid off, and she was eventually prosecuted for animal abuse.

Yeah, I seem to remember another story about some asian chick and her boyfriend filming themselves crushing the skull of kitten under her feet making the rounds as people tried to find her. I may be remembering that wrong though.
OT: As others have mentioned the death of the secretary in Jurassic World felt massively uncomfortable to me even if I can recognise the fact that it's only fiction and I've been fine with other depictions of violence. I haven't really tried that hard but I don't think I can ever really get on with "torture-porn" films either, stuff like Saw though I don't have a problem with people who do obviously.

 

[Lightspeaker]

-Snip-

I pretty much take a similar view.

The series is, admittedly, somewhat relentlessly negative. But bad things happen to everyone in it. And those bad things pretty much always happen because of some sort of mistake made, usually several; character flaws coming to the fore. Some of those character flaws being 'positive' and some being 'negative' traits. Oberyn dies because of a combination of overconfidence, arrogance and a desperate desire for revenge. Tywin dies because of how ruthlessly and coldly he treated his own children as mere pawns in his political chess games, with no thought to their own feelings. And so on and so forth.

Robb Stark is probably the best example of this honestly. Robb's final mistake was firstly on a personal level (sleeping with the daughter of a minor noble house) and then on a political level (going on to marry said daughter out of his inherent sense of nobility over 'ruining' said daughter for marriage). On a related note this is why I find the change made in the TV series for this particular bit outstandingly stupid. It turns it from a fairly interesting reflection on Robb's character as impulsive but honourable, which leads to his downfall; to a rather silly 'follow your heart' narrative which leads to his downfall. Completely losing the message behind the whole thing in the process.



Anyway...on topic I agree with people saying stuff like Family Guy. I think I've only ever watched a couple of episodes but I find it incredibly uncomfortable as a series. On a related note I used to like South Park when I was a kid but as I got even a little older it just felt relentlessly cruel. Same goes for The Office actually, I never felt comfortable watching that; its basically put me off anything by Ricky Gervais for feeling so pointlessly mean spirited.

The Jurassic World example is another good one. Although that didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of the film (which was okay, not great but better than I expected).

I haven't really tried that hard but I don't think I can ever really get on with "torture-porn" films either, stuff like Saw though I don't have a problem with people who do obviously.

I have to...partially agree on that. Saw 2 I didn't like. It make me profoundly uncomfortable.

However I have to disagree most strongly on the original Saw. The series very much went down the path of 'torture porn' with people being subjected to terrible, terrible things but the first one I found to be a fascinating psychological-based horror/thriller.


Also I have to thank this thread for reminding me that Evangelion 3.33 came out a few weeks ago and I've forgotten to buy it yet. Time to go on Amazon!

 

[Synigma]

Napoleon Dynamite. I never understood why that got as much attention as it did... probably because of the quotability of the stuff he says? I don't know but as a whole it just made me ask why. Why make such a pointless movie? He might have been an interesting side character in another movie (like a Kramer to Seinfeld) but instead you get this movie that is just basically an hour and a half of "hey, he's kinda weird, let's laugh at him".

I don't enjoy that cringe humour to start with, you know when someone is making an ass of themselves and the joke is how long they end up doing it, and that's all that movie was. And he got so into it that I couldn't help but like the character... which made it all the worse since I'm pretty sure you're suppose to be laughing at him.

 

[Synigma]

snip

For me, it fell into the realm of movies in which I despised everyone I saw and everything that happened. With nothing to be for, against, or even curious about I was just adrift in an ocean of disgust. It wasn't a bad movie per se, it was just a bad movie to sit through.

I found Forrest Gump fell into the same category for me.

Yeah, it was the first time I really checked out of a movie completely. I couldn't even watch it in one go, and only went back because I had a friend that insisted it was great. Spoiler; it was not. And ya, I don't blame the movie or the actors... just bleh.

Yeah there was definitely parts of Forest Gump that got cringy... the scene with Lt.Dan and the prostitutes comes to mind. I give that one a pass because at least it's building character for Lt.Dan who eventually has a character arc. Maybe that's it though; you can't invest in these characters because they don't have an arc, they don't learn anything and you just feel sorry for them (if you feel anything).

 

[Wasted]

The later Comedy Central Roasts are cringe inducing, especially the Favor Flav and Mike Tyson ones. I feel that that was a common complaint since the roast of James Franco was greatly toned down in regards to mean-spirited and shock jokes. His real life actor friends did the roasting and it showed since it felt more like poking fun instead of attempting to make the roastee cry.

 

[pilouuuu]

I agree with everyone that mentioned Game of Thrones. Almost all of the characters are jerks and there's no hope. Despite all that I still enjoy the show.

Also, most things by Tarantino. While I find his style interesting I dislike the fact that he always need to include something which shocking or disgusting and that characters in his stories are also a bunch of basterds.

I was also considering watching Outlander, but then I spoiled myself with that disturbing ending to the first season and decided not to watch it. I think it's simply too much.

The Dark Knight Rises was also uncomfortable to watch with all the gritty cruelty.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Mean spirited?

I don't know... Big Bang Theory. Sheldon is not just irritable. He's psychopathic. Treats friends like garbage, treated his supposed girlfriend like a doormat, narcissidtic in the extreme.

I find the show genuinely distasteful if only because I was once in a relationship with someone like him, and I had to file a complaint with the police to create enough distance between us.

His antics aren't fun to me. He's a cancer that serves to inflict on any person his presence matastizes towards. Deeply unpleasant, with zero redeeming qualities. This isn't like Newman from Seinfeld (though arguably Newman is a better person than any of the main cast), it's merely a bad person hurting people.

 

[maninahat]

Yes. The movie Everly. Salma Hayek plays a former prostitute/sex slave who gets a bunch of guns and fortifies her brothel against waves of Yakuza attackers. Sounds like a cool action movie premise right? Well it isn't. It has a few cool scenes, but most of the movie is really unhealthy exploitation cinema - watching it, you get the impression the director just has a nasty kink for watching Hayek cry in pain for long periods of time.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Also, just because you mentioned Seinfeld, in shows like that and Always Sunny the characters are meant to be awful, we're never meant to like or admire them, and the only reason they have friends is because they surround themselves with the only people as bad as they are. Dick from 3rd Rock From The Sun and Abed from Community are like the versions of the Sheldon character that you can understand why people would actually be friends with.

Ahhh... but the difference is that Dick wasn't that bad. Insensitive, yes. But capable of ready sacrifice and affection. Dick wasn't a horrible individual, and whatever character failings were merely a way to assess where he fails to be human, but ultimately more often succeeding despite it. You cannot compare his relationship with Mary as you can Sheldon and Amy.

Also, haven't seen Community.... (yes, I know I should go watch it... I've heard this about a hundred times now...)

 

[default]

Happy Tree Friends was just stupid.

Fuck, I remember that stupid shit. All my dumbass highschool friends guffawing at it like dickheads. Made me sick.


I guess I don't mind cruelty so much as long as it's aesthetically consistent and earned. If your movie is just horrible it comes across as trite and worthless. Pointless torture or rape really upsets me. You need to have balance and contrast, and then the cruel parts of your work will be all the more impactful. Dark has no meaning without light, blah blah blah.

Take the ending of Taxi Driver. If the movie only consisted of scenes like that it would feel so pointless and exploitative, just violence for the sake of violence. But we see Travis' long, slow decline into neuroses and insanity, all his silly fantasies and plans culminating in this horribly bloody, clumsy scene. And it's brilliant.

 

[Kajin]

The fact that I don't have to accidentally catch a glimpse of Big Bang Theory while channel surfing on the off chance I decide I want to go channel surfing in an era of digital channel guides is the biggest saving grace of not having cable television anymore. I absolutely despise Sheldon. He's such a prick that it ruins what might otherwise be a good television show.

 

[Ryallen]

As for real life, I reached the peak of my standards for humanity when some idiot that I have on Facebook for whatever reason though that it would be a good idea to post a video of some teenage girls throwing puppies from a bucket into a river. I barely made it five seconds before my entire day was ruined.

Bloody hell. I didn't even see the video and reading that sentence makes me sad. :c

It may interest you both that the video in question was being plastered all over the Internet with the intention of identifying the girl. It paid off, and she was eventually prosecuted for animal abuse.

WHOO DOGGY!

no pun intended

 

[Megalodon]

You should really check out extra histories videos on the first crusade - one element of the Peoples Crusade couldn't wait to get to the holy land before killing people, so began slaughtering Jews along the way and looting their belongings.

Oh please, that series was just garbage. It was just as 'Crusaders suck, poor Muslims' as Kingdom of Heaven (if not more so). According to extra credits the Turks were pure innocents, invaded by that nasty Pope and his Crusader barbarians. Completely glossing over the previous centuries of Islamic aggression and expansion. Now I'm not saying the People's Crusade was a good idea, or that the Crusaders were angels. They weren't. They were 11th Century Warlords, and acted like it. But so did their Saracen enemies. It was a brutal age for everyone, Cross or Crescent.

They do the a similar thing with their more recent Suleimann series. In which they present him as this enlightened, wise figure. While glossing (to varying extents) over the fact that we was an aggressive expansionist conqueror, utilising slave child soldiers in his wars (the Janissaries) and murdered his children and advisors out of rampant paranoia, yet they're still trying for a sympathetic portrayal. Now was he a positive influence/"good" Sultan? In some ways yes, there's a reason he's remembered amongst the Turks for his legal reforms, not expansionist conquest. But he performed deeds similarly morally reprehensible by modern standards as the Crusaders, yet the EC crew aren't interested in telling that story.

 

[WindKnight]

You should really check out extra histories videos on the first crusade - one element of the Peoples Crusade couldn't wait to get to the holy land before killing people, so began slaughtering Jews along the way and looting their belongings.

Oh please, that series was just garbage. It was just as 'Crusaders suck, poor Muslims' as Kingdom of Heaven (if not more so). According to extra credits the Turks were pure innocents, invaded by that nasty Pope and his Crusader barbarians. Completely glossing over the previous centuries of Islamic aggression and expansion. Now I'm not saying the People's Crusade was a good idea, or that the Crusaders were angels. They weren't. They were 11th Century Warlords, and acted like it. But so did their Saracen enemies. It was a brutal age for everyone, Cross or Crescent.

They do the a similar thing with their more recent Suleimann series. In which they present him as this enlightened, wise figure. While glossing (to varying extents) over the fact that we was an aggressive expansionist conqueror, utilising slave child soldiers in his wars (the Janissaries) and murdered his children and advisors out of rampant paranoia, yet they're still trying for a sympathetic portrayal. Now was he a positive influence/"good" Sultan? In some ways yes, there's a reason he's remembered amongst the Turks for his legal reforms, not expansionist conquest. But he performed deeds similarly morally reprehensible by modern standards as the Crusaders, yet the EC crew aren't interested in telling that story.

Um, you really should watch the latest episode before you accuse them of 'glossing things over'. They address the whole paranoia aspect and its results.

 

[pilouuuu]

I also forgot to mention Penny Dreadful. I watched the first episode, but it was so dark, gory and gloomy that I couldn't continue. Shame, because I love Eva Green!

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

There's a little anime called Geno Cyber that no doubt tried to capitalize on the popularity of the then popular Akira, by just throwing acts of cruelty at the screen in a cyberpunk setting. There wasn't even any rhyme or reason what was happening. It was just nasty for the sake of being nasty.

I looked that up, and then I saw that the same crew that did the OVA of Geno Cyber also did M.D. Geist. In fact that was also something that was just too damn mean spirited to enjoy, and I would not be shocked if Geist was in some small way one of the inspirations for Kratos.

Hah, hah, haaaahhhh.... Such my dick and swallow, Seth. Don't waste a drop.

I think I laughed harder at that zinger of yours than I have at any episode of Family Guy ever.