Comments on: Super Bowl Ads and Their Relation to the Unconscious http://www.overthinkingit.com/2008/02/04/super-bowl-ads-and-their-relation-to-the-unconscious/ Overthinking It subjects the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:16:09 +0000 hourly 1 By: A Lesson in Comedy | Overthinking It http://www.overthinkingit.com/2008/02/04/super-bowl-ads-and-their-relation-to-the-unconscious/#comment-304 A Lesson in Comedy | Overthinking It Thu, 22 May 2008 00:14:56 +0000 http://www.overthinkingit.com/2008/02/04/super-bowl-ads-and-their-relation-to-the-unconscious/#comment-304 [...] indifference was never informed by anything like a moral stance. Contrary to the impression I may have given, I’m not prudish in the least, and frankly relish comedy that is blatantly offensive. (Click [...] [...] indifference was never informed by anything like a moral stance. Contrary to the impression I may have given, I’m not prudish in the least, and frankly relish comedy that is blatantly offensive. (Click [...]

]]> By: Wrather Thoughtful » Super Bowl Ads and Their Relation to the Unconscious http://www.overthinkingit.com/2008/02/04/super-bowl-ads-and-their-relation-to-the-unconscious/#comment-45 Wrather Thoughtful » Super Bowl Ads and Their Relation to the Unconscious Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:27:29 +0000 http://www.overthinkingit.com/2008/02/04/super-bowl-ads-and-their-relation-to-the-unconscious/#comment-45 [...] posted my thoughts on some uncanny (and some horrifying) Super Bowl ads on Overthinking It. This entry was posted on [...] [...] posted my thoughts on some uncanny (and some horrifying) Super Bowl ads on Overthinking It. This entry was posted on [...]

]]> By: fenzel http://www.overthinkingit.com/2008/02/04/super-bowl-ads-and-their-relation-to-the-unconscious/#comment-39 fenzel Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:19:21 +0000 http://www.overthinkingit.com/2008/02/04/super-bowl-ads-and-their-relation-to-the-unconscious/#comment-39 For most of the game, I was in "cleverest boy in the room" mode, where I was making fun of everything, trying to make my roommate laugh. It's one way I relax. Anyway, I saw the Justin Timberlake ad, and I joked, "I love this ad!" when Timberlake was hit in the nuts by the mailbox. Thing is, my comedic instincts worked faster than my assimilation of the ad -- as much as, in the abstract, I know that hitting Justin Timberlake in the nuts is supposed to be funny, it really wasn't funny in that commercial. It was a little too brutal, a little too realistic, and he seemed a little too distressed by it. Also, Justin Timberlake, like all of us, is getting older, and the name, at leat for me, has bifurcated into two signifiers -- Justin Timberlake the MJ and Usher-influenced prog-R&B recording artist, who lives somewhere outside TRL-land, and the Britney-dating, teeneybopper-screaming-making, anti-masculine boy bander dancing on strings and singing falsetto. And it's much funnier to watch the latter of those two get hit in the nuts than the former (and you still get to see it occasionally on Robot Chicken and its ilk). The commercial had the former Justin Timberlake in it, and I didn't even really believe the woman actually wanted him. It was like watching a bunch of children try to snooker Quincy Jones. It was jarring and unpleasant. At least part of that is, I think, an ad copywriter holding onto an idea too long, pitching it over and over agani, but the director of this commercial took it and ran with it. The long and the short of it, though, is that once I made the joke about it being funny, I had to stick with it. So, I made jokes about Justin Timberlake being hit in the nuts at least a few more times during the evening. Each time, I felt a little twinge in my gut as I knew the joke was bad and the reference was bad, but I wasn't in a cognitively active enough frame of mind to revise my thoughts about this cultural symbol on the fly during such an exciting football game. Also, I'm unfamiliar with your use of "uncanny" - reminds me of learning the difference between "imagination" and "fancy" when studying Coleridge. Here's a column subject for you -- what's "uncanny" about the "Uncanny X-Men?" Also, Go Giants!! For most of the game, I was in “cleverest boy in the room” mode, where I was making fun of everything, trying to make my roommate laugh. It’s one way I relax.

Anyway, I saw the Justin Timberlake ad, and I joked, “I love this ad!” when Timberlake was hit in the nuts by the mailbox.

Thing is, my comedic instincts worked faster than my assimilation of the ad — as much as, in the abstract, I know that hitting Justin Timberlake in the nuts is supposed to be funny, it really wasn’t funny in that commercial. It was a little too brutal, a little too realistic, and he seemed a little too distressed by it.

Also, Justin Timberlake, like all of us, is getting older, and the name, at leat for me, has bifurcated into two signifiers — Justin Timberlake the MJ and Usher-influenced prog-R&B recording artist, who lives somewhere outside TRL-land, and the Britney-dating, teeneybopper-screaming-making, anti-masculine boy bander dancing on strings and singing falsetto. And it’s much funnier to watch the latter of those two get hit in the nuts than the former (and you still get to see it occasionally on Robot Chicken and its ilk).

The commercial had the former Justin Timberlake in it, and I didn’t even really believe the woman actually wanted him. It was like watching a bunch of children try to snooker Quincy Jones. It was jarring and unpleasant.

At least part of that is, I think, an ad copywriter holding onto an idea too long, pitching it over and over agani, but the director of this commercial took it and ran with it.

The long and the short of it, though, is that once I made the joke about it being funny, I had to stick with it. So, I made jokes about Justin Timberlake being hit in the nuts at least a few more times during the evening. Each time, I felt a little twinge in my gut as I knew the joke was bad and the reference was bad, but I wasn’t in a cognitively active enough frame of mind to revise my thoughts about this cultural symbol on the fly during such an exciting football game.

Also, I’m unfamiliar with your use of “uncanny” – reminds me of learning the difference between “imagination” and “fancy” when studying Coleridge. Here’s a column subject for you — what’s “uncanny” about the “Uncanny X-Men?”

Also, Go Giants!!

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