Jerry Springer: The Opera
Aug. 21st, 2008 12:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackJerry Springer: The Opera is freaking hilarious. The first half is a little slow, as it depicts a typical Springer show. It's an exaggerated parody, with singing, but it seems to me, just verisimilitudinous. But the second, ah, the descent into hell! That went really, really, really well.
It was funny, and not too nasty. And oddly enough, though I can't say how: I like J. Springer more now. He was portrayed really nicely too.
You don't need to have seed the show. It'll make sense if you haven't at all, thirty seconds once and I knew it all[1]. Now all I need is a rhyme for "micely"[2].
Footnotes
[1] The show also warns you need a working background knowledge of Judeo-Christian mythos to get the religious references. Living in a Judeo-Christian culture or country is plenty, but that's a bit misleading; it really won't make much sense to you unless you know who Jesus is[3].
And for that matter, I'm not sure how much of the modern concept of Satan as a punisher and God's current rival on earth is rooted in the commandments in the old testament. But that's just a theoretical exception: I don't imagine I know any culturally Judeo-Christian people who haven't studied the gospels more than I have :)
[2] Do you see what I did there? :) I wasn't going to even attempt to rhyme (let alone scan) a review, but the second sentence just got written so, I felt I had to try, even if it meant rhyming "too" and "[2]"... The footnotes don't necessarily rhyme, though I keep breaking my brain trying to read them in rhythm, after trying to read the post so.
[3] The religious characters are also played with character. (All of the characters are not traditionally beautiful, but very wonderfully expressive.) In fact, I'm sure some of the pre-existing conceptions (eg. Satan as rival to God's will) are more blasphemous than the ones the opera comes up with (eg. Jesus displaying anger). (Although I won't go so far as to try and claim it could never be offensive to people who like God (or Jerry Springer).)
It was funny, and not too nasty. And oddly enough, though I can't say how: I like J. Springer more now. He was portrayed really nicely too.
You don't need to have seed the show. It'll make sense if you haven't at all, thirty seconds once and I knew it all[1]. Now all I need is a rhyme for "micely"[2].
Footnotes
[1] The show also warns you need a working background knowledge of Judeo-Christian mythos to get the religious references. Living in a Judeo-Christian culture or country is plenty, but that's a bit misleading; it really won't make much sense to you unless you know who Jesus is[3].
And for that matter, I'm not sure how much of the modern concept of Satan as a punisher and God's current rival on earth is rooted in the commandments in the old testament. But that's just a theoretical exception: I don't imagine I know any culturally Judeo-Christian people who haven't studied the gospels more than I have :)
[2] Do you see what I did there? :) I wasn't going to even attempt to rhyme (let alone scan) a review, but the second sentence just got written so, I felt I had to try, even if it meant rhyming "too" and "[2]"... The footnotes don't necessarily rhyme, though I keep breaking my brain trying to read them in rhythm, after trying to read the post so.
[3] The religious characters are also played with character. (All of the characters are not traditionally beautiful, but very wonderfully expressive.) In fact, I'm sure some of the pre-existing conceptions (eg. Satan as rival to God's will) are more blasphemous than the ones the opera comes up with (eg. Jesus displaying anger). (Although I won't go so far as to try and claim it could never be offensive to people who like God (or Jerry Springer).)
no subject
Date: 2008-08-21 12:55 pm (UTC)Whether God 'uses' Satan to punish people is debateable. It's more accurate to say that Satan attacks people on earth because of his opposition to God, and that God uses those attacks to refine people. It's certainly true that God (particularly in the OT) is portrayed as punishing people on earth himself (albeit through other people in some cases). I don't think the general picture is one of God intentionally using Satan as a tool for punishment, look at Job for instance - it is Satan who wants to break Job, and while God allows this to happen (he increasingly gives Satan permission to do worse things) God is not the initial cause of what happens to him.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-21 01:59 pm (UTC)Satan is portrayed
You mean, portrayed by Jerry Springer, the Opera? Or portrayed by the Christian church? :)
I see I actually used "rival" twice in two different ways. Oops :)
"God's current rival on earth", referred to weather the idea of Satan competing with God for souls (with or without God's backing) is rooted in the old testament, and thus whether a non-Christian Judeo cultural background would let you understand the conflict enough to get the jokes :)
"rival to God's will" referred to Satan holding his own in a tug-of-war and fist-fight with God, and whether that's doctrinal, or a blasphemy which is hardly new because it was set to verse :)