Punda Malidadi

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Enough Already!

Enough already with badly informed jokes about German people! I have had it! In every, single, goddamn movie or TV show that aspires to be funny, there is at least one mandatory Let's-make-fun-of-German people joke. In the spirit of fairness, and realizing that my perception might be skewed and that it might just be that I disproportionately notice jokes about German people, I asked several other people: "Can you name a country that is as frequently, or better yet, more frequently ridiculed in the media than German people?"
Guess what- the answer was a unanimous "no". I might actually feel proud that my country of origin seems to be so prevalent in Hollywood filmmakers' minds, were it not for the fact that the jokes are not funny. For a racial stereotyping joke to be funny, there has to be some truth in it. And, all I can say is this: there just isn't. Believe me. I grew up there. God knows, there are many, many, many weird things German people do, and which they should rightfully be made fun of for, but they are not the following:

1. Speaking in a tone and volume that would put a boot camp captain to shame.

This rumour stems from the fact that most people have only ever heard German people speak in War movies. And they yelled and looked angry BECAUSE IT WAS WAR!!! NOT BECAUSE THEY WERE GERMAN!!!


2. Porn.

Yes, Germany produces Porn. So does every other goddamn frickin' country on this planet. La Di Dah. And no, I have never seen or heard of a German Scheisse-Video before I moved to Canada. Germany might very well produce them, but it sure seems to me it is North Americans who consume them.


3. David Hasselhoff.

Please, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease, let go of this one. For all that is sacred,
DAVID HASSELHOFF IS NOT POPULAR IN GERMANY.
This one is just a plain outright lie...probably invented by David Hasselhoff himself("Germany says I'm cool!").


What triggered this tirade? Oh, it's been long coming, but in particular, a really bad movie called "Dodgeball" gave me the rest. Don't watch it.

posted by Catrin

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous wrote:
[11:25 PM, January 20, 2005]
Nordic people get made fun of a lot. I make fun of Dutch people. Canadians have particular fun taking shots at Americans. The French do too, I understand. We make fun of the French quite often, as well. Chinese people used to get made fun of a lot, but that's less popular now, because their skin colour is different. Although a lot of people still wouldn't know the difference between the Japanese and the Chinese if it were screamed at them like they were at war. British people get made fun of sometimes, but moreso the Irish and their drinking habits. That's probably why they're so ornery.

I've never heard about points 2 and 3. Of course, I don't watch many movies or television shows, so I don't even know who David Hasselhoff is. I've heard stuff about Japanese porn, though. I've heard a lot of things about a lot of Japanese culture. I've come to the conclusion that Japan is probably the strangest country in the world.
Blogger Catrin wrote:
[10:29 AM, January 21, 2005]
Ralph!!! Du lebst noch! Oh wie schoen! Aber was ist denn das fuer ein seltsamer name? Und natuerlich hat jedes Land seine Lieblingsklischees, aber du muesstest mal hier wohnen und sehen wie sich alle hier ueber Deutsche lustig machen. Wenn die Filme in Deutschland ins Kino kommen, sind sie ja schon synchronisiert und dann hoerst du ja nicht, wie sich die Deutschen im Original angehoert haben. Dir ist auch klar dass alle hier denken dass David Hasselhoff in Deutschland der Superstar ueberhaupt ist?
Bis bald(ich komme ende April!)
Anonymous Anonymous wrote:
[4:40 PM, January 21, 2005]
All of those things might not be true of Germans, but I'll tell you something that is: the scarf, even in summer.

When I lived in Germany in high school, I never saw so many people wearing scarves when it was not cold out in my entire life. And so, as is my custom, I have mercilessly mocked Germans for excessive scarfwearing for a good decade and a half now.

Shannon

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