Comments
Please wait...
Comments are closed.
Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.
Editors' Picks
is a proud member of the
media network
media network
All contents © Index Newspapers LLC
PO Box 86208, Portland, OR 97286
PO Box 86208, Portland, OR 97286
Granted, I haven't been able to see the whole run, but I've got no problem with the show picking on people who are amazingly easy to pick on (and I see myself included in that demographic).
I don't think Portlandia is anti-creative class. It's just jokes, and frankly the same kind of jokes EVERY Portlander has made on their own about each other.
Unless I misunderstand, Carrie lives here in Portland, and mocks the self-appointed quirks of our fair town just the way most of us would, and probably the way we do, when we sit writing or drawing in our journals/playing go at Powell's coffee room. Sure, were all pretty impressed with ourselves, but in the back of our minds I'm sure we all take one look at how smug we are about being Portlanders with the reputation and all and think "gosh, I couldn't live with y'all if I wasn't one of you".
Portland IS a special place, and a special place deserves a special sort of satire. And Fred and Carrie are laughing at us AND with us, because we know how absurd Portland really is, and it's a fine thing!
Where else in America could a locavore take a 5-year break from a table in the übertrendy NW bistro district, become involved in a cult-ish farm, then come back after the leader dies just to find their table STILL WAITING FOR THEM? Only in Portland. Certainly not in Seattle!
Well, maybe in Silverton! But that's it!
This line of logic seems to come up in any conversation about the show. But not laughing is a pretty reasonable response to something not being funny. I like the show, in general, but there are some real clunkers in there too—the safeword sketch, for example, takes its caricatures way too far, like a parody of a parody. (The gender-swapping was probably intended to offset ickiness around a man pressuring a woman for sex, but it really knocks the legs out from under a sketch that could've been awkward/funny otherwise.) The coffeeshop/dog bit, on the other hand, is awesome because it feels grounded in reality in a way that not all of the other sketches do. (I hate the feminist bookstore sketches for the same reason, they just feel phony. There are much funnier, meaner jokes to be made about feminist bookstore than whatever '70s lesbian retread is happening there.)
No; see, I like funny things. That's why I don't like 'Portlandia'.
I'm waiting for Astoriaia.
Also, I agree on the funnier, meaner jokes that needed to be made. For instance, they went with hippie-cult for the local farm? Why not go after the funnier reality of middle-aged, heavyset men growing all-organic beef, like new Washington County Commissioner Greg Malinowski? Or the late State Treasurer Ben Westlund, who infamously referred to his previous job as a "jizz pimp" while he ran a "bovine genetics" company?
How could you possibly watch this show and see and complain about an "anti-creative class subtext running through Portlandia—"
?
Definitely hope the show sticks around for a while.
The feminist bookstore sketches (both in Portlandia and Thunderant) really are the most unfunny and eye-roll inducing, precisely because they are the least authentic. It's a bunch of reheated tropes that weren't even insightful ten years ago.
And insight is precisely what Portlandia is missing. It's hugely valuable quality for comedy to have- whenever you say of a comic "hey's saying what we're all thinking," you're reveling in comedy's ability to tell a truth that you felt, but couldn't quite articulate.
That insight only shows up when comedy has a bit of reality and authenticity mixed into it. The above article is exactly right in that Portlandia needs to strike a balance between "annoying" and "real." Presently, the scales are tipped too far in one direction. It is too broad, too fake, too much of a bad cartoon for me to laugh at it.
It almost seems like the underlying thing that annoys the creators of the show is that they are now too old to be part of what they're making fun of ... maybe. Most of the jokes seem like they could be made at the expense of 20-somethings in almost any major city with a college or art school nearby. My initial reaction to the preview clips was: Oh, here's something that "normals" will enjoy as they laugh at the "weirdos", and not just in Troutdalia.
Also, the best targets for humor are often those who take themselves too seriously, which, in the case of Portland, means the hispter populace. As long as there are self-important twenty-somethings with filthy moustaches and body odor, Portlandia will be there. As long as thick-framed eyeglasses obscure the dark miasma within sesitive eyes, jokes will abound. As long as Goodwill turns a profit each year on ugly Christmas sweaters, then satire has a job to do. As long as more and more hipsters haunt the streets of this fair city, then the jokes, lame and tired as they may be, are vital.
Sure, they all live in Washington County, which has a higher property tax rate that was grandfathered into Measure 50.
Gee whiz, you really know your stuff!
http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/Blogto…
I couldn't believe it when they went to the farm to check out the land. seriously? You are actually continuing the joke further? SNL's roots are showing clearly.
Reviews elsewhere on the web find the library lady the best part, which is saying quite a bit.
How they could have made it work: Take out the name Portlandia, and just make it a show about weird modern people. Keep in library-lady-like-people to mock those people and have each group poke fun at each other.
I frikking HATE hipsters.
I also don't think the show is more than mildly amusing. It has nothing to do with the subject matter.
Also, here's another vote for the library lady being the best/funniest part of the show. Heard on NPR that the actress created that character, too, which is telling. (Am I a dirty hipster because I just name-dropped NPR?? Is that why I am not finding the show funny?? Please tell me, internet trolls.)
DO you know how old/boring that makes you sound? You don't hate hipsters, you hate yourself.
Here's a thought - How about some of Portland's fine "creative class" people invest some of the energy they would normally put into starting moped gangs, making mixtapes, and playing in crappy basements bands and try to come up with some "creative" solutions to Portland's gentrification, transportation, gang violence, police violence, and homelessness problems?
You know, maybe dust off those MFA degrees and put those pot and microbrew-soaked brains to work for the common good or something?
"we're worth it, goddammit. (Sorry, Oregon Live commenters, but as you may have noticed, there's not a show named Troutdalia.)"
Yea all the posters from burbs are just besides themselves with hate for anything about Portland that is not about crime or the homeless.
Watched the show on youtube. They did a great job.
Thanks IFC for the excellent work. Hope you do it again next season.
For my own part, I actually kinda like hipsters. I've even been called one myself a time or two, and I've never been particularly put off by the tag.
THAT would be Portlandia!
Accusing PORTLANDIA of having an “Andy Rooneyesque anti-creative class subtext,” or to suggest that you have to hold creatives in contempt to find it funny is just absurd. It’s like saying someone hates Christians because they made a joke about the size of the Pope’s hat. It’s a weird leap of logic (Carrie Brownstein hates creatives and feminists? Really?) and I’m surprised to see so many people agreeing with it. Yes, I’m sure the right-wingers in Tigard will laugh their asses off, and for all the wrong reasons, but who cares? Liking THIS IS SPINAL TAP doesn’t mean you hate musicians.
PORTLANDIA is obviously a love letter. Its thesis--clear to me, at least--is something like: “The things that make Portland awesome are the same things that make it kind of ridiculous.” There is obvious affection there. If you can’t see that, then I really don’t know what to tell you. Stick with comedy that mocks those for whom you have contempt, I guess.
I kept thinking of, say, the Drew Carey show. Did Clevelanders bitch and moan about some of the material in that? Who knows? Who cares? It was centered on Carey rather than Cleveland, so it didn't matter if you could "recognize" its references to Cleveland, nor did it matter if they held true. Same with Seinfeld and New York.
Portlandia has boxed itself in to a need to be pretty close to the mark with how it portrays Portland. Parody and 'close to the mark' don't play well together. If they'd called it Hipsterville, they could do all the same jokes in all the same settings and it wouldn't matter if or how much it diverged from Portland.
In the end, "hipster" is just a word left-liberals use to give themselves permission to bitch about other left-liberals using the same terms conservatives use. It's a way to parrot FOXnews and right-wing talk radio without being held in contempt by civilized human beings. Yawn.
I had seen the show in the weeks prior to my trip and LOVED it. Portland is a fabulous city with a lot going for itself, so much so that the entire continent has taken notice. It's for that reason that a show like this can exist and also be instantly popular with people from all over, not just locals.
When I read the review, I thought it was hilarious and, as the majority of sentiment reflected here expresses, that the reviewer is being embarrassingly defensive. Have you never heard that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery? If you really think the concept of the show is "let's laugh at the annoyingly annoying people of Portland!" you have completely missed the point. of comedy. in general.
If Portland wasn't as amazing as it is, there would be no content to parody. The characters aren't going to be truly real, it's PARODY! You have to exaggerate scenes and situations, otherwise it's freaking reality. Get over yourself buddy and enjoy the fact that you are living in a place that others envy!
Also, to those commenters to claim that they aren't being defensive, that just don't like the show cause it's not funny ENOUGH... I'd like to see you do better. In fact I REALLY would, cause if you truly can, it would really be worth watching!
I just wrote a scathing response to your article going on at length about your criticism of Portlandia, but am choosing not to post it. After ctrl-Fing for the word "parody" in your article and getting zero instances, I recognize the futility of posting said un-posted comments.
Thanks!
-Yet Another Damn Cyclist
Portland needs a show like this. This town takes itself way too seriously. I love Portland, just like Carrie and Fred do, but sometimes you need to take a jab at the norms so that you realize what you take for granted and to see things from a different perspective. In general, it's no surprise that some Portlanders would take such overt offense to Portlandia as they generally go to such great lengths to avoid their insecurities. In general, they see themselves as "getting" things that the rest of society don't get, so to be the ones under the spotlight being laughed at for a moment is the worst offense. Can you imagine!?? Life is so unfair. Or life, and people, are funny.
And my lack of enjoyment of the show doesn't detract from your enjoyment of it in any way, so stop being silly.
Venusian6, I can't tell you how good it feels to hear someone else finally say that. Thought it was just me.
I found real life Portland to be really pleasant, and some of the friendliest people ever! They look like bay people but loads nicer. I really enjoyed myself and would love to get up there more. Ironically, it was refreshing to escape the stereotypes here.
I think I'm going to drive across country next summer and hope to visit "your fair city." I have a good friend in the area. Can't wait. I might just stay.