Book Review: Whose Boat Is This Boat? and Aging Political Jokes
Ah, Trump.
A long time ago, I wrote a post about books with an agenda. That was then. This is now. But let's buckle up, because this is going to be a ride.
I noticed this because there's been somebody in Idaho taking and moving anti-Trump books to obscure places in the Coeur d'Alene library. And when this came to the attention of Stephen Colbert—one of the authors (complers?) of Whose Boat Is This Boat—he printed an "unhideable edition," which is freakishly large. We're talking the size of a child. So that brought the whole thing to the front of my mind.
Plus the whole impeachment thing. That's going on, too.
So, here it is: WBITB: Not bad. Kinda funny. Hasn't aged all that well, despite the good they're trying to do by sending proceeds to charity. And therein lies the real issue.
Anytime someone takes aim at a contemporary political issue or figure—in writing, on the radio, in cartoons, or any medium—it's not going to age well. Take a look at political cartoons from the Teapot Dome scandal. Pretty much everyone is going to need those cartoons explained to them because we're so far removed from the issue that they don't make any sense. Some jokes and references from the time of Watergate are confusing and don't make sense. Iran-Contra references tend to be pushed to the sidelines of history. Even jokes and references made to the Clinton impeachment don't make sense sometimes. There's a line in an episode of The Simpsons:
When all is said and done, if a political jibe is too targeted or not couched in something to make it more general and timeless, it's not going to have any long-term effects. If you only focus on Trump's Twitter rampages and the poor spelling/capitalization travesties in them, those aren't going to age well. But if you focus more on the personality traits and couch them to be more subtle, a la Yertle the Turtle, the story will have much more staying power. It's not just because it's by Dr. Seuss—it's because it's about a turtle that just wants more, and more, and more until those at the bottom can't handle it anymore.
Anyway, that's just me.
Thanks for wreading!
A long time ago, I wrote a post about books with an agenda. That was then. This is now. But let's buckle up, because this is going to be a ride.
I noticed this because there's been somebody in Idaho taking and moving anti-Trump books to obscure places in the Coeur d'Alene library. And when this came to the attention of Stephen Colbert—one of the authors (complers?) of Whose Boat Is This Boat—he printed an "unhideable edition," which is freakishly large. We're talking the size of a child. So that brought the whole thing to the front of my mind.
Plus the whole impeachment thing. That's going on, too.
So, here it is: WBITB: Not bad. Kinda funny. Hasn't aged all that well, despite the good they're trying to do by sending proceeds to charity. And therein lies the real issue.Anytime someone takes aim at a contemporary political issue or figure—in writing, on the radio, in cartoons, or any medium—it's not going to age well. Take a look at political cartoons from the Teapot Dome scandal. Pretty much everyone is going to need those cartoons explained to them because we're so far removed from the issue that they don't make any sense. Some jokes and references from the time of Watergate are confusing and don't make sense. Iran-Contra references tend to be pushed to the sidelines of history. Even jokes and references made to the Clinton impeachment don't make sense sometimes. There's a line in an episode of The Simpsons:
Marge: Oh, you couldn't kill every politician in Washington...
Kang: YOU JUST WATCH US! AHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAAAHAHAHHA!
Bart: Don't forget Ken Starr!In the late 1990s, that made perfect sense. It was a topical reference to the Clinton impeachment, and just a good one-liner. Not so much anymore. We're twenty years away now, and most people will have to look up Ken Starr if they weren't paying close attention at the time.
When all is said and done, if a political jibe is too targeted or not couched in something to make it more general and timeless, it's not going to have any long-term effects. If you only focus on Trump's Twitter rampages and the poor spelling/capitalization travesties in them, those aren't going to age well. But if you focus more on the personality traits and couch them to be more subtle, a la Yertle the Turtle, the story will have much more staying power. It's not just because it's by Dr. Seuss—it's because it's about a turtle that just wants more, and more, and more until those at the bottom can't handle it anymore.Anyway, that's just me.
Thanks for wreading!
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