Really? The MOST ridiculous? I don’t think we’ve been reading the same Dope.
You do know there’s a thread about vaginal flavored risotto going on right now, right? And there was once one called “A”. That was pretty ridiculous. And do I really have to mention Jack Dean Tyler, or whatever his name was? How about a hypothetical child in a hypothetical burning car with a hypothetical seat belt made of hypothetical Kryptonite? Batman vs. Jack Bauer? Pan-fried Semen? (Okay, I take that one back, that was brilliant, in its own way.)
I won’t dignify this thread with the award for most ridiculous thread. It’s just not lowbrow enough.
But that isn’t the point. In this instance low brow simply means appealing to the average Joe. Incorporation of folk melodies and vulgar humor is what does make these things low brow. But, and here’s the trick, there isn’t anything wrong with that. To go to a more strictly accurate definition, it is things that appeal to the emotions vs. things that appeal to the intellect. Again low brow (emotionally appealing) works are no less than high brow works.
I was sort of hoping that SBSO was heading in that direction, but it seems not to be the case.
I could modify your definition somewhat: high brow being things that appeal to the intellect, and have previously appealed to the intellect of (function yet to be determined) of others.
You’re confusing intellect with snobbery and ancient toffee nosed views that really are irrelevant now, seeing as though people are more open minded and more educated and assholes with old conservative viewpoints of “class” are out of touch and redundant and have no point other than to make themselves feel they are more important than any other human being.
Let’s come up with thread titles and you tell us if you think they’re Highbrow or Lowbrow.
Lolita: an allegorical linguistic analysis
Technical question about filming day-for-night
Corn Flakes Stuck Up My Butt
Is Koko the gorilla an artist?
Just found Virgin Mary on waffle: what kind of syrup do I use?
Sanskrit translations from “The Waste Land”
Vienna Waltz tempo: true 3/4 time?
Showgirls: misunderstood brilliance
No. 5 - Pollock Revisited, With Vomit
The significance of On-Base Percentage?
Why does Mickey Mouse have four fingers?
Campbellian archetypes vs. Chinese myth
Mu major chord: sounds like ass?
Summarize The Telemachiad
Help! I need a recipe for phlegm
The I-V-vi-IV progression: best makeout chords ever?
Robert J Flaherty and Michael Moore: documentarians?
What’s the difference between primitive earth goddess statues and porn?
Titian’s “Pietà” – which parts painted by Palma the Younger?
I found some seed corn that looks like Mel Tillis
You can modify it however you like since that is not the deffinition in common usage anymore.
I can give you dozens of examples of items that would be classicly defined as low brow that are popularly considered high brow. And many examples of the opposite. It doen’t matter. If you go around publicly saying that Shakespeare is lowbrow, people are going to look at you funny.
Lolita: an allegorical linguistic analysis
Technical question about filming day-for-night
Corn Flakes Stuck Up My Butt
Is Koko the gorilla an artist?
Just found Virgin Mary on waffle: what kind of syrup do I use?
Sanskrit translations from “The Waste Land”
Vienna Waltz tempo: true 3/4 time?
Showgirls: misunderstood brilliance
No. 5 - Pollock Revisited, With Vomit
The significance of On-Base Percentage?
Why does Mickey Mouse have four fingers?
Campbellian archetypes vs. Chinese myth
Mu major chord: sounds like ass?
Summarize The Telemachiad
Help! I need a recipe for phlegm
The I-V-vi-IV progression: best makeout chords ever?
Robert J Flaherty and Michael Moore: documentarians?
What’s the difference between primitive earth goddess statues and porn?
Titian’s “Pietà” – which parts painted by Palma the Younger?
I found some seed corn that looks like Mel Tillis
Nearly every piece of garbage television, movie, or literature appeals to the intellect at some level. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. One can interpret the most “lowbrow” art in ways that stimulate the intellect. Have you read Barthes’ “Death of the Author” ?
I don’t know if George Bernard Shaw is highbrow or lowbrow, but yesterday, in his National Public Radio segment Writer’s Almanac, Garrison Keillor mentioned that it was George Bernard Shaw’s birthday, and repeated this quote from the great playwright (very appropriate to this venue, in that it’s a good rule to live by on message boards):
“I learned long ago never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.”
Man, I cannot wait for your guest membership to be up. From one of your first topics asking “Why should I sign up?” I just had a feeling you’d be nothing but trouble. You just strike me as a grade A troll.
