# "Problematic" or potentially harmful Film/Television Shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2024, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problematic-or-potentially-harmful-film-television-shows/1001076 "2024-05-02T17:55:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problematic-or-potentially-harmful-film-television-shows/1001076/181 "2024-07-04T05:21:34Z")
He just told us not to automatically believe everything we heard about it, although he didn’t have any alternate theories (that he shared with us, anyway) because he didn’t know himself. ---
**Author:** ![Strenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Strenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strenger)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problematic-or-potentially-harmful-film-television-shows/1001076/182 "2024-07-04T10:11:58Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > That reminds me of another one, the film _Better Off Dead_. The main character’s suicide attempts are played for laughs (every attempt fails in a comical way). That probably belongs in the thread for films that didn’t age well. Why? Is this comment meant to suggest that it’s more a problem now than then? Or just that “people” would not find the notion as funny now, because audiences of teen comedies are more sophisticated these days? > [@solost](#): > > Following Grylls’ advice in an actual survival situation was just about guaranteed to _ **get** _ you killed. Well, of course. His handle is “Bear.” Nobody self-applies that nickname. It’s the equivalent of calling oneself “Steelrod” or “Bushman” or “Cuddle-lamb.” It isn’t done. “Knife-edge steel paw Bear Grylls, a chubby cuddle bunny with lots of body hair”: obviously, this person isn’t for real. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2024, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problematic-or-potentially-harmful-film-television-shows/1001076/183 "2024-07-05T03:09:20Z")
> [@Strenger](#): > > Why? Is this comment meant to suggest that it’s more a problem now than then? > > Or just that “people” would not find the notion as funny now, because audiences of teen comedies are more sophisticated these days? Suicide as a punchline hasn’t worked for 20 years. Mental health is taken more seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2024, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problematic-or-potentially-harmful-film-television-shows/1001076/184 "2024-07-05T03:27:21Z")
20 years? Burt Reynolds in _The End_ should have been the nail in that coffin back in 1978. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2024, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problematic-or-potentially-harmful-film-television-shows/1001076/185 "2024-07-05T11:26:02Z")
The suicide jokes were still hilarious in _S.O.B._ (1981), and _Crimes of the Heart_ (1986). Personally, I think that gallows humor is much healthier than humorlessness. When someone cannot laugh at trouble, the trouble is winning. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2024, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problematic-or-potentially-harmful-film-television-shows/1001076/186 "2024-07-05T16:16:54Z")
There’s two epsiodes of early Simpsons where the climax centers on Homer trying/wanting to kill himself… Suicide was an easy topic but now in the 21st Century you can still do suicide jokes but they better be good. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problematic-or-potentially-harmful-film-television-shows/1001076/187 "2024-07-05T16:19:53Z")
Hasn’t 24 been cited in actual legal proceeding for why “enhanced interrogation techniques” were allowed? ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2024, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problematic-or-potentially-harmful-film-television-shows/1001076/188 "2024-07-05T23:26:10Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > There is something to consider. Pat was never the butt of the joke. The butt of the joke was everyone who was stymied because they couldn’t figure Pat out. Pat was a happy person who was perfectly comfortable in their own skin. Think its worth mentioning that they kind of referenced Pat on this season with the Ayo Edebiri episode. She played a high school student whose costume was very much Pat. It was a plaid shirt instead of western–but wig, glasses and khakis and a kind of androgynous presentation. [Youtube SNL Hypnotist Sketch](https://youtu.be/bpJQ-1fzhio?si=A0Q_HIUGuVqaZ-9h) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problematic-or-potentially-harmful-film-television-shows/1001076.md?page=9)