I really like things like “Nathan for you” and the movie “Happiness”. There’s also a book by Paul Feig called “Superstud” though I don’t normally like reading books. I wonder if it is possible for something to be too cringe-worthy. I guess movies like “Pink Flamingos” are on the right track.
By now, the term “cringe”. It seems to have devolved into a term for bullying people.
Hmm. Interesting. Would you say someone “cringed” while watching 2 Girls 1 Cup for the first time? Do people watch it more than once? The only thing mentioned in the OP that I’ve heard of is “Pink Flamingos”. I’m aware of its claim to notoriety and pretty well regard Divine eating dog shit as having been done for the sake of art and to freak out the squares. I guess the second part of that could also be applied to more local phenomena, such as the thread in which I am posting.
I was going to say “2 girls 1 cup” is a good example but I think what I’m looking for is about people’s personalities.
BTW this is about “Nathan for you”:
One of my favourite segments is this short one:
I don’t understand this. Could you please elaborate? If you’re trying to say we need to define what the OP means by “cringe-worthy”, I’m right there with you.
For me, cringe inducing involves more than blatant grossness, a la 2 Girls 1 Cup.
A good example is the infamous curb stomping scene in American History X. You really don’t see the actual impact but you imagine it and it’s so horrific and anxiety inducing. I’ve heard people say they can’t watch things like “The Office” or “Borat” where people are humiliated or embarrassing themselves. Those don’t effect me that way but I can understand the cringeyness.
In other words, cringe-worthy seems to be extremely subjective, so “in existence” isn’t really applicable. Still, I’m looking forward to reading the responses.
I would think the footage of Joe Theismann’s leg injury is universally cringe-worthy.
Watching karaoke can be cringe inducing when the singer is being sincere and sincerely doesn’t realize he sincerely sucks.
Here are some dark comedies you may enjoy! Many feature a protagonist that is oblivious, so it is the audience cringing.
House Of Yes
Julien Donkey Boy
Welcome To The Dollhouse
Gummo
Kings Of Comedy
Observe And Report
The Aristocrats!
Although the cringeworthiness is determined by how much you cringe after you laugh.
You mean like goatse?
Lotus pods. Those things creep me right the hell out.
The music of Jan Terri
That sequence in Spiderman 3 where Toby Maguire is dancing and acting all cool
I think “cringe” is very subjective. I can’t watch (alleged) comedies where the main character is piling desperate improvised falsehood upon desperate falsehood (usually in an attempt to get or keep a girl) – we’re supposed to find it hilarious, but I don’t find the experience of contact humiliation very enjoyable, so I nope right out of there.
Some scenes that make me cringe:
The answering machine scene in Swingers.
Ross “flirting” with the pizza girl in that one Friends episode.
Ha! That is one of my all time, make me laugh out loud scenes!
“A lot of other gas smells”
“Oh, the humanity”
How about the scene in Cast Away with Tom Hanks and the ice skate. Egad.
Greg Giraldo, to Bob Saget during Saget’s roast:
“I read an interview where you refer to yourself as an ‘artist’. Are you fucking kidding me? ‘As an artist?’ You used the phrase ‘as an artist?’ You are a vortex of artistic compromise. Charlie Sheen watches you and feels good about himself. You are an artist in the same way that Cloris Leachman is ‘moist.’ You’re not an artist, Bob, and stop enjoying your ironic hipness that’s going on with you these days. You’re not cool. Stop trying to be hip. At one point in your act, you actually say, ‘who’s your daddy? Say my name. Look me in the eye. Tru dat.’ Holy fuck. I couldn’t cringe any harder if I watched my mom in a bukakke video.”
Cringe worthy isn’t used for something gross, violent, or offensive. It’s for socially awkward or embarrassing moments. It can be used if the writer or whoever thinks the aforementioned elements make the work edgy or funny but are woefully bad and you feel embarrassed for them. See also: cringe comedy.
I think I was thinking of a different definition of “cringe” than other people in the thread are using. File it under “things that Reddit has ruined for me”.
Reddit has subreddits like /r/cringe and /r/cringepics. They were supposed to be for submissions where someone is, say, embarrassed in public and you wince because you feel bad for the person. They quickly morphed into mostly submissions with a vibe of “This ugly teenager is acting like he isn’t ugly! He doesn’t know his place! Let’s all point and laugh!”. This mean-spiritedness is the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the term “cringe”.
In my slightly sleep deprived state, I misinterpreted the OP as “let’s all cringe at a bunch of losers”, which raised my hackles a bit. Sorry for the knee-jerk response, JohnClay.
Are the people who make these videos “in on the joke”?