# Where's the little girl? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 27, 2017, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988 "2017-06-27T13:24:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/101 "2017-06-30T00:04:45Z")
Aren’t _most_ jokes at someone else’s expense? Tragedy is when Mel Brooks cuts his finger–comedy is when I fall into an open sewer and die. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/102 "2017-06-30T00:31:15Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > You’re right- I didn’t use all the wiggle words in my specific reply about their being no consequence. For goodness sakes, no one is depriving you of thinking it is stupid or not funny. No one is telling you what is or isn’t funny. My point was that there didn’t have to be consequences _in narrative_ for there to be consequences. > > I should have said “In mine, and only my opinion, it seems to me, and only me, that there actually is a consequence in that a generic audience (excluding anyone who may feel differently), in that the cops are being portrayed as ridiculous”. > … Just as another data point, I had the same reaction as **Happy Lendervedder** to the original statements regarding “the audience is thinking…” and “…to the audience.” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/103 "2017-06-30T01:58:05Z")
So, guess y’all are more the knock, knock joke type. Cool. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/104 "2017-06-30T02:44:27Z")
Knock knock. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/105 "2017-06-30T03:03:03Z")
Who’s there? Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/106 "2017-06-30T03:08:51Z")
The little girl. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/107 "2017-06-30T03:29:29Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Aren’t _most_ jokes at someone else’s expense? Tragedy is when Mel Brooks cuts his finger–comedy is when I fall into an open sewer and die. Yes, but that’s not the question. It’s whose expense. Is it mocking the cops or mocking the guy? That issue seems to be the divide in this thread. If you see it as mocking the cops, you tend to find it funny. If you see it as mocking the man (with the sexist bullying) then you don’t find it funny. That’s what I meant with my comment about how I think they were trying for both interpretations. Though I’ll go further. I believe they wanted it to be controversial and knew that some people would assume the joke was on the man and take it the wrong way. In other words, they did it to makes sure it got more views. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/108 "2017-06-30T04:10:02Z")
Watched it. Complete swing and a miss. Left me ice cold. A good rule of a thumb is that if a joke requires page after page of rationalizations and Stockholm Syndrome-level “I love it, I love it, I LOVE IT!” stonewalling, it failed. Also, did this really require actors, two vehicles, and prop guns? Seems like complete overkill to me. An xkcd-style comic seems like all the effort this banality needs. MikeF - Oh, come on. In all my time on YouTube, I’ve seen maybe ten videos where the votes weren’t overwhelmingly positive. Realty TV-style rah-rah herd mentality is completely in place there. Vote percentage is about as reliable an indicator of a video’s quality as the damn Bechdel Test rating. You know what all those upvotes tell me? That a lot of Americans have a crappy sense of humor. Big whoop, I’ve known that for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/109 "2017-06-30T10:54:17Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Yes, but that’s not the question. It’s whose expense. Is it mocking the cops or mocking the guy? I don’t think it is “mocking” anyone–it is a play on words on the term “[crying like a little girl](https://www.google.com/search?q=crying+like+a+little+girl&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=%22crying+like+a+little+girl%22).” Nothing deeper or more profound than that. They could just as easily have made a video about someone asking someone else if they wanted a Hertz Doughnut, the person asking what a “Hertz Doughnut” is, and the other person punching them in the arm and saying “Hurts, don’t it.” (Then people analyzing the video about violence, bullying, and power dynamics.) The deep, critical analysis of a cheap throwaway joke reminds me of [this](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/thats-not-funny/399335/). If someone watches [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGjD8nYygvY) parody video play on an old joke, do they take the time to analyze The issues of consent, peer pressure, teen sex, patriarchy, and homosexual relationships between adults and teens before deciding if the joke is allowed to be considered funny or not? ---
**Author:** ![Orr\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ee59a6/32.png) [@Orr\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orr_G)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/110 "2017-06-30T12:41:19Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I don’t think it is “mocking” anyone–it is a play on words on the term “[crying like a little girl](https://www.google.com/search?q=crying+like+a+little+girl&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=%22crying+like+a+little+girl%22).” Nothing deeper or more profound than that. They could just as easily have made a video about someone asking someone else if they wanted a Hertz Doughnut, the person asking what a “Hertz Doughnut” is, and the other person punching them in the arm and saying “Hurts, don’t it.” (Then people analyzing the video about violence, bullying, and power dynamics.) The deep, critical analysis of a cheap throwaway joke reminds me of [this](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/thats-not-funny/399335/). > > If someone watches [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGjD8nYygvY) parody video play on an old joke, do they take the time to analyze > > The issues of consent, peer pressure, teen sex, patriarchy, and homosexual relationships between adults and teens before deciding if the joke is allowed to be considered funny or not? Well, if there’s anything more typical and annoying to find on the SDMB than a several page discussion pertaining to a pedantic analysis of a short comedy clip, it’s a lengthy, multiply linked and cited, threadshit. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/111 "2017-06-30T13:48:07Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > Also, did this really require actors, two vehicles, and prop guns? Seems like complete overkill to me. An xkcd-style comic seems like all the effort this banality needs. The overkill is completely part of what makes it so amusing to me. Like I said, it’s a bit like a shaggy dog story. Humor is subjective, quelle surprise! ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/112 "2017-06-30T14:42:25Z")
Did they go out of their way to make this unfunny? Because it seems that way to me. Cops who make a sport out of intimidating people are all too common. Where’s the humor is seeing this acted out? I’m not seeing wit anywhere in the portrayed circumstances. Where’s the humor in watching an innocent schmuck cry and tremble while a gang of cops point guns at his face? I’m asking this sincerely. Humor derives from absurdity, right? Since current events include plenty of examples of men gunned down by trigger happy cops, I’m not getting any absurdity here. I’m getting plausibility. So we watch a man lose his dignity and the punch line is him being called a little girl. Okay. Just what I would expect an abusive cop to think and find funny. Why am I supposed to also find this funny?? For those who found this funny, would you find it laughable if the subject was a black guy? ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/113 "2017-06-30T14:59:31Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Is it punching down? I’m not sure. The protag is most assuredly the victim, but the butt of the joke is the behavior of the cops, the people in power, behaving like irredeemable assholes. We feel sympathy for the vicitm. We are not encouraged to side with the cops, to sympathize with them, or to like them. Yeah, but you never explain why we’re supposed to find the cops _funny_ instead of just appalling. Nothing at all happens to them that puts the universe in balance. For someone that is the “butt” of the joke, you’d expect them to get comeuppance, right? I could get behind this joke if the real punch line was them getting shot at by the little girl hiding behind the pole, and them running around in circles like the cowards they are. That would be a wry enough twist to make the point you’re saying it makes. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/114 "2017-06-30T15:38:49Z")
Cops screaming repeatedly with guns drawn: Where’s the black man? Man yelling/crying/terrified: ??? Cops continue screaming: Where’s the black man? Man: I don’t know! Please don’t shoot me, sir! Please don’t shoot me, sir! Cop: \*There’s \*the black man! Cops run off laughing and shooting into the air. Scene. Still funny? Why or why not? I’m just trying to figure out what the punchline is supposed to be in this joke-- that the end is “unexpected?” That the cops are jerks/idiots/fools? That the man’s been somehow “reduced” as a result of the cops’ abuse of power? I mean, the cops all laughed at the end as they ran off; if you’re laughing \*with \*the assholes/bullies, instead of \*at \*them in a situation like this, that’s pretty much punching down. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/115 "2017-06-30T16:19:23Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Still funny? Why or why not? Not funny, because it would make no sense, because “cry like a black man” isn’t a common metaphor? “Cry like a girl” (exact quote), [470,000 google hits](https://www.google.com/#q=%22cry+like+a+girl%22). “Cry like a black man” (exact quote) [0 google hits](https://www.google.com/#q=%22cry+like+a+black+man%22) (until this thread is indexed, then there will be oen hit.) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/116 "2017-06-30T16:22:15Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > … > For those who found this funny, would you find it laughable if the subject was a black guy? If you change the joke, would it still be funny? Interesting. As I’ve mentioned, I thought the cops lunatic shooting as they drove away was funny. Let me change the joke and take that part away. Nope, not funny anymore to me. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/117 "2017-06-30T16:29:04Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Not funny, because it would make no sense, because “cry like a black man” isn’t a common metaphor? It doesn’t make sense to you because you’re trying to equate what is implied by “little girl” with what could be implied by “black man”. Emasculation is implied by the former, but not necessarily with the latter. One interpretation is that only black men are appropriate targets for cop intimidation. When this white man becomes intimidated by cops, he thus becomes “black”. Bwhahahaha! Isn’t that a knee slapper!?! ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/118 "2017-06-30T16:30:43Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > If you change the joke, would it still be funny? Why would changing the protagonist’s race be changing the joke? Is the joke here that it’s a _white_ man bullied by cops? I must’ve missed that. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/119 "2017-06-30T16:37:49Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Not funny, because it would make no sense, because “cry like a black man” isn’t a common metaphor? > > “Cry like a girl” (exact quote), [470,000 google hits](https://www.google.com/#q=%22cry+like+a+girl%22). “Cry like a black man” (exact quote) [0 google hits](https://www.google.com/#q=%22cry+like+a+black+man%22) (until this thread is indexed, then there will be oen hit.) No, but “Please don’t shoot me, sir” could be seen as something a black man would say to cops these days. Just as racist as the original joke is sexist, “common metaphor” notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988/120 "2017-07-01T04:43:51Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Lefty liberal as they come. It wasn’t the funniest thing ever, but the punchline caught me by surprise (even though I knew some kind of punchline was coming), and I laughed. Yeah me too. The misogyny definitely bugs me, but I still laughed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-little-girl/789988.md?page=7)