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Showing Original Post only (View all)The Brilliance of Tina Fey's Cake Satire, Explained [View all]
http://www.playboy.com/articles/tina-fey-cakeBy Tom Carson
August 18, 2017
When Tina Fey vented about Charlottesville, neo-Nazis and Donald Trump while cramming her mouth with handfuls of a sheet cake decorated with an American flag on Weekend Update: Summer Edition last night, the internet went nuts. Love Tina Fey, but Im REALLY not feeling her Ignore racism and stress-eat instead take. It strikes me as willfully naive and privileged, bloggers Tom & Lorenzo tweeted. Tina Feys 'Eat Cake Strategy After Charlottesville Is Bad Advice, The Daily Beast somberly opined.
Thanks for that sharp insight, Daily Beast. The only problem with it is that Fey isnt in the advice-giving business. Shes in the satire business, so dont call us crazy for suspecting that when she urged viewers outraged by white nationalisms depredations to find a local business you supportmaybe a Jewish run bakery or African-American run bakeryorder a cake with the American flag on it and just eat it, she was mocking a clueless attitude, not endorsing it.
To anyone who took to Twitter to complain that her recommended solution to Trump-induced stress looked like white privilege in action, all we can say is bingo. Weve watched the routine more than once, and its brilliant. Its a brainy, self-lacerating caricature of how easily Trump-phobic vanilla liberals with relatively pampered lives, knowing theyre at little or no risk of being oppressed or marginalized themselves during his reign, can settle for venting their genuine but ineffectual rage without consequences.
Since the likes of Fey dont feel remotely threatened (and would sound crazy if they pretended to be), they arent under any real pressure to convert their anger into action. Thats how anger ends up turning into self-gratification by other means. Well never know how anyone could watch her stuffing her face until her lips were covered in goo as she tried to spit out anti-Trump, anti-Nazi venom while choking down another biteeven Lucille Ball was never crueler to herself for a jokes sakeand imagine that Fey was earnestly proposing this as a good coping strategy. Not only was it satire, but it was pretty damn brutal satire in the bargain.
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Spare the mansplaining, Tom Carson. The call to inaction was not funny, nor was the rape joke.
SunSeeker
Aug 2017
#3
Maybe Megan should know what the word "satire" means before she opines about the bit?
DRoseDARs
Aug 2017
#4
So a man says a woman's satire about racism was great, doesn't mention gender at all
muriel_volestrangler
Aug 2017
#5
Many do, because Playboy has always had top notch text content to go with the porn.
Wounded Bear
Aug 2017
#28
How many "men" have been in the market for PG13 nudity in the last twenty years?
Sen. Walter Sobchak
Aug 2017
#37
As pointed out, that just makes it more likely his audience is men
muriel_volestrangler
Aug 2017
#42
Mansplaining is explaining with condescension, assuming the target is stupid.
SunSeeker
Aug 2017
#45
My dad was a WW2 POW and he loved that show- my uncle who served in the Navy but saw much less
bettyellen
Aug 2017
#38
It's complicated. It might be that getting shot and imprisoned was a relief after all the action he
bettyellen
Aug 2017
#44
If you're not getting Fey's inspired satire, you're not trying hard enough. (nt)
Paladin
Aug 2017
#18
I didn't find fey's piece funny or interesting. I'm honestly confused why it is garnering so
SweetieD
Aug 2017
#43
No, it was not supposed to be serious. It was supposed to be funny. And it wasn't.
SunSeeker
Aug 2017
#61
Let them eat cake---so she did! (P.S. Wicked satire is often not supposed to be funny. See:
WinkyDink
Aug 2017
#65