Life of Brian, definitely in the running for the Funniest Movie Ever Made. As for outrage... I LOVE Outrageous Movies, especially Comedies. They may be made to be thought provoking, or just to push your buttons, take it in stride and enjoy the ride, and if it makes you think afterwards, all the better :)
Monty Pythons "women" were caricatures of women they grew up with (especially a certain type found in the 40s and 50s in the north of England)...the women they saw were tough and hard working...and also gossips etc. So python took those tropes and exaggerated them to brilliant effect.
I made a joke about amputees once and this guy was enraged even though several other amputees thought it was funny. The guy who was offended was not an amputee, however, maybe you noticed I said "other amputees"? I'll give you another hint. I would have been 6'7" but I lost a foot when I was three. When I applied to get a wheelchair a few years back to get around my home without my leg on. and the woman asked "How long have you been an amputee?" I said 47 years. "And have have you got around before now?" I hop. "And why can't you continue that? Well, International House of Pancakes went out of business, didn't they." "What does that have to- .... Oh" laughing. There are somethings I need a bit of help with. Taking offense is not one of them.
Okay, it took me a minute with that joke too, but it's great! And yeah, people need to stop being offended on behalf of others, especially if those others aren't offended in the first place.
In the 1980s, I was introduced to "the devil's music" in much the same way. During this time the church (this was mainly a protestant thing) was big into preaching about the Satanic messages in rock music (especially backwards masking). I heard of many of the groups I later became to love through the church's attempt to prevent me from listening to this music. Before that, many of these groups I had never heard of. Ironic.
I was born in the 80s but I still got into metal after watching a very unhinged satanic panic "documentary" expounding the horrors of WASP and Alice Cooper sometimes in the 90s.
If you live in a free society it means everyone is free. This means that from time to time, you are going to see things that you don't agree with. You may not like, or you may even find offensive. Freedom means freedom for all, not just for those we agree with. I once stood up for a woman who had accosted me and was quite rude as I entered a steak house. She was a militant vegan who was protesting the steak house and the owner called the police. She was on a public sidewalk and had every right to protest. When I saw the cops harassing her I went out to point out the law to the police. I explained she had the right to be there and the cops left. Then I went back to enjoy my slab of dead cow. The vegan did thank me, but her tone said she was really confused. I told her we did not agree on the ethics of killing and eating animals, but in defending her right to protest I defend my own right to protest. I ended up getting banned from the restraint which was too bad. They made good food. But it was worth it. Also, I'd nearly finished my meal anyway and because I was being kicked out I didn't have to pay.
if you are going to mock something that's reprehensible, you need to show the something that's reprehensible. But by showing the something that's reprehensible, the righteous guardians of morality will be outraged at the showing of the something that's reprehensible.
110% agree. I make this argument about using the N word in fiction, especially when it has to do with history. If you're going to show the American South in the 1960s, you can't have a racist sheriff say to a black person, "Now listen here you damn African American!" Showing the ugly is sometimes the only way to make people understand it. Soft fiction creates a false view of the world.
