The Goode Family
Reviewer Gabe Delahaye has some harsh words for Mike Judge's new comedy The Goode Family:
Perfect, a sweatshop joke is already a winner, always, but when it's used in conjunction with a character's status anxiety, with the implication being that the sole reason for doing any of the environmentally conscious or culturally engaged behaviors and activities that the Goode Family do throughout the episode is really just a desperate attempt to win some kind of popularity contest. Nice. I know this is supposed to be humorous, and that in comedy exaggeration is key, but come on. For one, no one actually gives a shit what bag anyone's carrying (An Inconvenient Bag joke? Seriously?) and second of all, since I suppose I belong in some part to the community being mocked, I'm capable of pointing out that reusable bags never cost anything near $10. They're affordably priced as an encouragement to consumers to use them. And wait, am I really supposed to believe that a vegan woman who has installed solar paneling on her home and won't even drive her hybrid for fear of what it will do to the environment has never heard of reusable shopping bags? Because of course she has.
That paragraph has alot in it to dissect, so here goes.
For one, no one actually gives a shit what bag anyone's carrying (An Inconvenient Bag joke? Seriously?)
While in Berkeley a couple months ago, I visited the Elephant Pharmacy, a yuppified organic food mecca. For sale were reusable bags that literally said "What would Al Gore do?" That's even more ridiculous than "An Inconvenient Bag," and a true story to boot.
Next:
since I suppose I belong in some part to the community being mocked, I'm capable of pointing out that reusable bags never cost anything near $10. They're affordably priced as an encouragement to consumers to use them.
Goodness gracious. This is very revealing and threatens to sink Delahaye's entire review. His being offended by having his countercultural group mocked shows him to be exactly part of the group that is the target of Mike Judge. Sure, when the suburban mediocrity of Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill was Judge's target, he was to be loved. When targeting holier-than-thou leftists, he is to be loathed.
As for who the show is made for, it's made for people like me, your average American who follows what they think is right over dogma or adherence to one ideology or subgroup. Because people like me don't fall easily into categories, Gabe Delahaye may have a hard time identifying us.
