Just crazy enough to work?
July 25, 2010 8:10 PM Subscribe
Thinking of doing a parody of the Tea Party, am I on the right track?
Howdy,
I sell t-shirts for a living and tonight I am in the process of brainstorming a new line of shirts. It feels like the Tea Party is ripe for mockery so I thought about doing a line of shirts with sarcastic first person reasons to vote for the tea party. But I'm not quite sure the idea really works.
Here are the first few I threw together (ignore the half-assed typography for a moment, I'll fix that later): Tea Party Examples
Now my concern is that the actual stuff the tea party comes up with might make my fake reasons seem almost believable. Two years ago I did a parody line of shirts that make fun of "teach the controversy" by urging people to teach the stork theory of birth and geocentricism in schools. In that case some people still thought I was pro-intelligent design. So I understand that there will always be some people that will be unable to detect even the thickest sarcasm, but I'm not sure I took if far enough over the top with these.
So a few questions for the hive mind:
Are these over the top enough to work as parody?
Is it even possible to parody a group with as many vocally nutberg elements as the Tea Party?
Is this idea even funny in your opinion?
Do these examples come off as shrill? (I'm hoping they read light hearted, and not militant.)
Thanks much!
Howdy,
I sell t-shirts for a living and tonight I am in the process of brainstorming a new line of shirts. It feels like the Tea Party is ripe for mockery so I thought about doing a line of shirts with sarcastic first person reasons to vote for the tea party. But I'm not quite sure the idea really works.
Here are the first few I threw together (ignore the half-assed typography for a moment, I'll fix that later): Tea Party Examples
Now my concern is that the actual stuff the tea party comes up with might make my fake reasons seem almost believable. Two years ago I did a parody line of shirts that make fun of "teach the controversy" by urging people to teach the stork theory of birth and geocentricism in schools. In that case some people still thought I was pro-intelligent design. So I understand that there will always be some people that will be unable to detect even the thickest sarcasm, but I'm not sure I took if far enough over the top with these.
So a few questions for the hive mind:
Are these over the top enough to work as parody?
Is it even possible to parody a group with as many vocally nutberg elements as the Tea Party?
Is this idea even funny in your opinion?
Do these examples come off as shrill? (I'm hoping they read light hearted, and not militant.)
Thanks much!
Disclaimer: I live in the south and am moderate (i.e., not a tea partyer) politically. However, I don't thnk you have to worry about Tea Party folks buying these up for the most part. Your parodies seem to miss the point of the movement. You may want to understand the rationale better in order to make better jokes.
posted by shopefowler at 8:23 PM on July 25, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by shopefowler at 8:23 PM on July 25, 2010 [4 favorites]
Are these over the top enough to work as parody?
Yes.
Is it even possible to parody a group with as many vocally nutberg elements as the Tea Party?
I don't really know what this means, but everybody can be parodied.
Is this idea even funny in your opinion?
Honestly, no, not really.
posted by resiny at 8:26 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yes.
Is it even possible to parody a group with as many vocally nutberg elements as the Tea Party?
I don't really know what this means, but everybody can be parodied.
Is this idea even funny in your opinion?
Honestly, no, not really.
posted by resiny at 8:26 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
The three in the first row are amusing to me. The Social Security one is as funny as shopefowler's first suggestion, which is also funny. I don't buy political shirts, but I chuckled.
The problem is that some of those tea party folks are so misinformed that I might read 1, 3, or 5 and assume the wearer is an idiot rather than a fellow socialist. But realizing the idiocy of #3 is what made it funny to me.
posted by parkerjackson at 8:31 PM on July 25, 2010
The problem is that some of those tea party folks are so misinformed that I might read 1, 3, or 5 and assume the wearer is an idiot rather than a fellow socialist. But realizing the idiocy of #3 is what made it funny to me.
posted by parkerjackson at 8:31 PM on July 25, 2010
I'd say these aren't too bad. I liked the government taking over social security one. The problem is, some Tea Partiers have actually expressed such an idea (not wanting the government getting involved in their social security or medicare).
As far as "missing the point of the movement," yes, someone who wants to deride the Tea Party movement inherently misses the point, because they don't agree with the point in the first place. It's not a matter of not understanding; frankly, it's not that hard to understand, which is actually the point of the Tea Party thing. Letting this supposed ideal of "real people" be involved in politics to rescue it from the "elites." The point of view that the OP is missing the point of the tea party is not particularly helpful to this question.
posted by ishotjr at 8:31 PM on July 25, 2010 [2 favorites]
As far as "missing the point of the movement," yes, someone who wants to deride the Tea Party movement inherently misses the point, because they don't agree with the point in the first place. It's not a matter of not understanding; frankly, it's not that hard to understand, which is actually the point of the Tea Party thing. Letting this supposed ideal of "real people" be involved in politics to rescue it from the "elites." The point of view that the OP is missing the point of the tea party is not particularly helpful to this question.
posted by ishotjr at 8:31 PM on July 25, 2010 [2 favorites]
PS -- There have been such loony sound bites on the news, perhaps direct quotes would make funny shirts (I'm sure 99% of the tea party-ers are not quite as stupid as those that end up on the news.)
posted by parkerjackson at 8:32 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by parkerjackson at 8:32 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
Trying to parody crazy people tends to run afoul of Poe's Law (or its close corollary for wingnut politics):
“Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humour, it is impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing.”posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 8:38 PM on July 25, 2010
A Tea Party group in Mason City just decided to paper over their billboard that featured a picture of Obama flanked by pictures of Stalin and Hitler. They decided that it might be a little over the top. It's not possible to satorize these people.
posted by rdr at 8:39 PM on July 25, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by rdr at 8:39 PM on July 25, 2010 [2 favorites]
Remember Poe's law - any suitably skilled parody is indistinguishable from the real stupidity.
posted by wackyvorlon at 8:40 PM on July 25, 2010
posted by wackyvorlon at 8:40 PM on July 25, 2010
Response by poster: Yeah, I suppose those comments are right I'm not really parodying the Tea Party per se, but instead the outlandish followers that get news time. When I see images from the tea-party rallies I see a bunch of signs and placards that are all over the map in terms of issues, but frequently misinformed or just straight up outlandish. So I tried to hit on the sentiments I have seen expressed by the crowds:
Unfounded accusations of Obama's intent to take all our guns, contempt for the poor, feeling threatened by the federal government control of schools / kids / social programs and contempt for immigrants in these examples.
But I think that it is a fair criticism that these designs don't work as parody of the Tea Party because they don't really even touch on the fact that the Tea Party's core ideology is presumably anti-taxation and reduced government.
Hmmmm, well if it doesn't really work as parody or comedy then I'm glad I posted here for feedback before I put too much work into the idea!
posted by Jezztek at 8:57 PM on July 25, 2010
Unfounded accusations of Obama's intent to take all our guns, contempt for the poor, feeling threatened by the federal government control of schools / kids / social programs and contempt for immigrants in these examples.
But I think that it is a fair criticism that these designs don't work as parody of the Tea Party because they don't really even touch on the fact that the Tea Party's core ideology is presumably anti-taxation and reduced government.
Hmmmm, well if it doesn't really work as parody or comedy then I'm glad I posted here for feedback before I put too much work into the idea!
posted by Jezztek at 8:57 PM on July 25, 2010
I thought the slogans were pretty funny. As for mistaken intent? Well, when people are openly selling "Yup, I'm a Racist" shirts at rallies, it becomes hard to avoid Poe's Law.
The only thing that seems off is the use of Gotham, a typeface strongly associated with the Obama campaign. It's like printing the Preamble to the Constitution in Comic Sans. Maybe that was meant ironically, but I think a different font would work better.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:26 PM on July 25, 2010 [3 favorites]
The only thing that seems off is the use of Gotham, a typeface strongly associated with the Obama campaign. It's like printing the Preamble to the Constitution in Comic Sans. Maybe that was meant ironically, but I think a different font would work better.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:26 PM on July 25, 2010 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Yeah, I went with Gotham specifically because it is so strongly aligned with Obama, and by extension the left. I guess I wanted a subtle visual association with the "side" I'm really on, but if it doesn't really work I'll grab another.
posted by Jezztek at 9:33 PM on July 25, 2010
posted by Jezztek at 9:33 PM on July 25, 2010
I think the Social Security one works. The others, not so much... hunting the homeless, harvesting immigrant organs, etc. are just too out there, but not in a way that really says "Tea Party." Also, the Social Security one cuts to the chase effectively. Rather than Obama doesn't realize, etc. go straight to the heart of the matter:
OBAMA
wants to take away
my missile launcher
That's why I'm voting
Tea Party
(though personally, I don't directly connect missile launcher with "gun"... bazookas seem about as big as I'd go, and while I know there are shoulder-launched missiles, I tend to think of missile launchers as bigger things .)
posted by mumkin at 9:33 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
OBAMA
wants to take away
my missile launcher
That's why I'm voting
Tea Party
(though personally, I don't directly connect missile launcher with "gun"... bazookas seem about as big as I'd go, and while I know there are shoulder-launched missiles, I tend to think of missile launchers as bigger things .)
posted by mumkin at 9:33 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
The flat earth, hunting the homeless, and the harvesting organs ones made me laugh at their absurdity.
The missile launcher and social security ones seemed too close to something that a TP'er might actually say to work for me.
I'm a victim of the bad economy, so I won't be spending money on t-shirts. But if I could, I'd buy one of the first three.
posted by marsha56 at 10:41 PM on July 25, 2010
The missile launcher and social security ones seemed too close to something that a TP'er might actually say to work for me.
I'm a victim of the bad economy, so I won't be spending money on t-shirts. But if I could, I'd buy one of the first three.
posted by marsha56 at 10:41 PM on July 25, 2010
It would be even funnier if you tried selling these at actual Tea Party events. I bet some people would be dumb enough to buy the shirts and not realize that they're being parodied.
posted by Jacqueline at 1:42 AM on July 26, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by Jacqueline at 1:42 AM on July 26, 2010 [3 favorites]
I like the social security one and the medicare one Inspector.Gadget posted. Have you thought of using a symbol, maybe a cracked teapot, to clue people in that it's a parody and not just crazy logic? A red, white and blue color scheme seems more tea party like to me. It seems traditional for political stuff. Good luck!
posted by stray thoughts at 5:33 AM on July 26, 2010
posted by stray thoughts at 5:33 AM on July 26, 2010
My friend just posted this on Facebook: http://imvotingteaparty.com/. Is this you?
posted by elpea at 12:13 PM on August 18, 2010
posted by elpea at 12:13 PM on August 18, 2010
Response by poster: Yup yup, went live with them about a week and a half ago.
posted by Jezztek at 10:49 AM on August 22, 2010
posted by Jezztek at 10:49 AM on August 22, 2010
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posted by Inspector.Gadget at 8:18 PM on July 25, 2010 [1 favorite]