Comments on: Dolts in toyland

By: ALberto Lung

ALberto Lung — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:18:53 +0000

Hi Grant, i am an anthropology student and i would like to contact you to know if there is any way you could help me with some bibliographical recommendations on Digital Ethnographi and ciber culture.

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:01:53 +0000

"The humorist Dave Barry once wrote a fine column about the Berenstain Bears, the popular children's book series that features, in many of the stories, an archetype I believe he called the stupid dad. Stupid dads are dolts who think they are in charge, while all around them his wife and family cleans up his messes while maintaining the illusion they respect him. I'm sure you can think of many popular characters who fit this description."

Also known as the Doofus Dad. He's a staple character in TV commercials as well as in sitcoms. In one sense, the Doofus Dad can be seen as fulfilling a *male* fantasy. Typically he will be a chubby, dough-faced if not actually obese schlub, paired with a smoking hot wife. In real life, a man of that sort wouldn't get the time of day from such a highly desirable woman. In the fantasy world of television, however, it's a different story, one that plays into male fantasies even while mocking men.

By: Rick Liebling

Rick Liebling — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:01:32 +0000

Scott beat me to it, but in reading your post I immediately thought of Homer Simpson as the base of the Dolt family tree.

Domen nailed perfectly the difference between the two Offices. It's subtle, but there.

Grant, you identified an interesting dichotomy: Our TV heroes are either super-geniuses we could never be, or morons who are beneath us. What's in between, namely us, doesn't make for particularly compelling or entertaining television (see Trust Me)

By: Domen

Domen — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:32:51 +0000

You might be on to something here. Compare the British (original) version of The Office with the American. If anything, in the original Gervais does NOT create "liminal places beyond the reach of social conventions and orthodoxies". The priceless British humor of the original Office is about the awkward moments where the dolts realize their doltness and try to hide it. There's no blissful stupidity, just our pathetic doltish attempts to impress others. The American version has some of that, but it's far more aligned with what you talk about. So it seems empty and… Well, stupid, when compared to the original.

By: Scott Underwood

Scott Underwood — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:09:56 +0000

Is there a distinction to be made between dolts who are vehicles for real intelligence, and and those who aren't? Homer Simpson is a dolt, but the genius of "The Simpsons" sparkles behind his actions -- we watch because the writing is so good. The same argument could be made about other dolts, from Archie Bunker to Stephen Colbert.

But other shows and movies seem to celebrate stupidity with no other redeeming features. "Dumb and Dumber," "Jackass," -- I'm sure there are many more. I imagine "Paul Blart" is in this category. It's a type of humor I find intolerable, on a par with laughing at pratfalls.

The humorist Dave Barry once wrote a fine column about the Berenstain Bears, the popular children's book series that features, in many of the stories, an archetype I believe he called the stupid dad. Stupid dads are dolts who think they are in charge, while all around them his wife and family cleans up his messes while maintaining the illusion they respect him. I'm sure you can think of many popular characters who fit this description.