View Full Version : Has The Honeymooners as a show aged horrifically


TMC
01-30-2023, 04:36 AM
Ralph Kramden (https://www.quora.com/Ralph-Kramden-The-Honeymooners-threatened-to-beat-his-wife-saying-to-the-Moon-Alice-Alice-handled-it-beautifully-But-with-the-Me-Too-movement-do-you-think-The-Honeymooners-would-get-away-with-that-now) threatened (https://donnagore.com/2018/02/13/the-honeymooners-nostalgia-is-sometimes-not-so-nice/#:~:text=Although%20we%20may%20not%20have,bad%20provider%20to%20her%20daughter.) domestic violence on his wife in every episode. One of the show (http://timesupblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/honeymooners-was-no-honeymoon-when.html)'s catchphrases (https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/14/opinion/pow-right-in-the-kisser.html) was "One of these days, Alice... [Clenches fist] Bang, zoom (https://moviechat.org/tt0042114/The-Honeymooners/58c7216b5ec57f0478eae8c4/Main-complaint), to the moon." It didn't help that Jackie Gleason on the show (https://www.democraticunderground.com/10026024055), always acted loud, boisterous, and angry, so to the unacquainted, you might immediately assume that he was being dead serious about wanting to hit his wife.

Now, others will probably defend those scenes (https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/104y9n6/comment/j37v4du/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) because Alice never backed down, always won those exchanges, and knew he was all noise when he yelled. They would also argue (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/TheHoneymooners) that the joke was always that Ralph was an ineffective blowhard. It wasn’t funny (http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2018/11/weekend-post_24.html) because he threatened violence (https://archives.evergreen.edu/webpages/curricular/2007-2008/fifties/index-24330.php.html), it was funny (https://aninjusticemag.com/is-abuse-ever-funny-2d0a3974e7f2) because Ralph would never lay a finger on his wife, and his attempts to intimidate are comically ineffective.

stevea
01-30-2023, 08:58 AM
Just don't watch. Simple?

katmandu38
02-01-2023, 11:11 AM
Jackie created the show based on his childhood memories living in the slums of NYC. People around him lived, argued and struggled like the Kramdems and Nortons. And it was performed live on stage in NYC. It was a product of the times. No one can not say it was funny even 70 years after they were aired. For this era of over sensitive PC BS pansies it does not fit. Nor does my beloved Three Stooges. So you can watch urkle or some such junk

katmandu38
02-01-2023, 11:14 AM
It was very funny and loving in its own way. Very family centered with all the struggles. Without laughter they would not have survived

biffbronson
02-01-2023, 01:04 PM
It didn't help that Jackie Gleason on the show (https://www.democraticunderground.com/10026024055), always acted loud, boisterous, and angry, so to the unacquainted, you might immediately assume that he was being dead serious about wanting to hit his wife.

It doesn't "help" when the actor, Gleason, is not kept separate from the character, Kramden, when talking about the show.

It's a very old sitcom. What else is there to say, everyone thinks they're now so enlightened -- they'll be in for a surprise when their TV work is judged harshly in the future. IMO it's a worthless exercise in step with misguided "cancel culture." I get tired of the clickbait crowd.

SarahBellum
02-01-2023, 01:23 PM
Sundance was airing a Gilligan's Island marathon last weekend and had a disclaimer saying something about it not being suitable by today's standards. Too funny.

Dude111
02-01-2023, 01:30 PM
I love that show!!!!