Gen X is the sweet spot where you laugh at the pet eating memes but also call out the fact that it’s intentional “othering” in an effort to dehumanize
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Gen X is the sweet spot where you laugh at the pet eating memes but also call out the fact that it’s intentional “othering” in an effort to dehumanize
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@amcvittie I mean, only we remember Alf.
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@octothorpe the memes gave been so solid
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@amcvittie genius!!
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@amcvittie @octothorpe I feel sure it didn't occur to me at the time, but the new Alf memes have made me wonder if the original gag in the TV show was related to racist claims of immigrants eating pets. (And if so, was it an excuse to make a racist joke, or was it intended to be funny because of the ridiculousness of the idea.) I couldn't readily find anything touching on that aspect.
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CM Harringtonreplied to Andrew Abernathy last edited by
@andrewabernathy @amcvittie yeah, donnow. I mean, I wasn't living in the states for much of its run. Obvs there has been racism since the dawn of time, but I don't recall the pet eating notion being prominent at the time… but as with you, that's not saying much, and it doesn't mean it didn't exist.
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@andrewabernathy @octothorpe huh. I didn’t even think of the original Alf joke intent as being anything But silly. definitely at the time I gave it NO thought. Cuz i was a kid.
ALF was a sympathetic character and the cats weren’t so I don’t think it was an excuse to make a cheap joke about a stereotype - given the time period they could’ve been more blatant if that was the goal. But who knows. Writers rooms in the early 90s…
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@amcvittie @andrewabernathy oh and Alf specifically (the show) was fraught with scandal.
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Andrew Abernathyreplied to CM Harrington last edited by
@octothorpe @amcvittie I had checked Wikipedia and done a quick search to see if the cat-eating had caused controversy (didn't find any, other than possibly one child's reaction). I saw that there was a lot of unhappiness on set but didn't see scandal.
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@andrewabernathy @octothorpe I just assume in the wave of 90s nostalgia “ALF: The True Story” will be coming to Netflix any day now.
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CM Harringtonreplied to Andrew Abernathy last edited by
@andrewabernathy @amcvittie If you wanna go down the rabbit hole, google Max Wright’ (the actor who played the dad).
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@amcvittie @andrewabernathy another weird fun fact… the actor who played Alf wanted to instil the illusion he was a real alien, so everyone left the set so he could get into position. IIRC, it was also taped in front of a studio audience, so this all happened prior to letting them in.