Clueless Aesop: Difference between revisions

** [[Homestar Runner]] satirized this with typical aplomb in ''[http://www.homestarrunner.com/cheatcommandos4.html Commandos In the Classroom]''.

** Also parodied in an episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' ("Lisa's Wedding") set in the distant future of... [[Zeerust|2010]]. By this point the students are stacked three high and are taught by Troy McClure via TV screen:

'''Troy:''' Partial credit! }}

* Another example was the D.A.R.E. group in the late 1980s that tried to encourage kids to not do drugs and in their educational kits they included a pencil with the slogan "Too Cool To Do Drugs". Unfortunately, because they set their slogan not to start at the eraser end but at the lead end of the pencil, as it was sharpened the slogan devolved on the pencil from the original message, down to [[Do Not Do This Cool Thing|"Cool To Do Drugs"]], to simply "Do Drugs".

** One of the weirdest ones by far is "[[Space Whale Aesop|If you take pot, your girlfriend will leave you for a Space alien]]". WTF?

** Pee-Wee Herman gives a serious (yet somehow hilarious) message about not doing crack. We all know the '''numerous''' things wrong with ''that'' PSA, right?

** The anti-drug PSA where the girl's dog talks to her and asks her to stop smoking pot. Honey, if your dog is talking to you, pot is the least of your problems. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFAN3wdlrJg At least he's trying to help.]

*** Arguably, the moral is "if you're taking so many drugs that you hallucinate that your ''dog'' is warning you off, you'd better rethink things".

* ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' had a tendency to identify (and mock) these in [[The Fifties]] educational shorts it aired, which had titles like [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THYVh9AhtLk "A Date With Your Family"]. The lessons in said shorts ran the gamut from Clueless, to looking very Warped thanks to [[Values Dissonance]], to being straight-up [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop|Warped]] regardless of the time they were made. Hence, such gemlike riffs as "Emotions are for 'ethnic' people", and "Expressing individualism is just plain wrong".

** And:

"Well '''don't''', son." }}

** While we're on the subject, another fun rip on the strange messages given by such shorts is Nada Surf's song and music video, "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNc45FTenhg Popular]".

*** This sounds odd today, but [[Technology Marches On|shampoo was harsh]], even corrosive back in the Fifties. Washing it every day would have made them look like they stuck their fingers in a light socket regularly for fun. It sounds warped out of context though.

* ''[[Riff Trax]]'' has continued [[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'s tradition on that score, most notably with their commentary on the short ''Drugs Are Like That'', a parade of dubious and even contradictory metaphors for drugs. At different points in the short, for example, habitual behavior (such as hair twirling) and spontaneity (represented by making a minor change to a Lego-block machine) both become drug-use analogues.

** The episode ''Unfit to Drive'' from the 1996 series, ''Enough's Enough'' from the 1997 series, and (to a slightly lesser extent) the 1997 episode ''Don't Look Back In Anger'' tend to sometimes forget what the aesop they're dealing with is.

* Parodied by ''[[The Goodies]]'' with their Mary Whitehouse expy-approved sex education film, which avoids any mention of anything related to sex:

** Also parodied by ''[[The Sooty Show]]'' (even though the episode itself was a straight attempt at trying to get across at least some basic sex education) when Matthew tries inexpertly to give [[The Talk]] to Sweep, hampered by his use of [[Dissimile]] and [[Metaphorgotten]].

* The children's show ''[[The Big Comfy Couch]]'' suffered from clueless Aesops at times...including the downright bizarre lesson "Don't fall down with your hands in your pockets."

== Theater ==

* [http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/arts/theater/cirque-du-soleil-michael-jackson-immortal-world-tour-review This review] of ''[[Michael Jackson the IMMORTAL World Tour]]'', the [[Cirque Du Soleil]] tribute to the musician, calls out the "They Don't Care About Us" number for presenting one of these in the below quote. (Later in the review, the critic also points out that the intended anti-greed message is undermined by the fact that the show probably wouldn't exist if there weren't tons of money to be made off of Jackson's memory.) Keep in mind that this show also features Bubbles the chimp as a character and a production number with a giant sequined glove dancing around, among other things.

 

 

** "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBfkI51sVyc Teers In the Hood]" for the [[Heroes (TV series)|waffles!]]

** Oh goodness, the AIDS episode...

*** It should be said, however, that the writers (according to the late Ben Hurst, one of them) were proud of that episode for what Aesops they ''were'' allowed to convey (i.e. that HIV is not easily transmissible and any stigma is largely unfair to the victims). And that they were allowed to cover it at all.

** Maybe not as infamous as the other examples here, but certainly one of the ''strangest'' [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle]] segments and not just for this particular show. Most of them said things like, "make sure you don't leave all the lights on all day", "only run the air conditioner if you really need it", or "recycle your waste paper"; perfectly reasonable and good advice for the show's young audience. This one, however, asked the kids to curb overpopulation and the various problems it can cause by ''promising to have only three or less children when they grow up''.