I feel that this ongoing caption contest will go down in history as the moment when New Yorker cartoons “jumped the shark.” (That is a reference to an episode of Happy Days in which “the Fonz” is water skiing and jumps over a shark. The term has become a common epithet for moments when cultural institutions overreach and become self-parodies.)
I propose a discussion of possible shark-jumping Crooked Timber posts.
As the author of the lamest jump the shark post of the last three weeks, let me say: I like the New Yorker cartoons better than the recaptioned ones, but all the comments are right. If they want to overhaul the cartoons, they should hire some black cartoonists (and more women, too).
{ 8 comments }
Jeremy Osner 04.29.05 at 2:55 pm
Recently the New Yorker has been running contests where they print a cartoon w/o caption and ask people to send in ideas.
norbizness 04.29.05 at 3:22 pm
They also have that guy with the top hat and monocle getting kicked in the face with a steel-toed boot at a Buzzcocks concert. I think.
F. Winston Codpiece III 04.29.05 at 7:11 pm
I feel that this ongoing caption contest will go down in history as the moment when New Yorker cartoons “jumped the shark.” (That is a reference to an episode of Happy Days in which “the Fonz” is water skiing and jumps over a shark. The term has become a common epithet for moments when cultural institutions overreach and become self-parodies.)
I propose a discussion of possible shark-jumping Crooked Timber posts.
phil 04.30.05 at 2:01 pm
“Jumping the shark” jumped the shark at least a year ago.
Blue the Wild Dog 04.30.05 at 3:34 pm
Saying “‘Jumped the shark’ jumped the shark” jumped the shark, too.
jimbo 04.30.05 at 11:25 pm
Didn’t Godel have something to say about this?
Seth Finkelstein 05.01.05 at 1:49 am
It’s “Dysfunctional Family Circus” for a different audience
Matt Weiner 05.01.05 at 1:30 pm
As the author of the lamest jump the shark post of the last three weeks, let me say: I like the New Yorker cartoons better than the recaptioned ones, but all the comments are right. If they want to overhaul the cartoons, they should hire some black cartoonists (and more women, too).
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