Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Heil... Rosanne Barr?

Roseanne Barr, Dressed as Hitler, Bakes Burnt 'Jew Cookies'
 
As NewsBusters has chronicled over the years, Roseanne Barr has a history of doing and saying some truly disgraceful things, but this one really takes the cake...or the cookie in this case. Her most-recent tailspin into the gutter involved a photo shoot with Heeb magazine wherein she is seen wearing an Adolf Hitler moustache and swastika as she takes burnt gingerbread "Jew Cookies" out of an oven (pictured right). In another, in same costume, she is shown about to take a bite out of one of these burnt cookies 
 
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Here's the problem: 
 
Comedy has lost so many taboos that you need to do photo shoots like this just to be 'edgy'.  Really, after Sarah Silverman's jokes about the Holocaust, Martin Luther King Jr, and AIDS, there's not much room left for anyone to be "outrageous" anymore.  So you go with Hitler and Jew-cookies in the oven.
 
Problem is, it just isn't funny.  Not because it's sick (which still CAN be funny), it's just that there's no joke there. It's simply a design to be outrageous.
 
And that's a sign of desperation.
 
I don't know how you guys feel about modern art, but there have been controversies over Andres Serrano's  "Piss Christ" (photo of a crucifix in a jar of urine) and  Chris Ofili's "Holy Virgin Mary" (elephant dung around painting of Mary).  I remember one artist who designed an instillation that required you to walk on the American Flag in order to get close enough to see it.
 
Now I'm all for freedom of expression, but I'm all for ART as well.  It seems to me that these artists are just trying (really, really, really t-r-y-i-n-g) to be controversial.  But it's so EASY to do.  Follow these simple steps:
 
1) Find an image that people value
2) Shit on it.
 
I think HEEB magazine has just joined the club: "Outrage without Content."
 
There's no point in screaming at the top of your lungs if you have nothing to say.

 
 
 



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