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I’d never seen Stripperella before, I went and “found” a couple episodes. For educational purposes.

This theory would appear to hold water.

So, okay. This thing with the accents is like that time I made a “blue meth” joke to someone who had never seen Breaking Bad. It just didn’t make sense to them.

From what I recall of Stripperella; due to the content involved (examples of the content included one of the dancers wanting her father to recognize her as a competent stripper and Stripperella's lie detector ability involving a dude fondling her breasts -if her nips became erect, they were telling the truth), it wasn't a kid friendly cartoon (think it aired of Spike after 10PM?) So, the idea that pixie trix would incorporate Easter eggs from a raunchy cartoon meant for adults into a PG13 comic would be all the more unsettling.

It's not as though Pixie Trix don't do call outs but I'm still not convinced by the Stripperella idea. Mainly because the most detailed explanation of the parallels (Rosa's from memory) includes the idea that two characters in the comic represent one in the show even though there's absolutely nothing in the strip to link them together.

Is it still shown on TV in Canada because I don't remember seeing it here in the UK for years?

The show was cancelled after a single season and - near as I know - has never been aired in syndication.

So it's a reference to a show that nobody watched or even liked? Also, if it was racist there, it would still be racist here.

Fluffy wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 30, 2018 10:55 am

The show was cancelled after a single season and - near as I know - has never been aired in syndication.

iirc it was the center of a lawsuit which is probably why.

Cortez wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 30, 2018 4:08 pm

So it's a reference to a show that nobody watched or even liked? Also, if it was racist there, it would still be racist here.

100% agree with that. like, andy rooney was the _worst_ part of breakfast at tiffany's and hopefully if the movie were ever redone in any format his character would be erased or modified, not kept for some sort of historical accuracy. that's on the same level as saying confederate flags are all about the heritage and not the hate. it's an argument that doesn't hold water

bridgetvoid wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 30, 2018 4:21 pm

Fluffy wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 30, 2018 10:55 am

The show was cancelled after a single season and - near as I know - has never been aired in syndication.

iirc it was the center of a lawsuit which is probably why.

There's that (for anyone unaware - a stripper claimed Stan Lee stole the idea of a stripper moonlighting as a superhero from her after she told him about it during a lap dance). The fact that it didn't get rave reviews didn't help things, either. It was a pretty stupid show; focusing more on the titillating lead character and her sexually charged superhero adventures moreso than humor (which was crude, at best).

Kinda like this comic as of recent chapters.

otaku247 wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 30, 2018 12:05 am

Kudos for spotting this and hopefully dousing the arguments over lazy writing and racist dialogue. I always tend to give the team the benefit of the doubt when an arc isn't exactly compelling me to mash the F5 button in anticipation on update day, but It's nice to know there was something in the background steering things in this way and even though I'm not familiar with Stripperella I can appreciate the effort in sticking with it to hope that someone in the readership would spot the (i assume) homage. Well done

For those who do know it, is it worth looking up to appreciate any further in-jokes?

In my opinion, Stripperella is totally worth watching; it's one of the DAMNEDEST BEST CARTOONS I've seen in my life. However, fair warning: it's not for everyone. That's because it's very sexy (lots of racy scenes, with strippers pole-dancing and such) and, more importantly, it's extremely politically incorrect. In fact, you could say the creative team made a point of thoroughly lambasting and ridiculing every single politically correct cliché out there.

The original concept comes from Stan Lee (the one from Marvel). Erotica Jones is an exotic dancer at a classy strip club who, when crime is afoot, turns into the masked superheroine Stripperella. Her character design is based on Canadian actress Pamela Anderson (who at the time was famous for Baywatch) and there's a running joke of people mistaking Jones for Pamela. (Funny detail: Pamela voices the character, too.) Nothing in the show is taken seriously; humor is everywhere, all the time. This all-permeating humor comes in three types:
1) Absurd (the show revels in putting the characters in absurd situations)
2) Parody of the superhero genre
3) Political incorrectness

Since I love the show and I love talking about it, I'm gonna give you some examples.

EXAMPLE 1:

Persie, at the club, is waiting for her boyfriend. She tells the barman she's serious about this guy! They have been dating for a month, and it's been incredible: they get along wonderful, they have great sex... she's certain he's the man of her life! And, oh, today, he's gonna introduce her to his brother! She's so nervous! She MUST make a good first impression!

Then, Persie's boyfriend arrives. With his brother.

They're Siamese twins.

Barman: "What!?? But, you, he... you said... waitaminute... no... you two... how... ah... uh... buh???"

EXAMPLE 2:

A criminal has struck! Erotica Jones must change into her Stripperella costume! She runs into a narrow, pitch-black dark alley between two buildings; there are some rumpling noises in the total darkness, and, three seconds later, she emerges wearing the dirty rags of a hobo - and off she goes, to fight crime!

A few moments later, out of the alley comes an old hobo with a shell-shocked face, wearing the Stripperella costume (five sizes too small for him), and asks: "Wh... wha... WHAT JUST HAPPENED!???"

EXAMPLE 3:

Giselle is the youngest stripper at the club. She's very naive and innocent (to a point that the other girls sometimes wonder if she should be working there at all). One day, she's in the champagne room, giving a private lap dance to an elderly gentleman. When she's done, she finds that the guy is dead! It seems the lap dance was too stimulating and he had a heart attack while ejaculating. Poor Giselle is devastated! The other girls comfort her, but she still feels guilty. The following day, the widow of the dead geezer comes to visit the room where her husband died, and Giselle says she wants to talk to her.

Giselle: "Oh ma'am, I'm the one who was giving him a sexy lap dance when he died. I feel terrible! But there's something I must tell you, something important. Your husband was a very religious man, a man of strong Christian beliefs with an unshakeable faith in his own salvation. Right before he died, his last words were a testimony of faith in Christ the Savior!"
Widow: "Really!?"
Giselle: "Yes! In his last moments, he realized he was about to die, and he knew in his heart that his spirit was bound to Heaven! That's why his last words were: 'Oh God, I'm coming! Oh Jesus, I'm coming! OH CHRIST! CHRIST, I'M COMING, CHRIST!!' You see? That's how strong his Christian faith was!"
Widow:

Ok I know this message is too long already, so I'll shut up now.

I get along fine with things like that from Archer through Family Guy, American Dad and the Cleveland Show so I guess I'm good with how that show is likely to be like. I'll look it up if I can find it legitimately somewhere ;)

I was just reading the latest messages while sipping some tea, all chic and sophisticated-like... and Rosa's last example made me spit it all over my monitor, lol lol

I think I can guess why Christian fundies & the conservative media didn't like this show..... have a guy perv to a lap dancer in a strip club and die of a cva, and then epitomize him as exemplary Christian coz he was yelling 'Jesus Christ, I'm coming!'... yeah, that'd do the trick all right......

So the notion people might dislike the idea of a girl that naive dancing in a stripclub never occurred to you.

Error of Logic wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 30, 2018 10:19 pm

So the notion people might dislike the idea of a girl that naive dancing in a stripclub never occurred to you.

I know that wasn't directed at me so I'm going to leave answering that point to the intended recipient, but it does make me think on the scenario from a different perspective.

I've still not seen the show in question so I will have to go by example 3 as described and it seems a pretty simple 3-stage joke.
setup: Innocent young stripper performs lapdance during which client has a heart attack and dies.
decoy : explaining to his widow that she felt he was very christian owing to his final words
punchline : final words revealed to be those stereotypically exclaimed by someone at the point of maximum joy.

Now the decoy and punchline only really make sense if the stripper in question has the plausibility of character to make that misunderstanding in the first place right? So you only have two realistic options : one, is to make them appear super naive enough in our eyes that she would make that misinterpretation, or two : make them seem dumb enough to have jumped to this conclusion.
My guess is that the latter of these is less believable and would certainly have proven more controversial in perhaps portraying stereotypical 'dumb blonde stripper', but whatever the reason was for them choosing the former, I don't think it should be viewed as anything other than the foundations to let them make the joke.

It's hardly as masterful as Groucho Marx's "One morning, I shot an elephant in my pyjamas. How he got into my pyjamas I shall never know" but that's a one-liner rather than a narrative joke, such as :
Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says: "Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There's a brief silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy then says: "OK, now what?"

Now i'm not saying you shouldn't dislike a girl that naive dancing in a strip club, all I'm saying is it's probably just there so that the joke works, that's all.

I don't think it's a matter that EOL didn't understand how the naive stripper joke was meant to work (the fact that she confused the old man's orgasm with religious faith was the blatantly obvious joke - Stripperella couldn't do subtle jokes to save its life); it's the fact that some people look at this joke and wonder how someone that simple minded is employed as a stripper, which takes the humor out of the joke.

Hell, the naive stripper is the same character who's father demands she strip for his colleagues - and do a good job of it so as not to embarrass him; and that's played for laughs, too.

In all honestly - I feel awful for that character.

How awful. Someone asked her to do her job and do it well. [/sarcasm]