Jerry, Jerry…
Posted on Jun 25 2006 | Tagged as: Comedy, Culture, Religion
Yeah, yeah; Jerry Springer: The Opera is ‘offensive’. Boo hoo.
I can (just about) see why the Christians are so upset - the ones that went to the trouble of printing out the lyrics from the internet, that is; none of the ones we spoke to had actually seen it, of course. A nappy-wearing Jesus claiming that he is “a bit gay” (after all, the homos will burn; David told us); the suggestion that Mary was raped by an angel/God; and Jerry’s Final Thought that there is no absolute right or wrong are bound to upset religious types.
(For what it’s worth, I don’t agree with the latter either; it’s only a matter of time before I open an article with “I was a relativist once. I’m not proud”.)
The vast amounts of swearing’s just plain funny - in that setting. The fact that theatres are normally people by fairly conservative folks who avoid deploying bad language is all part of the satire - a satire that includes the personal tyranny of familial relationships, as oppressive as anything any government has to offer; the tendency to avoid taking personal responsibility, instead blaming either God or ‘low culture’ TVÂ programmes like The Jerry Spinger Show.
But the religious can’t see past that. Oh, no; it’s offensive. It’s blasphemous. It’s also bloody funny, which is more than can be said for the Bible.
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