Can Anyone Explain Colbert's Ads To Me?

They just don't make any sense.

Even if they're supposed to be funny -- they're not, because there's no real point to them. It's unclear what he's mocking, or how these ads are intended to mock anything. They just seem to be flippantly nonsensical.

So, what is actual message here? What does he hope, tangibly, to get from these ads?

Okay, he's supposed to be spoofing these SuperPacs, I guess. Because they're The Devil. But his manner of spoofing them suggests they are trivial and ineffectual and silly, thus suggesting that they're not The Devil at all, and, at most, some distinctly sixth rate sort of bogeyman, like maybe Chuckie from Child's Play.

Then he seems to be going after Rick Perry (is he? I don't even know), but is also... um, increasing Rick Perry's name recognition without actually saying anything bad about him, apart from running some bad pictures.

But the whole thing's so meta I could see a casual viewer thinking Colbert likes Perry, and is just having fun with him.

I've never really gotten the metaness of Colbert's "Who are we lampooning again?" sort of humor. I think you can maybe get to the third level of ironic distance, tops, before everything just stops making sense; Colbert seems to be going for four.

posted by Ace at 05:11 PM

| Access Comments