MovieChat Forums > Serial Mom (1994) Discussion > Some of the humor doesn't quite carry ac...

Some of the humor doesn't quite carry across nowadays


The whole deal with Beverly Sutphin freaking out over the fashion faux pas of "Juror #6" wearing white shoes after Labor Day.... Nowadays, fewer and fewer people really know about that rule, much less care about it. Maybe it was funnier twenty or so years ago, but today??

Same thing with Beverly freaking out over the lady who did not rewind her VHS tapes upon returning them to the video store. That whole concept of renting tapes for a VCR is getting to be a thing of the past. Perhaps there are younger viewers, brought up on DVDs and Netflix, who don't even know what that's about?


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Tough *beep* for those younger viewers. This is *beep* classic!

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I think the point of Beverly freaking out over the shoes were to show how fanatically bourgeois she were, despite her being a psychopath. Anyway, I don't think anyone outside America knows about said rule, never mind young Americans not knowing it. But as for 'kids today' not understanding the rewind thing - they'd have to be pretty dense to not get *that* - it's hardly rocket science is it?

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I don't doubt that many of today's younger viewers would "get it" (not all of them, of course). What I'm saying is that the impact of that humor is most likely greater on older viewers.

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The dog in your photo looks like the one who licked the old bag's feet in Serial Mom!

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.

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If you get the joke, then the impact is 100%.



"Facts are stubborn things" - Ronald Reagan

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I have to disagree with you there. Often when I watch very old comedies made before the 1980s, there are loads of jokes I get, but I find them way too dated to be funny. That doesn't apply to everything old, mind you, just some stuff.


I'm Kevin Roberts and I'm the coolest bitch in town!

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I'm 33. Does that count as an older viewer? I saw this when it came out in cinemas. Great fun!

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The whole deal with Beverly Sutphin freaking out over the fashion faux pas of "Juror #6" wearing white shoes after Labor Day.... Nowadays, fewer and fewer people really know about that rule, much less care about it. Maybe it was funnier twenty or so years ago, but today??


I don't think it was still a faux pas when this came out, hence the line; "The rules have changed!"

I think the point of Beverly freaking out over the shoes were to show how fanatically bourgeois she were, despite her being a psychopath.


White after labor day is a real pet peeve of John Waters. I think he's gone on record as saying that he doesn't care whether or not the rules have changed, or if there's a 'winter white' he won't be friends with someone who wears white after Labor Day. Especially shoes.

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Trust me there are still many people who go by that rule, and all the WASPS know it. I had no idea about this rule when this movie came out. It has nothing to do with age of the viewers.
Maybe the rewindind of the tapes, I'll give you that.

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"Tough *beep* for those younger viewers."

I agree. They really make me sick when they whine and sneer about the existence of anything or anyone outside their circle.

They're exactly like the right-wingers who prattle on about there being "only one true religion".

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.

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The humor is still super prevalent and hilarious. Some of the specifics will be lost with time and culture change, sure, this is true of every movie ever made though. Pretty sure most people will be able to see him working at the store and put together whats going on.

Although I'm biased since ive liked this movie since I was a kid...

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Yeah, I think you can't really complain that a 20 year old film references technology that was still used 20 years ago. That'd be like complaining that they didn't have a flat screen TV in High Definition...

Earlier this year, I rewatched this film for the first time since I originally saw it as a teenager. As a UK resident, I was unaware that there was a no wearing white after Labour Day rule, but it didn't stop me getting the joke.

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Okay? Stuff changes when 20 years have passed. What exactly is the point of your post?

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^^^ THIS. 100 times this. ^^^

__________________________________________
"In your opinion?"
"Um, yes your honor, in my opinion."

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I'm not sure I agree with you to be honest, at least not on a personal level.

I'm from a small city in the North of England and I had heard of the Labor Day rule, before I actually knew what Labor Day was.

I (like pretty much most of the world) grew up with a lot of US film and television, so from that a lot of references for US audiences will be made.

I'm not sure where I had heard it or even why it was a rule until later on (it did make it funnier when I learned a bit more about the origins) but I knew what it was and from that concluded that this was just another example of the character's psychopathic 'just so' behaviour.

As for VHS, well I grew up in that generation so that was never a problem and people not rewinding tapes from video rental stores was pretty annoying, her reaction is simply hilarious haha.

But yeah I guess this generation wont understand that so much, but the advantage of that is that there is so much translatable humour in there that its very re-watchable and with the internet if people want to understand a reference they can look it up.


'Everyone has an opinion, some people think there's is the only one that matters. That's just my opinion.'

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White shoes after Labor Day is never ever okay. Either 20 years ago or 20 years from now.

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Ha ha I was like 22 back in 2009 and my mom was like: "you don't wear white shoes after Labor Day..." And I was like "that's a rule?" Idk it's funny I got the joke because of my mom.

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[deleted]

it is very strange how this younger generation feels like they are the only relevant one around. Nothing existed before they did it seems. If they weren't born when something happened, then they don't need to know or care about it. Narcissistic twits.

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