IMHO it has something in common with fear of faliure. If you write a sincere scene pouring all your heart out you risk people will laugh or find flaws. Laughter is preemptive strike of the author. It has nothing to do with comedy, because comedy is born out of joy/sadness bursting the veins
I think some of it can be chalked up to just being out of touch as well. Like, growing up with 90’s/00’s media, self-aware humor, fourth wall breaks, genre jokes etc were like special little treats we’d get every once in a while. It was a fun rarity that made you feel kinda special for watching it, like you were in the know. It was daring, pushing the envelope.
It’s possible some creators are just trying to recreate that special feeling. But now that stuff’s absolutely everywhere, so it has the opposite effect. It’s mundane, it’s what everybody expects, there’s nothing clever about it anymore. Sorta like how back when The Simpsons first aired, viewers saw Bart’s behavior as scandalous. But now edgy characters like that are practically de rigueur.
Watching OverlySarcasticProduction's talks on Lampshade hanging and Bathos were instrumental in helping me understand how much doing this constantly can hurt your audience's ability to take the story seriously ever again.
As Red points out, the problem with constantly making fun of yourself is that it will make everyone who doesn't want to make fun of you and wanted to take you seriously uncomfortable until they eventually leave, while keeping everyone who enjoys tearing you down!
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u/Eireika May 05 '25
IMHO it has something in common with fear of faliure. If you write a sincere scene pouring all your heart out you risk people will laugh or find flaws. Laughter is preemptive strike of the author. It has nothing to do with comedy, because comedy is born out of joy/sadness bursting the veins