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"Whimsy"

83 replies

User09678 · 17/01/2025 08:41

Aibu to have a real aversion to the trend for "whimsy" in current films and TV series? I find it baffling, not funny, I can't suspend disbelief when I'm watching violent scenes interspersed with whatever this new thing is. It leaves me constantly having to shift mental gears to try and understand what's going on and is very unnatural. It might just me. Is it? Am I too old and grumpy now? I'm not sure how I'm meant to be taking it. I probably am being unreasonable. Maybe it always existed and I just notice it now.

OP posts:
trivialMorning · 17/01/2025 13:13

does anyone understand what this post is about????

Beyond modern film/tv show often suck - not really.

I seen many critics be fed up with "Marvel effect" - the constant quips after some violent or emotional scene - though it predates Marvel films but is so overused by them - never seen it described as whimsy.

MartinCrieffsLemon · 17/01/2025 13:10

Humour interspersed and breaking up dark and tragic moments goes back to the Greeks

There's a fancy word for it. Like Pathos and Catharis but not those 🤣

Needmorelego · 17/01/2025 13:04

allthemiddlechildrenoftheworld · 17/01/2025 13:03

@User09678 does anyone understand what this post is about????

No. No one does 😂

allthemiddlechildrenoftheworld · 17/01/2025 13:03

@User09678 does anyone understand what this post is about????

TheYeaSayer · 17/01/2025 12:56

I’m also not entirely sure what OP means without further clarification. But humour set into horrible violence does seem to be more prevalent. It’s by no means new though… just think of all the humorous deaths in old James Bond films, and his witty, post-kill quips.

On Black Doves… well it was good fun, but stupidly unrealistic. The flippant comments “Sorry I killed your partner” “Well, you always were a twat, lol” (paraphrasing) sort of thing; and that we’re supposed to be rooting for hitmen/women and thinking they’re actually quite decent people deep down. Stupid.

trivialMorning · 17/01/2025 12:47

I enjoyed Black Doves though it's tone meandered and many things didn't make sense - but it was cracked along and was fun to watch.

Love Wallace and Gromit - I like the Paddington films. Liked Pulp Fiction.

Didn't like The Forgotten King - where protagonist is constantly talking to an imaginary Richard III - I knew that going in but it wasn't as funny a film or as engaging as hoped. I couldn't finish The Electrical Life of Louis Wain.

So does sort of depend son what meant by Whimsy.

Nourishinghandcream · 17/01/2025 12:45

Needmorelego · 17/01/2025 11:21

This is what a Whimsy is to me 😂

We had the Wade figures in Christmas crackers (late 60's/early 70's).
My Dsis still has them.

DappledThings · 17/01/2025 12:41

Hanto · 17/01/2025 12:40

Sure, but that’s hardly new. Pulp Fiction was doing comedy stuff interspersed with whimsy (hitmen arguing about burger names and foot massages while killing people, fleeing bent boxers forgetting to pack an heirloom watch, a dance competition at a kitsch diner before a near-fatal overdose etc) thirty years ago.

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Agree. And I really liked Black Doves. No idea if my example is even what OP is thinking of as she's given no examples so far.

Hanto · 17/01/2025 12:40

DappledThings · 17/01/2025 12:30

Are you talking about something like Black Doves? Which had violence and a lot of comedy in it ar the same time. Like one of the characters making a joke back to wishing she'd brought that rocket launcher she got as a present in the middle of a violent shootout and mass killing?

Sure, but that’s hardly new. Pulp Fiction was doing comedy stuff interspersed with whimsy (hitmen arguing about burger names and foot massages while killing people, fleeing bent boxers forgetting to pack an heirloom watch, a dance competition at a kitsch diner before a near-fatal overdose etc) thirty years ago.

GrannyGoggles · 17/01/2025 12:38

Whimsy is right up there with quirky for me: irritating. However, I’m accepting of each to own, and endeavour not to engage with either

EBearhug · 17/01/2025 12:36

BakewellTart66 · 17/01/2025 11:18

God, yes! Whimsy overdose is simply tedious. It’s also forced and somehow smug and twee.
I just watched The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, a film which deals with the dark subject of mental illness. It was good, but would have been excellent without the overlay of quaintness and whimsy.
Let’s leave all that stuff to Mary Poppins and her target audience.

Yes, I saw that. I knew of his cat drawings (though not the more psychedelic versions) and so went to the Louis Wain exhibition at the Museum of the Mind a couple of years back. Maybe I wasn't fully focussed on the film or something, but I mostly felt confused by it, and I'm not sure it was clear he was in Bethlem or anything. It wasn't till the end credits that you really see much of his art to know why he was famous.

I wondered if it would have been easier or not to follow if you knew nothing of him before watching it.

Maybe I should just stop watching biopics.

HungryBored · 17/01/2025 12:33

Needmorelego · 17/01/2025 11:21

This is what a Whimsy is to me 😂

Omg yes. Nostalgia!

TorroFerney · 17/01/2025 12:31

RexsSoupCan · 17/01/2025 12:27

Rabbit + wheelbarrow for reference.

Sorry OP! I agree it is a bit jarring sometimes in film and TV YANBU

They were horrific , and I say that as someone who used to say proudly "they make those in Burnley" which
is where I am from!

DappledThings · 17/01/2025 12:30

Are you talking about something like Black Doves? Which had violence and a lot of comedy in it ar the same time. Like one of the characters making a joke back to wishing she'd brought that rocket launcher she got as a present in the middle of a violent shootout and mass killing?

Plastictrees · 17/01/2025 12:29

Haha I love all things whimsical but I think it’s become a bit of a trend which is always off putting, and I can see how people can find it annoying.

RexsSoupCan · 17/01/2025 12:27

Rabbit + wheelbarrow for reference.

Sorry OP! I agree it is a bit jarring sometimes in film and TV YANBU

"Whimsy"
TorroFerney · 17/01/2025 12:26

RexsSoupCan · 17/01/2025 12:22

AAAAHHHH my grandma used to collect them, also those bog eyed Pen Delfin rabbits doing things like pushing a wheelbarrow

{Edited to add Pen Delfin after a quick google for bog eyed rabbits Grin}

Edited
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Pendelfin rabbits!

RexsSoupCan · 17/01/2025 12:22

Needmorelego · 17/01/2025 11:21

This is what a Whimsy is to me 😂

AAAAHHHH my grandma used to collect them, also those bog eyed Pen Delfin rabbits doing things like pushing a wheelbarrow

{Edited to add Pen Delfin after a quick google for bog eyed rabbits Grin}

Turophilic · 17/01/2025 12:18

x2boys · 17/01/2025 12:08

Did they ?
I think I bought mine from a gift shop at Bolton Abbey ,we used to there for picnics when I was a child.

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Yes, it was Red Rose Tea, my mum bought it. We used to have loads of them. I remember being particularly fond of the lion and a dog.

There was a Cat And The Fiddle that lasted until the mid 90s but I think we got rid of the rest when we left Canada.

x2boys · 17/01/2025 12:08

Turophilic · 17/01/2025 12:01

Didn’t they used to come free inside boxes of tea?

I like a whimsical story here and there. Like Miss Potter, with Renee Zellwegger talking to the illustrations or a random musical number thrown into a film. But it veers into cutesy rather easily (side eye to Miss Potter) so can be hard to balance.

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Did they ?
I think I bought mine from a gift shop at Bolton Abbey ,we used to there for picnics when I was a child.

GrantMitchell · 17/01/2025 12:04

Wish I knew where my childhood Wade whimsy collection had disappeared to. Just going down an Etsy rabbit hole…

Turophilic · 17/01/2025 12:01

Needmorelego · 17/01/2025 11:21

This is what a Whimsy is to me 😂

Didn’t they used to come free inside boxes of tea?

I like a whimsical story here and there. Like Miss Potter, with Renee Zellwegger talking to the illustrations or a random musical number thrown into a film. But it veers into cutesy rather easily (side eye to Miss Potter) so can be hard to balance.

Evolutionarygoals · 17/01/2025 12:01

Snowmanscarf · 17/01/2025 11:29

Loved collecting those as a kid.

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Me too! I've got loads in a couple of shoeboxes. Ah, simpler times 😁

BakewellTart66 · 17/01/2025 11:57

what is "whimsy" ?

Whimsy is a kind of humour that aims to be quaint, a bit odd.
Wallace and Gromit is probably a fair example of the style.

x2boys · 17/01/2025 11:55

Needmorelego · 17/01/2025 11:21

This is what a Whimsy is to me 😂

They were my first thought too 🤣🤣