Discourse
Analysis
'Tim
and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!' is an American comedy sketch show
made by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. The piece that
I am analysing is a faux-commercial taken from this programme,
featuring a fictional corporation, Cinco, which satirises American
consumerism, advertising and culture.
The
programme focuses on mocking existing styles and themes, in this case
the standard format of infomercials from the 1980s and 1990s, through
employing amateur actors, using terribly executed green screening and
brash, obnoxious special effects. The intention is to create humour
through the impression of absolute incompetence, unease and
discomfort.
American
cable network Adult Swim hosted 'Tim and Eric' between 2007 and 2010.
Generally, many programmes that the channel hosts are considered
experimental, transgressive and surreal, and as a result have created
narrow audiences for themselves, but because of their video format
they remain widely accessible. This media allows the stilted line
reading, shots that linger for slightly too long and attention to
unnecessary details in Tim and Eric's sketches, that form the essence
of their humour.
The
'Cinco Food Tube' video begins with two couples sat in a relaxed,
pleasant looking restaurant whilst a piano plays in the background.
An 'incident' is mentioned, which triggers a montage of scenes of the
first man screaming and being violently sick in a flash-back style.
The waiters appear with the diners' orders, then the second man
begins to eat with his fork. The first man screams again, which lasts
for 17 seconds resulting in blood pooling around his eyeballs, before
he exclaims "The fork! It's too dangerous! You're gonna poke
yourself with that thing!". The following discussion then
introduces the Cinco Corporation's latest product, the 'Cinco Food
Tube'. This alternative way to eat a meal is explained in an
infomercial style, and is broken down into steps. A poorly produced,
grotesque section of the video then explains how the food tube is
'installed' into the first man's body.
A procedure of some sort is carried out by men in white lab coats,
which involves the removal of all of the 'Food Tube' user's teeth.
A large metal machine is wheeled over to the dining table by the two
men in white coats, who clumsily drill a hole into the table whilst
the diner continues to explain the process. Food is scraped off a
plate, through the hole and into the machine along with a 'softening
cream' where it is blended and driven up a tube into the diners
mouth. A tacky looking font and crudely edited 'before and after'
photographs demonstrate the 'Food Tubes' effect.
By
featuring men in white lab coats, the faux-commercial attempts to
make its product more reliable and trustworthy. White lab coats are
generally associated with doctors, scientists and people who are
regarded professional or intellectual. Advertising uses this
stereotype all the time in order to establish trust and give the
impression of information being completely factual and scientifically
supported. Paul Blow's illustration, 'Scientist' (Fig 1) satirises
this outlook by depicting a man in a white lab coat with a
dramatically oversized nose. This is clearly imitating the story of
Pinocchio and comments on the way in which we can so easily take any
nonsense as factual if it is said by a figure considered
authoritarian and intellectual. I think that it points out the way in
which these kinds of advertisements can hide their lies behind the
use of jargon and an official appearance. In the case of the Cinco
Food Tube, featuring the 'scientists' clearly does not make the
product or commercial any more official or trustworthy, but mocks the
way in which other advertisements use this approach.
This
video perfectly demonstrates the way in which this genre satirises
the American consumerist culture. 'The
past few decades have seen the rise, here in America, of a new and
unique phenomenon in human history, the mass consumption society.'
(Katona, G. 1964: 3) This
idea of a mass consumption society is also shown in the illustration
'Portrait of a Noodle Nut' by Ralph Steadman (Fig 2) which features
what appears to be an ongoing row of men shovelling noodles into
their mouths. The sketch is loose and gestural in places, with the
most structure and focus surrounding the grotesque volume of food
being stuffed into the unusually wide mouths of the men. The way that
I interpret this illustration is that it reflects a passive mass
consumption; demonstrating the way we blindly demand more in order to
fill a void that can never be filled, or reach an unattainable level
of satisfaction. The only aim is to consume.
Similarly
to the previous image, Mikey Burton's illustration (Fig 3) suggests
the ideology that happiness is something that can be bought or sold.
This image was part of a series of three editorial illustrations,
which also incorporated accomplishment and self worth as products
which could be purchased. This clearly references consumerism and
consumerist culture, mocking this idea through the method of
advertisement.
Satirising
the infomercials, the contrast between the classy feel of the
restaurant and the absurdity of the Cinco product results in a kind
of ridiculous sensory bombardment which leaves the viewer amused and
baffled. This
feeling of sensory overload is echoed in the illustration 'Marketing'
by Angel Boligan (Fig 4) which portrays a deluge of ad campaigns and
brands being funnelled into the eyes of a completely overwhelmed
looking man. This mixed media piece is made up of ink drawing and
collage, showing contrast between the crudely drawn black and white
line work and the bright, gaudy, obnoxious colours used by the brands
and advertisements. I think that this links back to the pleasant
atmosphere of the restaurant in the Tim and Eric video and bizarre
marketing of a ridiculous invention. The image is quite violent and
vulgar in the way that the funnels have been forced into the eyes of
a person who has no choice but to unwillingly accept the information.
Again, this ties in with the violent nature of the Cinco Food Tube,
which seems to completely disregard the health and safety of the
buyer, in favour of 'convenience'. Commenting
on the infomercials of the 80s and 90s, conversation such as “Wow,
what a great tube...I want to be a Food-Tuber too” with the
response “Well you can, with the Cinco Food Tube System” is used.
This acts as a reflection and a mockery of the unrealistic, overly
contrived dialogue often heard in these advertisements.
The
idea behind the Cinco Corporation is that it parodies the "typical
soulless corporation" through its crude, poorly produced and
bizarre adverts, aiming to sell useless, pointless and in most cases,
physically harmful products. 'They
say necessity is the mother of invention. What they neglect to
mention is that invention's dad is a moron and he sometimes pops by
the house with a new piece of shit idea that's so staggeringly awful
that he takes your silent awe as approval when in fact you're trying
to think of a new way to say “What the fuck?” that is at once
louder and more vulgar' (Fortley, I. 2012)
I
feel that in the case of Tim and Eric, it could be argued that the
medium is the message. 'More
often the humor concerns itself with the how ridiculous the products
on infomercials usually are, and how standardized, contrived, and
silly the infomercials' production techniques. The object of ridicule
is the medium, not the message.' (Fisher, C. 2011)
- Over reliance on technology
- Refer to iSee – Paul Blow
Fig
1.
Fig 2.
Fig 3.
Fig 4.
Fig 5.
Fig
1
Blow,
P. (2010) 'Scientist', [Editorial Illustration]. Available from
<http://www.paulblow.com/illustration/guardian/>
[Accessed
29 October 2014]
Fig
2
Steadman,
R. (n.d) 'Portrait of a Noodle Nut', [Art Print]. Available from
<http://www.gregorlouden.com/blog/artist-profile-ralph-steadman/>
[Accessed 29 October 2014]
Fig
3
Burton,
M. (n.d), 'Unknown', [Editorial Illustration]. Available from
<http://www.mikeyburton.com/#/real-simple-debt/>
[Accessed 29 October 2014]
Fig
4
Boligan,
A. (2011) 'Marketing', [Commercial Illustration]. Available from <
http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/2a0821c6-351c-4213-b868-e083eb9926ef.html>
[Accessed 29 October 2014]
Fig
5
Blow,
P. (2012) 'iSee', [Editorial Illustration]. Available from
<http://www.paulblow.com/news1/archive/2/>
[Accessed 29 October 2014]
Bibliography
Fisher,
C. (2011) '“I Don't Get It”: A Guide to Tim & Eric for
Mem-Mems and Pep-Peps', USA, Cathyafisher.com. Available from
<http://www.cathyafisher.com/writing/i-dont-get-it-a-guide-to-tim-eric-for-mem-mems-and-pep-peps>
[Accessed 29 October 2014]
Fortley,
I. (2012) 'The 5 Most Ridiculously Unnecessary Modern Inventions',
USA, Cracked.com. Available from
<http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-most-ridiculously-unnecessary-modern-inventions/>
[Accessed 29 October 2014]
Katona,
G. (1964) 'The Mass Consumption Society', University of Wisconsin,
McGraw-Hill
