Mad Magazine mind rot.
WARNING: This post includes discussion of political figures, which I will try to keep nonpartisan, but those of you who know me realize this will not work. Two references to Mad Magazine I found recently.
First, we have the linked article, in which Republicans took aim at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday for comparing President Bush to Mad magazine's freckle-faced, "What, me worry?" kid, Alfred E. Neuman.
I find three things funny about this article. USAToday could have provided an image of Clinton or Bush, but instead decided to include a classy picture of Neuman in all his gap-toothed glory. Also, the Republicans clearly responded (check again if you doubt me) with, "She shouldn't say such things," instead of saying, "That's not true." Which means, according to a certain sort of reasoning, that they agree with her. And lastly, nobody mentioned how much Bush actually looks like Neuman. Okay, that was a cheap shot, and I enjoyed it.
Mad reference number two is from that musician named Beck who has a new video you can find on this page under "GIRL Video." (I don't care much for Beck, but he is creative, and this track is interestingly normal, but I digress.) It's obviously inspired by the old Mad Fold-Ins that graced the inside back cover of the magazine every month. Where else could they have gotten this idea?
Along with the recent Spy vs. Spy soft drink ads, this is proof that Mad really did rot the minds of a generation and those minds (including mine) never fully recovered.
3 comments:
That is a great little video, regardless of my old fashioned ideas that a video usually has something to do with the song's subject matter.
One of my fondest memories of childhood was that *every* xmas (till I was about 25 ;) I would get a MAD MAGAZINE tucked into my stocking. Loved it -- especially scourting the magazine after it's first reading for the little border-cartoons.
My most memorable MAD mag quote that I have used a few times myself now as the years add up, is in a James Bond movie-parody where the girl and (Roger Moore) Bond are entering a building:
Girl: "Age before beauty"
Bond: "Don't confuse me, I've got both".
I'm another one of those from the generation whose minds were rotted by MAD. I think my favorites were the TV series parodies, especially Star Trek and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
I don't know how they operate today, but back then one of the best things about a MAD subscription was that they didn't hound you to renew. Your last issue would have a postcard tucked inside reminding you to renew. That was it -- no "Renew early and SAVE!" notices two months after you had renewed, no increasingly frantic countdown to your last issue, no attempt to lure you back if you let it lapse. How refreshing.
It's funny how sometimes I am reluctant to post for fear it's something I remember fondly that you guys won't. And then I get lovely anecdotes about said something.
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