Cheesiness

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

Is it just me, or has "cheesiness" sort of left our culture in terms of movies and television? It seems that for whatever reason, the 1950s-early 1970s were the height of the cheesy era of television and movies. And it isn't because those shows or movies are dated, but because they were meant to be purposely be comic book-esque and cheesy. Consider for example all of the early Loony Toons in all their over the top, crazy insanity, or the 1966 Batman series, or the '60s Adams Family; the Connery and Roger Moore era of James Bond. It seems in many aspects of film and television that there was a sort of light heartedness--a want for escape from reality, and so such movies were spectacles of cartoonish cheese.

This trend continued, in a more sophisticated fashion, into the '80s and '90s. Shows like Magnum PI and others were campy and cheesy in their own purposeful way, as were movies like the Goonies and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and you had Tim Burton bringing a lot of cheesiness and campiness back into the culture with his films, and his version of Batman. Similarly, Pierce Brosnan's Bond was simply a more sophisticated mixture of Connery and Moore's.

Today, all films--even comedies--are played much more seriously, and 'serious' films are placed very realistically, gritty and dark. Compare, for example the 1966 or even 1989 Batman to today's; Compare the James Bond of the 60s and 70s with Daniel Craig's; Compare a show like Colombo with one like CSI. There seems to be this overwhelming want for utterly realistic visual media, and I've never understoo it--I always thought television and movies made for a nice escape from reality.

[snabbott]

Interesting question. I think there are different kinds of cheesy. A lot of it is bad acting (in which case, you could say CSI: Miami is cheesy). Also, as technology has advanced, audiences have come to expect more realism in TV and movies. I'm not saying that's entirely a good thing. A lot of movies are pretty much nothing but special effects.

[wilco64256]

Ever seen Arrested Development?

[Lambonius]

I think there are still certain modern shows that capture some of the cheesiness of yesteryear, while blending them with a slightly more serious, heartstring tugging approach.  Not ALL movies from the 80s are cheesy either.  I think it really was a part of culture of certain time periods.  Like 60s mod culture or early 90s grunge.

The show Scrubs comes to mind as a recent show that did cheesy very well, but blended it with some more serious issues and themes.

[crayauchtin]

What you have to remember is that things become cheesy over time by being overdone and habitually poorly done. Some things, of course, are intentionally cheesy. The era you're referring to wasn't considered all that cheesy at the time, but as the things became overdone and as we've seen the quality of these things improve, we can look back and call it cheesy.

And some day, someone in the future is going to post on a forum and say "Anyone miss how cheesy things were in the early 2000s?"

Yes, sometimes things are done cheesily on purpose, but I don't think you can accurately call anything the "cheesy era".

[Damar]

I was about to just post the same thing.  Cheesy is seen in hindsight.  Yeah, shows like Batman are incredibly campy and it's easy to define it as the "campy comic book" genre.  But in reality it was geared towards kids.  Star Trek the Original Series got pretty cheesy in third season (and a bit before) but that's just because Star Trek is a franchise now.  If it didn't become that, it would be seen like Lost in Space, as a bad t.v. show that got increasingly silly as their budget was cut.  And the list goes on with so called "cheesy" movies.  Odds are, the movies weren't meant to be cheesy.  They were just really bad, but they have a nostalgic value, so people are able to forgive and relabel the bad as cheesy.  The Goonies was mentioned and is a perfect example.  I might get murdered for saying this, but The Goonies is a horrible movie.  It sucks on ice.  It's stupid, the dialogue is banal, it makes no sense on any level, it's not funny, it's perverted with all it's obvious dirty jokes, and it's racist towards Asians (poor Short Round).  It's also a nostalgic movie about kids going on an adventure that kids in the 80's would watch.  And now that those kids are grown up, they remember it fondly so all the massive suckage that the Goonies is responsible for is relabeld as "cheesy."

But it's not.  It just sucks.  Then again, I never saw the Goonies as a kid, so I guess I'm immune to the nostalgia factor.

Cheesy is named after the fact and Cray is right that in the future people will look at stuff from today (like reality t.v.) and go on about how cheesy it is.  It's all in the eye of the beholder and in the passage of time.  And when people try to be cheesy purposefully they usually fail.  Take Trey Parker and Matt Stone, for example.  Their movies, and some episodes of South Park sometimes fall short of satire and simply become regurgitations of cheesy movie cliches (like all the subplots in Team America - the tough guy doesn't like the hero, the hero has a secret, and so on).  And across the board this purposeful cheesiness falls flat because in the end, even though they're making fun of the cliches the joke is still on them because they're revolving their  movie around the same cliches.  So really, what's the point?  What makes it any different then the crap movies they think they're laughing at?  You don't really create cheesy.  It's declared cheesy after the fact.

[Arkillian]

Wow- noone has mentioned ANY 1980s movies or cartoons? I don't think that the 1980s took anything serious.

Honestly though- humour doesn't go out of fashion. Just cause the humour is the way that the story is done as well as in it doesn't give it another classification. It just makes it visually obvious.

Specifically though, it's American stuff that is like this. Humour all around the world is very different. I find American humour is very cheesy. English humour seems to be in word and sentence play, and Kiwi humour is well... I'm a Kiwi so I guess I can't classify it, but Japanese humour seems to be more shock value. I haven't watch much Bollywood, but Indian movies seem to get their humour out of surprising another too. I can't think of any other country that does cheesy movies than America though. I could be wrong though.

[Blackthorne]

See, Arkillian, that's the rub - they DID take things seriously, especially in 80's cartoons.  You remember how GI Joe had a lesson at the end of every episode?  "Knowing is half the battle!"  They were seriously trying to reach kids - we can only look back NOW and see the "cheesiness". 

Almost all the 80's cartoons were geared that way - or they had an "extra special episode"....


Bt

[wilco64256]

I'm surprised Walker: Texas Ranger hasn't been brought up in this thread yet...

[Blackthorne]

I'm surprised Walker: Texas Ranger hasn't been brought up in this thread yet...

I would have brought it up, but if you invoke Chuck Norris, you better be ready to BRING THE PAIN!


Bt

[Morwen]

I have seen Arrested Development...that show is incredibly cheesy but still hilarious.  There were shows in the 90s too that were incredibly cheesy...Hercules and Xena lol (I loved those shows but they really were terrible). If thats not cheesy then I don't know what is. Terminator 2 was also an incredibly cheesy movie but still good at the same time. But a lot of it is just going back and watching a movie/show from a certain era and just seeing how outdated the special effects are and I agree that if the acting is horrible that just adds to it lol.

[crayauchtin]

I have to leave this thread. I don't think Blackthorne and I have ever agreed on anything before, and frankly, I'm a little uncomfortable.

But Hercules and Xena weren't incredibly cheesy at the time! In fact, Xena is a major television influence because she and Buffy were really the first two (only at the time) strong female characters that carried a dramatic tv series (not a pure comedy, I mean) by themselves. Without those shows you would never have had Charmed (speaking of cheesy ) or the Terminator series I can't remember the name of that was supposed to be really good. Or some other shows, I'm sure.

[Morwen]

Thats true. I just remember even back in the day though some of the lines they had were really cheesy lol. I have never seen Charmed though...is it really that bad?

[LadyTerra]

Charmed would've been a lot more interesting if it didn't focus on the sex lives of the characters.  There was a lot of potential for great stories, which really ticks me off about that show.

As for Xena, I grew up with that show, but I think it has some of the cheesiest episodes:

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/teamt/ol/manic/27428-married-with-fishsticks

[Blackthorne]

I have to leave this thread. I don't think Blackthorne and I have ever agreed on anything before, and frankly, I'm a little uncomfortable.

It's okay, Cray - c'mon over and step into the dark side with old Blackthorne!

I'm a huge fan of Arrested Development, though I would never in a thousand years describe the show as "cheesy".  It's pretty obvious satire - it plays with conventions of sitcoms, and it gets over-the-top - but it's not "cheesy".  I think "cheesy" tends to come from something that portends to be serious, but is obviously not.   Arrested Development started out with it's tongue firmly planted in cheek from the first moment.


Bt

[Morwen]

yeah Arrested Development is more like a ridiculous soap opera than anything else lol. I am currently watching Season 2 right now on Netflix and it just gets more and more outrageous....

[KatieHal]

"I've made a huge mistake."  

LOVE Arrested Development. I wouldn't call cheesy so much as, yes, tongue-in-cheek and satirical. Perhaps even farcical. Fantastic show.

Ah the days when Michael Cera was cute and not awkward looking and we didn't yet realize that was the only character he could play....  

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

Charmed would've been a lot more interesting if it didn't focus on the sex lives of the characters.  There was a lot of potential for great stories, which really ticks me off about that show.

As for Xena, I grew up with that show, but I think it has some of the cheesiest episodes:

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/teamt/ol/manic/27428-married-with-fishsticks

Personally, I loved Charmed. Yes, at times they mentioned some of the sisters' love affairs, but it wasn't like it was Sex & the City with witches or anything. It had a nice spirit that show. It actually used to be one of my favorites.

[Buddy1991]

First of all - after I have read all of your posts I am kinda unsure how to understand "cheesy". So, "cheesy" can also be a kind of humor?

Aaaanyway, just for records, I've read some of the examples, and  I do agree with the ones I know (I mean Charmed was THE CHEESE, not just cheesy... lol, bad joke.)
However, I am very shocked that the MOST IMPORTANT example hasn't shown up. Probably because the books are way cheesier than the movies and the author started this thread about the shows and movies ... - but the whole story itself is just cheesy as hell.
Twilight? Ring a bell? I think that is just the perfect example that "cheesiness" is still very popular. People seem to like cheesiness.

[KatieHal]

Oh boy. A debate involving Twilight! *cracks knuckles, stretches*

Twilight is just bad. It *does* take itself too seriously, and is sometimes unintentionally comedic as a result, but it's not cheesy overall--it's melodramatic and emo. Cheesiness....I don't know, it is a bit difficult to define, but I wouldn't include Twilight as an example of it.