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The dark side of parody
A hot new “children’s” book by Adam Mansbach, Go the [expletive] to Sleep, is a parody of writer Eric Metaxas and artist Nancy Tillman’s book, It’s Time to Sleep My Love, but Metaxas, who understands the comedic nature of parody and who has written parody of his own, is uncomfortable with the tribute.
“My book explores the sweet, innocent side of bedtime,” Metaxas said, pointing out that the parody focuses on “the dark, funny side of the process.” He added, “It makes me uncomfortable that a number one bestseller would have the f-word in it. It makes me wonder where we’re going as a culture.”
So far, Mansbach’s book has sold more than 400,000 copies, and Fox recently purchased the movie rights. The publisher’s press release declares that its parody of Tillman and Metaxas’ book is proof that It’s Time to Sleep My Love has “reached iconic status.”
“I don’t have problems with making fun of it,” Metaxas said, but the obscene language troubles him. “It mitigates the joy of the parody for me.”
back to top19 Comments to “The dark side of parody”
Do the book covers resemble ea other?
Are they displayed near ea other?
As far as I know you cannot copywright a book or song title.
Consult NJL on this one
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Weird Al gets permission from the artist before doing parodies of songs.. I’m not sure if that is for legal reasons or just respect reasons..
but still.. don’t make a children s book with the F word.
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It’s not a children’s book. It’s a parody of children’s books for adults. It reflects what adults feel when their toddlers just will not go to sleep and give the parents some much-needed time to de-stress.
I predict a long thread of outraged comments by people who don’t get that or do get it but still want to be outraged.
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If it’s not toward children that I don’t care -no outrage here-
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I found a video on YouTube where “Go the **** to Sleep” is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. It was entertaining for about 3 minutes, but it’s 6 minutes long. I also “don’t have a problem with it” but don’t know why anyone would spend hot money on it!
Now if you want a truly AMAZING parody of a children’s bedtime book click here. This is one I actually have read to my kids!
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Audible.com is offering the Samuel L. Jackson audioboook free. Or they were as of yesterday anyway. I don’t need it … it’s funny once or twice and then gets old … but free is free.
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I haven’t read or seen either book before but am currently enjoying Mr. Metaxa’s “Bonhoeffer”. He is an excellent writer.
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I thought it sounded hilarious and I am seriously tempted to buy it for my son whose first child is four months old. Sure, the f-word is naughty but we hear it all the time and it doesn’t offend me anywhere near as much as using the Lord’s name in vain. We can lighten up over this; we don’t need to look for offenses under every bush.
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Funny, Redwal, but I imagine you need to be a Dune fan to appreciate all the irony.
At the literary agency where I work, we won’t touch a project that has anything scatalogical or vulgar in the title. We figure that sort of an author wouldn’t fit well in our stable, even if they sell 400K books.
I think Metaxas (the same guy who wrote Bonhoeffer?) says it best–I don’t mind the parody, it’s the vulgarity.
Frankly, kids hear enough vulgarity already and if you think some idiot parent isn’t going to read this book to their kids–well, you don’t know enough idiot parents.
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I’m also enjoying Metaxa’s Bonhoeffer as well as a delightful bookstore speech and interview with him in C-SPAN’s video archives. Delightful sense of humor. And he didn’t need to be crude to be funny there.
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Listened to the SLJ narration. It was funny for the first few pages and then it did get old. But it didn’t stop me from sending the link onto a few friends. Been there a few times…
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They say that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Some would argue that “vulgarity, also, is in the eye of the beholder.” I think that some things are inherently either beautiful or vulgar. Vulgarity may in some few instances be used to make a special point. But in the vast majority of situations vulgarity is simply crude, lazy, care-less communication, often used as a substitute for a slap in the face.
As far as being “outraged” by vulgarity; outrage is as effective as toilet paper in a pig pen. Much better to ignore it and simply be examples of courteous, thoughtful, self-controlled, communication.
By the way, we slap each other pretty well here without using the playground words some never mature out of.
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Buzzy’s inner couplet elf says:
A quirky bedtime story
The f-word in the text
The author’s in his glory
What will they think of next?
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So far, Mansbach’s book has sold more than 400,000 copies, and Fox recently purchased the movie rights
Fox takes the HUGE profits it makes from Fox News and turns around and uses it to buy the rights to stuff like this, the American Pie movies, and all kinds of other stuff Christians and conservatives regularly denounce as “poison”, “filth”, “corrosive content”, “ant-Christian”, “anti-family”, “garbage”, etc.
And it never seems to dawn on Christians and conservatives that they ‘re the ones funding this stuff by watching Fox News.
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The English language is a dynamic language, always changing, with new words regularly being added and other words disappearing with every edition of our dictionaries. Old words are given new life with different and sometimes contradictory meanings. “Wicked” means “excellent,” “bad” means “good,” “hot” means “impressive.” One word among many, however, a word whose origin is uncertain, is the f-word, used today in practically every part of speech, in nearly every spoken language, and never in a complimentary fashion. (There are interesting urban legends about its origin, one being an acronym from England in the 1800s and used to charge prostitutes: For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.)
Writers of detective-murder-mystery novels today, both male and female, freely use every blasphemous, obscenity available to them, but it was not always so. Even John Grisham, whose early lawyer-courtroom novels were entertaining and could be read aloud in mixed company, now scours the gutter for his stories. On playgrounds today it is not unlikely that you will hear the f-word tossed about among children. And there is playing on Broadway right now a show entitled “The Motherfu**er in the Hat.” (The asterisks are actually a part of the title. Even in New York they’re not quite sufficiently bold or brazen enough to spell out this despicable word on the marquee.)
I object! There may be among the saved and the unsaved a predilection to use a word to express anger, frustration, hurt, or disappointment, but when the f-word becomes as passé as “drat” or “shoot,” what is left for us? What is the next startling attention getting word at our disposal? Perhaps the offensive word will simply pass into oblivion to be replaced with another, maybe borrowed from another language.
And so it bothers me to hear that this particular vulgarity is losing its shock appeal because it is commonplace and now rather acceptable because everybody uses it. As Christians we should not allow ourselves to be guided or misguided by the world. Let us, please, retain those critical qualities that, without pride, set us apart from the world.
Ken Bland
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#14 – you’re right. We should all restrict ourselves to the left-wing propaganda on all the other channels.
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Sawgunner, you’re correct that one cannot copyright a book title.
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14. Fox is the worst lol. I can’t get myself to watch it.
That is kind of funny though.
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Europe can’t get enough of the F word. My son told me last night there is a Christian band in the UK that has the word in the title of one of it’s songs. Something like “I F’d up again.” I would like to watch more of the “artsy” movies from across the pond but they are so filled with the F word that it turns my stomach. And I guess I have that reaction because it reminds me every time that something beautiful and sacred has become an object of derision.
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