Mr. Snake, Meet Mr. Shark
Apr. 13th, 2006 09:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I want somebody with a paid LJ account to set up a poll / betting pool: When will Snakes on a Plane and all related references cease to be funny? Because it still cracks me up (because there's all these snakes see... and they're on a plane) but I can feel it waning.
So what do you think? When do the snakes jump the shark?
This, on the other hand, will never stop being funny, ever.

(Via Chris' Invincible Super-Blog.)
Edit, redited to be less bitchy: It's been brought to my attention that, hard as it is to believe, some people never thought SoaP was funny. They are of course entitled to opinions. Part of the appeal of SoaP is (was?) the randomness of it: if it hits your brain at the right angle, it cracks you up, and if it doesn't, no amount of explaining it will make it funnier. But I did delete some comments along the lines of "it was never funny", because I thought they'd offer little help to those of us who do/did find it funny in analyzing the complex neurocultural chemistry of when it will cease to be so. That was probably rude, and I apologize, but come on: snakes! On a! And so forth!
*See also: "Yeah, baby! Do I make you horny?"
So what do you think? When do the snakes jump the shark?
- It happened the instant I posted this.
- The moment the SoaP phenomenon is mentioned on NPR.
- The moment the SoaP phenomenon is mentioned on the CBC. (Bonus points if Cameron Philips calls it "Snakes on Planes" or "The Snake Plane" or otherwise gets it wrong.)
- The day the movie comes out.
- About twelve minutes into the movie, opening night, after you've dropped $10 on a ticket and $5 on snax, and everyone cheers when the title comes up, but then the movie itself starts, and the realization sets in that this is a crap movie, it's always been a crap movie, made by the star of Sphere and the director of Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco and the writer of Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature, and yeah, it's gonna take a hell of a lot more than ironic amusement at the title to carry you through 86 more minutes.
- When I'm visiting my parents next Christmas, and my Dad says, "Hey, guys, check out this great Samuel Jackson movie I rented for us all to watch!"
- When I'm walking down the street wearing my SoaP t-shirt, feeling like an ironic hipster, and I run into a friend wearing his Vote for Pedro t-shirt, and we chat a little about our mortgages, and then I realize all these kids born in the 1990s are laughing at us, and I shake my fist and try to chase them but get winded after half a block, and also my son/daughter spits up all over me.
- Never! What is funny now will always be funny!! ALWAYS!!!*
This, on the other hand, will never stop being funny, ever.

(Via Chris' Invincible Super-Blog.)
Edit, redited to be less bitchy: It's been brought to my attention that, hard as it is to believe, some people never thought SoaP was funny. They are of course entitled to opinions. Part of the appeal of SoaP is (was?) the randomness of it: if it hits your brain at the right angle, it cracks you up, and if it doesn't, no amount of explaining it will make it funnier. But I did delete some comments along the lines of "it was never funny", because I thought they'd offer little help to those of us who do/did find it funny in analyzing the complex neurocultural chemistry of when it will cease to be so. That was probably rude, and I apologize, but come on: snakes! On a! And so forth!
*See also: "Yeah, baby! Do I make you horny?"
no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 02:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 04:52 pm (UTC)Now the flannel heavy and corporate alternacheese rock 90s? That will never see the light of day again. /sarcasm
no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 05:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 08:50 pm (UTC)I think R-nik is right on this one.
When I read this line: Never! What is funny now will always be funny!! ALWAYS!!!*, I planned on retelling my Bob & Doug anecdote... thanks for taking care of that one for me.
Oh, and my vote is for step 5: 10 minutes into the movie.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 08:58 pm (UTC)Uh ...
Dude, smoking pot so does not affect your long term .... uh ...
no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 02:39 pm (UTC)See, there's this plane. Also, snakes.
Date: 2006-04-13 02:30 pm (UTC)But that title/backstory is still gold.
Re: See, there's this plane. Also, snakes.
Date: 2006-04-13 02:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 02:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 02:31 pm (UTC)It'll lull for a while in the next couple of months, and then Promo Fever will hit. I'm just simultaneously glad and relieved I get to go to a popcorn movie and be loud and cheer... SAM JACKSON GRABBING A SNAKE AND HITTING ITS HEAD AGAINST A WALL.
I mean, come on.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 02:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 02:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 02:58 pm (UTC)Whether the movie is competently done funnay or not isn't really the point. The point is, everyone involved is brutally honest about what you're getting. I mean, it's Samuel L. Jackson saying "mu'fuckin" and carrying a gun. And snakes. And a plane. It's all about the expectations. (C'mon. How many times have you gone in expecting greatness and had it puke in your lap, or how many times have you been pleasantly surprised?)
Krusty IS coming!
Date: 2006-04-13 03:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 03:07 pm (UTC)I have nothing important to add to the debate otherwise, but I had to share that one. Yuan-Ti Vampire Spawn attack the first Earth-Moon Passenger Flight.
okay, sonny bono was pretty good
Date: 2006-04-13 03:12 pm (UTC)Zing!
no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 03:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 03:40 pm (UTC)Correcting your verb tense
Date: 2006-04-13 06:30 pm (UTC)I think you mean was mentioned on NPR (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5298003). Which wasn't even the first mention (http://www.npr.org/search.php?text=%22snakes+on+a+plane%22).
Re: Correcting your verb tense
Date: 2006-04-13 06:37 pm (UTC)A fan-produced dance remix of a Robert Siegel - All Things Considered interview?
Incredibly hilarious or incredibly lame? I can't even tell any more.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 06:43 pm (UTC)Conversely, if the New York Times published a big, long dudgeon-filled article about the death of creative imagination in Hollywood, and Pointed With Alarm to SoaP, *then* SoaP would still be funny. Funnier, even.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 06:53 pm (UTC)"New Study Shows Today is Mostly, but Not Entirely, Unchanged from Yesterday. Does This Trend Offer a Chilling Portrait of Tomorrow?"
no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 07:02 pm (UTC)