superbad is comically based on their real life! and them as youth!

Right. But just a generation ago we had characters like Luke Skywalker, Marty McFly or Daniel 'Karate Kid' Laruso, who started off as outcast boys and DID bust their asses to become men. Realising that outer growth comes from within, that through hard work and dedication anyone no matter how (small/weak/afraid) can overcome his inner flaws and take control of and shape his own external reality.

Those movies weren't about 'reality' literally. They weren't about anyone doing a 9-5 slog. But what they had to say about coming-of-age and growing up and adapting to meet life's challenges was TRUE.

I can't say the same for Superbad.

Right sure. I get that Phil. But the way anyone chooses to represent a comical story about their OWN youth will tell others alot about how that person feels about it, how they have have processed and dealt with the events from that period in their lives and the extent to which they have (or haven't) developed any self awareness and insight since that time.

Someone who's NOT a bedwetter anymore isn't gonna a write a story about a bedwetter like Fogel scoring a bunch of highly improbable lucky breaks that ends with him getting laid...Maybe if it's funny or commerical no one cares if it's also bullshit. But I find myself wondering how many young blokes today buy this bullshit (from movies/tv) and go on to become very unhappy and unfullfilled men as a result?

It might all seem like jokey nonsense but there is more real and serious subtext to all this...

Wait, You think working out, wearing clothes that fit you and generally striving for excellence in your life is about 'conforming'? Oh dear oh dear.

And you keep a file of men?

have u ever thought its just how they perceive funny.

For instance, im pretty sure the level of awkwardness i see in ricky gervais comedy does not reflect his personality.

infact he is uber confident & arrogant.

i think ur over thinking things. sometimes its funnier to go with once scenario than another. Had superbad been about a gang of cool kids who have girls chasing them coz they understand the dynamics of social etiquette...

it woulda been on the disney channel for 14 year old girls.

but adults understand the awkward nature of youth & boy girl relationships, this is who its aimed at, adults...

its that simple

also further more, in order to understand the comical element of the characters, they would also need to be able to see the funny side of it.

ergo, they must not be this socially retarded to be able to make fun of it.

someone who acted like that, would not find it as funny... but just normal life.

I get that that's the case to an extent. And yes I am obviously over thinking it (it's kinda part of the day job so I can't always help it). And also with comedy 'funny' trumps everything else.

The Office (as a show) wasn't on David Brent's side. Brent (the character) doesn't think/realise he's a massive twat but Gervais and Merchant clearly do.


But there is a middle ground between being a loser and becoming a winner. And that by definition is the ground that all REAL coming-of-age movies chart the journey through...Fogel is a loser that STAYS a loser and just 'wins' anyway...


Adults that have grown past boyish awkwardness don't look back on that period and wonder why the world didn't conspire to reward their boyish lameness with more pussy...much less write a nostaglic 'coming of age' teen comedy in which (in the world of make believe that they control) it does.

Look at it like this...

Social Network is about a passive aggressive socially awkward loser that makes billions of pounds and changes the world...but it doesn't celebrate his way of relating to it at all.

Have you ever stopped to think that by accepting the social hierarchy that’s imposed on him by his environement and hoplessly lusting after the same girls that everyone around him considers to be close to the top of it, Fogel is already...’conforming’.

He wants to fuck the same girl the quarterback does for the same reasons the quarterback does. He just sucks at actually going out and getting the job done. So not only is he 'a conformist' but he’s also a shit one.

The worst kind.

well, that's the main difference with today. Because of advertising and movies, today the average male is so fucked in the head that he doesn't even understand what he's supposed to be anymore.

Today's movies teach us that the dorky guy CAN and WILL get the hot girl against all odds, and advertising has us short-circuited into buying everything in sight hoping that it will attract women, which it doesn't. There's reasons that PUA techniques had to come around within the last 20 years; society as a whole is fucked in head. Marketing and media has our heads stuck up our asses, something that previous generations didn't have to deal with on nearly this level. And it's only going to get worse I'm afraid.

Before all of 'this' happened you did have great 'coming of age' stories being told in the 2nd half of the 20th century, but if you take an even farther step back those stories were even stronger and more masculine, and even stronger before that, and I think that the 'masculinity loss' is caused by the medium and the abundance of stories that we have today. Every generation seems to water down the stories that they grew up on in an attempt to 'remix' and make a profit.

Second this with other views in society that clash with classic male maturity, such as geeks/nerds making huge amounts of cash from the tech boom and subsequently being 'accepted' or even 'glorified' in society rather than being traditional shunned, feminist movements pushing for gender neutrality and equality (but not fairness), and androgyny showing up more and more in fashion, I think men (and women) today are more fucked in the head than ever and confused with what they need to be or what they want. And film reflects that.

But it's not all bad. When a guy can learn to be masculine and not a douchebag, suddenly he's capable of filling a void that women want but don't understand that they want until it walks right up to them... making picking up women today easier than probably ever; If you're capable of reflecting those traits. That's where pickup comes in

You should listen to the first disk of Bad Boy's 'Badboy Lifestyle' audio cd's. He discusses a bit more there.

actually, lusting after girls other people want isnt conforming, attraction is natural law. most people fancy these girls coz they are attractive.

he is lusting after attractive women. dont be so naive that u can control attraction.

it also clearly indicates with the girl he fucks, he sees her alone in a corridor...and follows her.

he likes her coz he just does. They also clearly show fogals understanding of social dynamics when he asks them(the police) to drag him outside. However he doesnt come in the next day in hollister clothes and contact lenses.

fogal is known world wide for bein cool as fuck in his current form. there are all kinds of cool

he is one