Forklift Training Video

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

see, I agree. Case in point, there's a Monty Python sketch where there's a bunch of rich people hanging around, and then the random violence starts. It's all senseless: A guy gets a tennis ball imbeded in this skull, and blood flows; another guy is impaled through the stomach by a piano keyboard (not an electric keyboard, just the keyboard off a regular piano, like all the keys were glued together or something); a third loses his hands when the same piano closes on them. It's all way beyond the scale of anything that could really happen, but blood flows and actually shoots out everywhere. Very gory. But it's just funny. Didn't bother me at all.

And, remember, this was a TV show.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

I'm sorry it offended you Ookla. It was disturbing to me, but I also thought it was funny.  I'm not an "Evil Dead" kind of person either, but it was meant in a funny over-the-top way so I don't see what's so morally degrading about it, I'm sorry.  Is it in bad taste?  Sure.

Morally degrading? I'm not saying that. However, I did find it spiritually damaging, though thankfully I didn't think about it any the last couple days. Hopefully I will forget about it entirely. Maybe I should avoid this forum for a few weeks until the thread drops off the page so I am not reminded.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Im surprised you found it spiritually damaging. Especially since I think the movie was very effective at actually preventing that kind of violence from actually happening.

[fuzzyoctopus]

Well, yes, but what is spiritually degrading to one person is not necessarily to another.  I've had to ask my husband to never play certain CDs when I'm around, for example.

[42]

I think it is admirable that Ookla can recognize that that particular short film was spiritually damaging to him.
Many people I know are not self-aware enough to recognize how media is effecting them unless it is something really extreme to them.

[House of Mustard]

I actually have to side with Ookla here, and I admire his stand.  I watched this last week when it was first posted, and thought it was far too gory, and that the gore ruined any humor that may have existed.

Of course, I realize that not everyone agrees with me, and that's fine.  I've never liked so-called "dark humor" or comedic violence.  Watching this really made me pretty sick.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

what stand? its not like anyones trying to force him to change his mind.
As for this making you a little sick, you should remember that this is an actual safety awareness video.  And if it makes you sick, then it did its job. The idea was to make something so graphic that the operator wasnt going to forget what could happen if he messes up. Its not massively different than say a red cross training film where blood or an amputation is shown to be instructive. Its just that rather than being severe and boring the director and writers thought that a little humor might make it memorable and easier to take. I dont know about the second, but it is memorable and I'll sure as heck remember it when Im driving my forklift around.

[House of Mustard]

Saying that the gore helps this as a training video is absurd.  I work in a lumber yard, and, being on the safety commitee, I have seen many, many forklift training videos.  Training can be very effective without resorting to "comedic violence".  Seven years ago, one of our operations guys was injured in a forklift accident, which has left him crippled and brain-damaged.  I can only imagine the response his co-workers would give if we showed this training video.  I don't think they'd be laughing.

(As far as calling it a stand, I think I just chose the wrong word.  I understand that no one is ridiculing him for his position.  I was just impressed by his honesty.)

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Its not absurd in the least, its a very effective tool. Humor is much more likely to stick in someones mind than a dull fact.

[MoreDew]

hear, hear.  I agree that by making the training video comedic in the way by showing the gore, it is a lot more memorable.  I had a great laugh at the video, and I now know what not to do if I ever drive a forklift.  I think the comedic approach is very effective because most people are more able to remember something if it was funny rather than dull and boring.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

But...it wasn't funny.

You don't have to make something incredibly gory if humor is what you have in mind. I haven't seen any other forklift training videos, but I don't doubt that it's possible to make an entertaining and memorable one without resorting to violence.

Now, when I took driver's ED in high school, there was one movie we watched, about not driving drunk, that worked up to a single scene where the driver's forehead crashed through the windshield with just enough blood flashing onscreen for a fraction of a second that it was clear this was something very nasty and bad. I thought it was effective. But it was not disrespectful or lampooning. It didn't overload things and shove a huge amount of desensitizing violence into your face. That is a problem with this forklift training video (and I find its status as a training video to be dubious and in extreme poor taste): there's so much gore in it that it can have a desensitizing effect. Maybe some of you will now know exactly what to do with a forklift, but others will just say "that's a funny mooovie, har har har"...and it definitely won't have a training effect on those of us completely grossed out and unamused.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

erm... I think what you mean is " but I didnt find it funny"
I think the fact that plenty of people found it funny just on this board points to a fact that a large group of people do find it funny.  
I also dont understand how you can claim that this video was spiritually damaging while the violence in the Ballad comic (http://www.timewastersguide.com/boards/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=webcomics;action=display;num=1102959715) wasnt. Which is what I get when I read this post...

NFO?

Actually I read the whole thing. I like a lot of it. The use of panel transitions is very good. Overall it's bizarre, not something I think I would check with any regularity, but it might be interesting to see it again in half a year when there are a good chunk of new things to see.

After all the Ballad comic has someone graphically splitting someones skull open with a set of butcher knives while the person being cut upon is saying "it hurts"

[JP Dogberry]

Ok, that's enough, children. Ookla is offended by some things and not by others. Others are not offended by some of the same things and are by others.