Why did 'Spaceballs' gain a following amongst younger people?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Spaceballs
ofrah1 — 12 years ago(November 10, 2013 06:38 PM)
One day, I was listening to the director's audio commentary for the film and in it, Mel Brooks mentioned that with the release of home video, the film eventually gained a following amongst KIDS because they saw it as "a space fairy tale." I found that remark interesting because in reality, the film contains swear words (including one instance of the "F-word") and some bawdy jokes.
What I want to ask is WHY did
Spaceballs
over the years gain a following amongst YOUNGER AND YOUNGER PEOPLE, even though the
content
makes it clear that the film was intended more for
teens and adults
?
Just to be clear, I am making an OBSERVATION, NOT a judgement; it's NOT like I'm saying, "Kids watching
Spaceballs
? Oh, you better believe that's a paddlin'."
(points if you know the TV show I am referencing). -
herbsuperb — 12 years ago(November 10, 2013 10:26 PM)
Huh. I was unaware of this. I remember watching this as a kid of perhaps 10. Loved it then, but love it even more now. I'm sure there were parts of it that I simply didn't understand. Perhaps I found them funny without even really knowing why. I can understand why kids would love this movie even if they don't understand some of the jokes, references, etc. That's one of the many reasons why it only got better as I grew up. I started to 'get it' more.
I've never watched any commentary on this one. I'll have to pop in the old DVD sometime and check it out. -
nielw — 12 years ago(March 15, 2014 10:48 AM)
I was born in 1980. I grew up on Star Wars. When this came out on video, I watched it all the time as a kid. I grew up on it, which is why I recently pulled it out and watched it again, for nostalgia's sake. Most of the bawdy humor went over my head Kids don't notice that stuff. I never even noticed the swear words until later in life. But yes, I loved this movie as a kid.
That's a paddlin': Jasper from the Simpsons.
Mirror inspector is a job I could really see myself doing. -
RCeditor — 12 years ago(January 22, 2014 07:28 PM)
willydoe, I shared this with my kids & they loved it also. My daughter even called one of her dolls Vespa.
THE RAP CRITIC:
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/teamt/rap-critic -
bond_98 — 12 years ago(December 11, 2013 10:51 PM)
I showed this to my cousins when they were 17 years old. They loved it. I think considering how big Star Wars is. It's easy for anyone to get that it's a parody of Star Wars. Mel Brook said that SpaceBalls and Robin Hood MIT was his two best selling movies.
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member-id — 12 years ago(January 21, 2014 06:19 AM)
Ok, Jasper:) I probably saw this when I was like 10 and loved it (was/am a huge star wars fan) and in middle school a group of my friends all loved it and would quote it all the time. Swearing(hearing, not saying) was never really a big taboo in the 90s with lots of kids movies using sh*t, so that was never a big deal. So I guess I always knew it was big with kids, cause I was one of them! Paddlin the school canoe, oh you better believe that's a paddlin!!!
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bsu_oak530 — 12 years ago(March 24, 2014 02:34 PM)
For me, like some have already mentioned, I was a huge Star Wars fan as a kid, I mean huge. I still am. Spaceballs was to me a humorous Star Wars when I was a kid. It had exciting action, despite it being comedy, and there were a lot of scenes that just made crack up. The ludicrous speed, the fast forwarding scene, the Yogurt scenes, I mean it all made me laugh. I didn't understand the sexual humor as a child, but as I grew up I found it hilarious. So I saw it as a kid, and because of my love for Star Wars, I loved this too.
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ckmsaxophone — 12 years ago(March 24, 2014 08:09 PM)
Some movies are just timeless in that way. It's like they get passed down from generation to generation, parents to kids. I can see why kids like it, even though it was originally marketed to teens and adults. It's a spoof of Star Wars. Star Wars has a mass amount of fans of all ages. Star Wars fans find out about Spaceballs and want to watch it. Spaceballs isn't seriouskids can easily watch it (and the adult humor most likely goes over their heads, the tamer stuff they can laugh at, too).
I guess that's my perspective. I remember watching this movie when I was 10 or 11 years old because my parents watched it. I thought it was hilarious. I also liked how it parodied Star Wars, because I loved watching Star Wars at that time.
"I must express myself." - Delia Deetz -
Not_just_another_Time_Lord — 11 years ago(April 07, 2014 02:38 PM)
I think a large part of it is the accessibility of the movie at the time it was released compared to his other films. Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein predated the home video market, and even the massive replaying of films on cable during the early 80's. His early 80's films, like History of the World (rated R) and To Be Or Not To Be (not R-rated but still a more adult movie as far as story and theme go)(and, yes, I know he didn't direct it but he produced and starred in it, so it's a Mel Brooks film), were repeated often on cable but generally not accessible to kids. Spaceballs was a PG movie with a very simple story and humor that was designed to be as broad as possible, and it was readily available both on home video and cable, so it makes perfect sense that kids would watch it over and over, and maybe then go looking for other movies that Mel had done.
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gheilers — 11 years ago(May 24, 2014 01:17 PM)
re: "Why did 'Spaceballs' gain a following amongst younger people?"
Because 95% of the (mis)attempts at humor in this film - were on the level of that created by the average eight-year-old boy. I have tried to watch this film over the years, on numerous occasions - yet have yet to encounter even one moment that is funny. -
Herreken — 11 years ago(June 14, 2014 07:14 PM)
"Space fairy tale". That's exactly why I got into the movie when I was a kid. I loved Star Wars. There were so many stupid scenes that a little kid would laugh at like Dark Helmet in Ludicrous Speed, Dark Helmet playing with his Space Balls action figures, the "I'm surrounded by *******" scene & the classic "We aint found ****" scene to name a few.
I still enjoy Star Wars & Space Balls. It is odd that Space Balls is PG yet an F Bomb is dropped near the end of the movie. I guess they didn't have PG-13 back then?
DISPLAY thy breasts, my Julia! -
Herreken — 11 years ago(September 07, 2014 09:15 AM)
I haven't seen Airplane yet.
I thought Blazing Saddles was boring. I didn't even get half-way through it. I'll give it another shot one of these days.
Robin Hood was funny but I'm not sure if I'd still like it these days. I haven't seen it since it came out when I was in my early teens.
DISPLAY thy breasts, my Julia! -
IMDB_Vits — 11 years ago(November 15, 2014 02:17 PM)
Most of
Mel
's previous movies parodied genres rather than specific movies. In general, it's much better to do the former because it allows one to make fun of movie rules and common clichs, while the latter consists mostly of recreating scenes and adding silly elements. That's why this one didn't get good reviews: It wasn't smart enough. On the other hand, the juvenile humour was perfect for younger people.
Also, this movie came out only a few years after RETURN OF THE JEDI, while the previous movies were about mostly old movies. That's actually one of the reasons why
Ebert
&
Siskel
didn't like it much: They said it was too soon.
Not to mention that STAR WARS, while not directly targeted towards kids, is something they can watch and enjoy. Will they enjoy
Hitchcock
's Thrillers, Westerns, silent films or a
black
&
white
horror movie? -
BigBadDolemite — 11 years ago(December 24, 2014 06:39 PM)
I grew up in the 90's and I was kid when I first saw this. I loved this movie when I was kid. Still love it today and I would also relate this very closely to Galaxy Quest as well. I watched both of those films before I ever watched Star Wars and after watching very little of Star Trek. Spaceballs was like my first introduction to Sci-fi. And being a kid at the time I didn't know they were parodies, hell I didn't even know what a parody was. So I looked at it as a silly adventure comedy with spaceships, perfect for kids like me at the time.
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nightwishouge — 11 years ago(March 13, 2015 09:25 AM)
My parents watched this with me when I was pretty young, probably 5 or 6. The only movie I had seen at that point that Spaceballs parodied was Planet of the Apes (and some Star Trek by way of The Next Generation, which I used to watch with my dad). I must have been aware of Star Wars, though I didn't see the movies in full until the re-release 3 or 4 years later. My sister and I both laughed uproariously despite not knowing a good deal of the references. And all the dirtier humor went completely over our heads.
I think it mostly has to do with the tone of the film. It's very silly and lightheartedeven the villains are pretty lovable. Spaceballs is very cartoonish (right down to the Michigan J. Frog/Alien gag) so it's pretty familiar territory for kids who love Bugs Bunny. This is different from, say, Airplane (which I love now but didn't fully appreciate until I was an adult) which is also quite silly but very dry.