What Exactly Is "Campy"

[Timewalker]

Campy stuff usually includes lots of physical comedy. Think "I Love Lucy," "Three's Company," "Mork & Mindy" and other pre-80s sitcoms.

Some of TOS could be described as "camp" -- ie. the comedies, or the ones with the incredibly stupid Evil Alien Of The Week.

TNG was never camp. It was never funny enough.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Campy stuff usually includes lots of physical comedy. Think "I Love Lucy," "Three's Company," "Mork & Mindy" and other pre-80s sitcoms.

That's not camp, that's just comedy.

 

[TGTheodore]

Campy stuff usually includes lots of physical comedy. Think "I Love Lucy," "Three's Company," "Mork & Mindy" and other pre-80s sitcoms.

That's not camp, that's just comedy.

Agreed. Camp is a specific style of acting and directing, as well as content.

--Ted

 

[Timewalker]

Well, excuuuuuse me -- and every other person who considers them "campy."

 

[C.E. Evans]

To me, campy is anything that doesn't take itself very seriously or has elements that aren't to be taken too seriously because they tend to be outrageous and so far outside everday life. In that capacity, it can be interpreted in different ways and can be used to describe a wide range of productions from the B-movies of the 50s and 60s, to certain aspects of all science-fiction/fantasy shows, to even certain types of characters (like Elvira, Mistress of the Dark as a prime example)...

 

[RJDiogenes]

And Shakespeare.

 

[Chaos Descending]

Well, excuuuuuse me -- and every other person who considers them "campy."

Both of you?

 

[Rincewiend]

The Carry On movies...
Are You Being Served...
Mike Flowers Pops...
The Batman tv-show...

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Futurama episode with the rings on the clothing. And Amy says they are cool because they are stupid. And Fry thinks they are actually cool, which isn't socially acceptable, unless he thinks they are cool because they are stupid.

That's how the snots define camp, I suppose. Finding an acceptable reason to like something that's beneath them.

 

[ITL]

Campy or kitsch? You decide....