Cheap Laughs

By all accounts the economy is in better shape than it has been in years. I have no idea why this is happening, but that is par for the course considering I couldn't really tell you why it all went to hell in the first place. Even though the economy is starting to slowly rebound from the recession, people who know nothing about business will be able to tell you that some businesses are just not coming back. However, that has less to do with Washington and more to do with the fact they simply backed the wrong horse. Technology is a fast-moving industry and if you can't invest to keep up with the changing landscape you aren't going to be around long enough to sell the next hit item. As an example, I don't care how rosy the stock market looks, no amount of Wall Street trading is going to get the local Blockbuster video to re-open its doors. Some ships have simply sailed. But you knew all that already. Instead we should focus on the positives. What I am just recently starting to notice is that there is one industry which has survived even though I don't see how - the ironic gift industry.

Allow me to explain why this is in my head. The other day I was in Newbury Comics, a store full of joke gifts, ranging from the clean to the obscene, ones that will only elicit a chuckle to ones which could get a full-on belly laugh if given to the right person. As I was going through the cheap DVD bin (one of my favorite activities), I saw a copy of "Free Willy" for sale. This wasn't just any copy though. This was a special edition, 10-year anniversary copy of "Free Willy." Oh, and it was the French 10-year anniversary special edition. I don't know why, but this amused the hell out of me. Maybe because it was used, which means there was a person out there who at one time thought this was an important movie to have in their collection. Or maybe because when I think of movies that require special editions, "Free Willy" isn't in my top 50 choices. Or maybe it's because I'm a dork and think English movies in foreign languages are damn funny, especially when they change the name - in this case it was "My Friend Willy". Either way I thought this moment needed to be captured for posterity so I snapped a quick picture on my phone and Tweeted it out to the world. End of story. Do you see the problem here?

A few years ago if I wanted to show people that funny movie I would have had to buy it. Now I can take a picture and have it on my phone to show people whenever I wanted, not just hope they somehow notice it on my movie shelf (unlikely given how many movies I own). This is how it is for all gag gifts now - you no longer have to buy the joke to show it to people. This is probably good news for us, considering most gifts bought as a joke are only funny for a few seconds and then you are left with trying to figure out where to put this thing in your house (as you can imagine, many gifts which fall into this category are not suitable for display) or if you even want to keep it. (It could also be good news for the joke-makers since free humor is always funnier... so, ironically, the jokes are funnier but still not funny enough to be purchased.) For all I know the reason it was in this particular clearance rack was someone bought it as an ironic gift a few years ago and they finally got around to selling it. Or they bought it a week ago and the person immediately asked for the receipt, because what they hell are they supposed to do with a copy of "Free Willy" in French? Then you feel bad for wasting the other person's money and as we know, guilt will pretty much kill a joke where it stands.

I don't want this to sound like I am against joke gifts - far from it actually. There is actually nothing better than a well-done ironic gift. So, who the camera phone has really hurt are the people that make crappy gag gifts because now people won't think they are funny enough to actually purchase. I always say that before I buy something I ask myself if I like it enough to pay the price they are asking. For example - I like the new Jordans. I don't like them to the tune of $150. Well, this means weighing how funny something could be against the cost. Turns out putting a price on humor is pretty easy, which was the problem with the French "Free Willy" - it was funny in the moment and it was funny to me, but there were no guarantees anyone else would even so much as chuckle. If the joke flopped it would mean I owned a copy of "Free Willy", a movie I didn't really like, in French, which is a language I don't speak or understand and thus would never watch, for absolutely no reason. The DVD would be doing nothing but taking up valuable shelf space. Thus, it didn't seem worth it, even at $3.99. I'm not saying stores need to start asking people to stop taking pictures of the merchandise, because there are still legitimate reasons to do so. But perhaps they need to start restricting the photography near their cheap and less funny items. Because if a gag gift is only funny the first time you look at it a free picture may be all people are willing to spend for a laugh.