I was looking at evspixarfan2012’s thread “Funniest Scenes In Every Pixar Film-Ha ha!” and almost every post in that thread cites this scene as one of the funniest. Personally I fail to see what’s so funny about it; basically all it is is various superheroes meeting their deaths (some of them in rather gruesome ways) all because their costumes included capes. Anyone care to point out another way to look at it? Maybe I’m missing something.
It always seems to win in the Funniest Scenes? thread within this sub-forum, too! I’m starting to think that every member who has posted here just loves that funny scene–because Edna is so funny!
I can understand that the scene might come off as gruesome to some, depending on one’s sense of humor. But I think in general, the funny factor comes from:
A) Edna constantly cutting off Bob’s objections and making certain she drills the potential dangers into his head. and B) The deaths/injuries are all quick-cut and in turn, making it rather comical. I mean, they don’t show the actual violent happening, just how each cape didn’t do the super too much good. While it seems pretty implied for the most part, not all the unfortunate supers may have been killed anyway. I mean, it’s a lighthearted family film and it’s not really glorifying the pain or anything; it’s really a bit more slapstick than that. A tad morbid, but it’s probably the way Edna is so no-nonsense, no questions asked on the subject. I mean, perhaps the humor is less in the supers’ accidents but more in Edna’s final words: “No capes!” that really just say “Forget about it. End of discussion.” That’s my take on it. Not saying people have to always find it funny, but I think that thinking way too deeply about something is where viewers can find things to criticize about something good.
I’ve actually heard this complaint before. I still laugh every time myself. I wouldn’t laugh if it were gruesome, or if the people were real. Humor is a very subjective thing, and it’s hard to explain.
I think it all depends on how you perceive it. If you think if it as some made up superheroes in random situations, then you can see how it would be seen as funny. If you think of it as a ‘what if this were real’ situation, with people meeting their untimely ends, then yeah there’s not a whole lot funny with it all. I do generally think the scene is amusing, and probably meant to be that way, but sometimes I do start to think about it too hard and I’m like whoa…that’s not a way you’d wanna go