Mike's Musings: In Defense of Tucker Max
I've been a fan of Tucker Max for a good few years. I had picked up his book "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" one day in the airport, and have been a die-hard fan ever since. I remember one night in college where I was reading his story "Tucker Goes to a Hockey Game" out loud to a friend, and I was laughing so hard that I had to hand the book over to him so he could finish. Every time I read the story, I crack up laughing without fail.
Max has been the source of a fair amount of controversy over the years, most of which is because he is accused of promoting a "rape culture." Such accusations are not only ridiculous, but tantamount to slander.
Rape is an act of violence, not sex. It is used to humiliate victims, both male and female, and for rapists to feed on their victims' fear. At no point does Max do this or anything that can be considered such. True, he and his friends make statements about women that are hardly virtuous, but one must consider the context in which they are presented. We are not meant to agree with these comments. In fact, we are meant to laugh at him and his friends because they are such morons. Anyone who actually reads the stories will realize this right off the bat.
Consider his friend SlingBlade, who is consistently referred to as a geek who has a fear of women. Some of his exchanges with girls are pricelessly funny, but not because we agree with what he says. When he says offensive things to women, they routinely call him a jerk or something along those lines and leave. Even Tucker regards him with derision at times.
Another source of controversy is the allegations of him making all the stories up. I remember getting into a long argument on iMDb about this shortly before the film version of "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" came out. I still believe that the stories are mostly, if not completely true; they're too credible to be made up by some geek, and stuff this crazy at least has to have some element of truth in it. If there's any doubt, it's because Max changed things to protect people he wrote about or himself (he admits this at the beginning of his book).
But the real question is not whether or not they actually occurred (for the record, I have given the trolls and I-hate-everything-mainstream-because-it's-mainstream hipsters far too much mention), but whether or not it is still funny if it didn't. To me, it doesn't. What matters is that it is credible enough to be believable (this is a case where truth is stranger than fiction) and whether or not it's funny. The answer is yes on both counts.
I'll admit, one's confidence in the veracity of his stories might be shaken after viewing the film version of his book, since it took elements from a bunch of stories and stirred them all together in one batch, but many movies do this, like "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood," which was based on two of Rebecca Hall's books. For my money, the result turned out successfully, although of greater concern was Matt Czuchry's hideous turn as Tucker.
Look, humor is subjective. Some people might find Tucker Max the work of a narcissist. To each their own. I find his works to be well-written and absolutely hysterical. Apparently, Max is retiring from his wild nights of drunkenness and debauchery. I'm going to miss his stories, but at least there's another book coming in February. And who knows? Max is a good writer. I'm sure he can find humor in suburbia, particularly with yuppie neighbors that he is bound to run into. Then of course he's almost required to write about his bachelor party (what he remembers of it). Now that is something I am dying to read.
Max has been the source of a fair amount of controversy over the years, most of which is because he is accused of promoting a "rape culture." Such accusations are not only ridiculous, but tantamount to slander.
Rape is an act of violence, not sex. It is used to humiliate victims, both male and female, and for rapists to feed on their victims' fear. At no point does Max do this or anything that can be considered such. True, he and his friends make statements about women that are hardly virtuous, but one must consider the context in which they are presented. We are not meant to agree with these comments. In fact, we are meant to laugh at him and his friends because they are such morons. Anyone who actually reads the stories will realize this right off the bat.
Consider his friend SlingBlade, who is consistently referred to as a geek who has a fear of women. Some of his exchanges with girls are pricelessly funny, but not because we agree with what he says. When he says offensive things to women, they routinely call him a jerk or something along those lines and leave. Even Tucker regards him with derision at times.
Another source of controversy is the allegations of him making all the stories up. I remember getting into a long argument on iMDb about this shortly before the film version of "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" came out. I still believe that the stories are mostly, if not completely true; they're too credible to be made up by some geek, and stuff this crazy at least has to have some element of truth in it. If there's any doubt, it's because Max changed things to protect people he wrote about or himself (he admits this at the beginning of his book).
But the real question is not whether or not they actually occurred (for the record, I have given the trolls and I-hate-everything-mainstream-because-it's-mainstream hipsters far too much mention), but whether or not it is still funny if it didn't. To me, it doesn't. What matters is that it is credible enough to be believable (this is a case where truth is stranger than fiction) and whether or not it's funny. The answer is yes on both counts.
I'll admit, one's confidence in the veracity of his stories might be shaken after viewing the film version of his book, since it took elements from a bunch of stories and stirred them all together in one batch, but many movies do this, like "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood," which was based on two of Rebecca Hall's books. For my money, the result turned out successfully, although of greater concern was Matt Czuchry's hideous turn as Tucker.
Look, humor is subjective. Some people might find Tucker Max the work of a narcissist. To each their own. I find his works to be well-written and absolutely hysterical. Apparently, Max is retiring from his wild nights of drunkenness and debauchery. I'm going to miss his stories, but at least there's another book coming in February. And who knows? Max is a good writer. I'm sure he can find humor in suburbia, particularly with yuppie neighbors that he is bound to run into. Then of course he's almost required to write about his bachelor party (what he remembers of it). Now that is something I am dying to read.
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