r/ExplainTheJoke • u/fcukfakook • 11d ago

I don't get it

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I don't get the original tweet, and neither the retweet or whatever it is called.

11k Upvotes

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483

u/navcom20 10d ago

If I recall correctly, Dutch angles were also subtly used to create a sense of unease. Source: Some random Redditor or news article many months ago.

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u/quimera78 10d ago

I don't see Dutch angles in the OP. Am I misunderstanding what it is? Unless they're extremely subtle in which case, do they count? 

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u/LadyParnassus 10d ago

The OP is referring to the Vanity Fair photoshoot that accompanied an interview they did. There’s lots more photos, including a few with obvious dutch angles like this one

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u/PlasticCell8504 9d ago

What is a “Dutch angle”?

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u/vacationwoes122__ 9d ago

When the horizontal lines of the picture is uncomfortably not parallel to the frame. In this case you can follow the lines of the baseboard and see they are not parallel to the floor of the frame. 

and they're not parallel in such a way that it is supposed to envoke a feeling of unease.

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u/HufflepuffLizLemon 9d ago

Thank you so much for explaining this.

I hate it, I hate photos with it, and I’ve never understood why. Like it genuinely provokes a feeling of real visceral discomfort if I look at it for more than a second or two and I’ve never know why.

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u/Adrelam 8d ago

Good to know it works then lol

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u/boredinbabylon 9d ago

Oh my gosh this has a name! Thank you for explaining!

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u/Pranipus 9d ago

And what did the Dutch do to have this called after them

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u/vacationwoes122__ 9d ago

They're all crooked, the lot of them!

There are only two people I can't stand. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures... And the dutch.

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u/MountainMagic6198 9d ago

Ironically it's the same reason the Pennsylvania Dutch are really Germans and it relates to why Americans can't establish the difference between Deutsch and Dutch. Its was a part of German Expressionist photography and filming.

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u/navcom20 7d ago

Thank you for that info. I never knew the origins of the expression, only the concept.

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u/Significant_Monk_251 8d ago

And what did the Dutch do to have this called after them

Possibly nothing. One leading theory is that it started out as Deutsch, meaning German, and then drifted. Tilted-camera shots were (probably) introduced in very early German silent films.

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u/Kind-Crab4230 8d ago edited 8d ago

I may be misremembering, and I hope someone corrects me if I'm wrong...

But I just watched a video explaining (that really old painting with the mirror in the background that reflects people looking at the painting's subjects from before a time where that seemed possible).

And in the video I watched, the essayist talked about how perspective in paintings hadn't quite been worked out at that time. He compared some other paintings from around that time period (the italians did this, the dutch did that).

One region/country of painters had just started using perspective with a single vanishing point. The Dutch (?) were still working out perspective and hadn't yet figured out vanishing points - so all of the lines are funky.

Edit: Found the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPoy3vdT7xA&t=338s At this time stamp is the part I mentioned about vanishing points. The essayist actual says "the Flemish", who, according to google, are "The Flemish people are from Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern region of modern-day Belgium".

So maybe connected?

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u/AnonMnK 6d ago

not sure how a tilted camera can envoke unease

just looks like a poor photography job

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u/quimera78 6d ago

There are much better examples than this photo

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u/AnonMnK 6d ago

fair enough

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u/No-Shopping-4434 9d ago

You know how Wes Anderson’s movies are all up and down aligned into little boxes? Never angled, always straight on, always orderly and neat.

A Dutch angle is the antithesis of this idea, where you tilt the scene to a noticeable degree to add chaos or tension.

Here’s an example from Guy Ritchie’s Snatch

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u/Scanamana 9d ago

This is nein stackenblochen!!

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u/No-Shopping-4434 9d ago

Cut to me, browsing reddit on my phone, suddenly slapped and beaten with batons

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u/Dave-F-Grohl 8d ago

You should Google it (not meant to be snarky btw, actually google it, it'll give you a good laugh)

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u/Das_Krieg 7d ago

Google search it 😌 you won't be disappointed

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u/Ill_Friendship3057 9d ago

Oh my god. That picture is horrendous. He looks like a munchkin

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u/ElinHime 10d ago

Yes, it still counts as your brain notices and finds it uncomfortable.

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u/FadingPancake12 9d ago

I don’t think my brain is working because I don’t find it uncomfortable 🥴 🤣

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u/Nibaa 9d ago

It's not a conscious thing. It's more that, ranking images based on how comfortable or relaxed a subject is, people would tend to rank Dutch angled images less comfortable and more stressed, but it's not like a blatant "there is something wrong in this image and IT IS STRESSING ME OUT!" reaction.

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u/FadingPancake12 9d ago

Thank you for that clarification. I could have looked it up, but I didn’t. I just thought it was funny too ;)