Talk:Infinite Jest

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The Funniest Joke in the World (Monty Python)[edit]

Someone needs to remark upon the tremendous similarity between this novel's "plot" and the Monty Python skit "The Funniest Joke in the World." There are too many coincidences for it to be accidental.

23.24.216.113 (talk) 20:24, 24 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not really sure if that is true or relevant to the article. Toad02 (talk) 00:10, 19 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The parallels aren't that striking. In the Python sketch, the hearer dies after hearing the joke once. In Infinite Jest, the Entertainment (the video) compels repeated viewing to the exclusion of everything else, but it isn't fatal as such (someone could be kept alive indefinitely in that state). Also, there is no suggestion that there is anything humorous about the Entertainment, based on the descriptions of its content in IJ.

A central theme of IJ is the relationship between addiction and entertainment, and the Entertainment is a vivid way of illustrating that idea. The Python sketch doesn't address that at all.

A closer similarity might be found in the popular notion of the lab experiments in which rats will press a lever to get drugs or some other stimulus to the exclusion of every other activity.JohnMason (talk) 13:40, 10 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

that is actually talked about in the novel GlowZoe (talk) 06:45, 3 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 20 August 2020[edit]

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Edit the final paragraph under Location section of the article

From the current:

Other events crucial to the plot of the novel take place in Arizona, New England, Canada, Boston and various Boston-area Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings.

to the below:

Events crucial to the plot of the novel also take place in various other regions of the United States and Canada.

Significant scenes are also located in various Boston-area Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, in line with the novel's theme of addiction.

Reason for edit: This is more accurate and also have a better streamline feel for the entire text in this section. Sunnyckf78 (talk) 15:55, 20 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Done P,TO 19104 (talk) (contribs) 15:05, 21 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]