http://www.rifftrax.com/

This is the home page for the official website of Rifftrax, a spiritual sequel to the popular TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000, following that show's premise of people who watch movies and make snide remarks about them. You can by audio MP3 files and play them in sync with DVD copies of the movies being "riffed". Said movies are not limited to 50s sci-fi B-movies, as was the case with Mystery Science Theater, but extend to recent big-budget blockbusters like Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean. Following is a compilation of jokes from the crew's "riff" of The Empire Strikes Back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37X1QJa79gI

It's interesting how an achievement as esteemed as The Empire Strikes Back, with some of the most dramatic moments in cinematic history, can be made hilarious by cracking some jokes over some of the various things said and done in the film. This ties in closely with some of the recent in-class discussions we have had about context and about how much design depends on it. As evidenced by this video, a work with one particular meaning can mean something completely different when looked at in a different context. When Luke gets some heavy news from Darth Vader, a dramatic, and even somewhat horrifying, scene becomes funny thanks to a quip from one of the Rifftrax commentators: "That would explain my love of capes!" The Rifftrax slogan ("We don't make movies. We make them funny!") ties in perfectly with the idea of context. The commentators manage to take a dramatic piece of cinema and turn it into something funny simply by changing the context of what unfolds on screen.