c omedy : w here are the b oundaries b etween s ubversion and s elling o ut ? by stephanie seebaran...
TRANSCRIPT
COMEDY: WHERE ARE THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN SUBVERSION AND SELLING OUT?
By Stephanie Seebaran and Joanne Leung
OUTLINE Introduction Comedy Then
Dick Gregory Comedy Now
Dave Chappelle Sarah Silverman Russell Peters Dichotomies in Comedy
Laughing with vs. Laughing at Social Commentary vs. Ideological Representation Responsibility: Comedian vs. Audience Offensiveness vs. Inoffensiveness
Movies: Rush Hour 2 Study Harold and Kumar vs. Rush Hour 2 Conclusions
INTRODUCTION Subversion or selling out?: Does it have to be
one or the other?
Maybe it is not that simple: dichotomies
Context of Comedy
COMEDY THEN…DICK GREGORY
One of the first popular black comics to appeal to both black and white audiences.
Laughing about inequalities Challenging the status quo Activism in comedy/comedy in activism Current issues he tackles: Clip
COMEDY NOW…DAVE CHAPPELLE
Controversial Critical statements about racism Subverting the norm
Reparations sketch clip. calling attention to racial injustices
Using the word “Niggar”. “Niggar” family clip – context Clayton Bigsby clip – social construction of race
Chappelle’s comedy allows a diverse audience to engage with traditionally stereotypical behavior “guilt-free”(Acham, 2007,
p. 330).
COMEDY NOW…DAVE CHAPPELLE “To be a black comedian necessitates a level
of political awareness” (Acham, 2007, p. 327). Chappelle began to see problematic reactions
to his comedy. Oprah clip Inside the Actor’s Studio clips
Alternative voice rather than “replication of the status quo” (Acham, p. 336).
COMEDY NOW…SARAH SILVERMAN
Controversial comedy
Joking relations Silverman as Chappelle
Controversies On Conan O’Brian – racial slur
Interview On Politically Incorrect – ridicule
transcript
Transcript from Politically Incorrect on August 22, 2001.Maher: That's implying that some joke would be of such good satire that
she could have said "chink."
Aoki: What she could have said -- what she could have said? She could have said, "I hate Chinese people. I love Chinese people." Would have gone, "Okay, funny joke, ha-ha." And that would have been over with.
Silverman: That's not the point of the joke.
Aoki: The point is you used a slur that you thought you could get away with on national television.
Silverman: That's actually not true. I used to say it was nigger, and I have said that on Conan the last time.
Silverman: That's true. Racism is so --exists, you know, and it's not gonna go away.
Aoki: It does?
Silverman: It's not gonna go away through censorship. Especially censorship with comics.
Aoki: So we should just keep bad jokes and offend people over and over again.
Silverman: You're a douchebag, man.
COMEDY NOW…SARAH SILVERMAN
COMEDY NOW…RUSSELL PETERS
Importance of context Personal perspective Parent-friendly portrayal of stereotypes “There’s no culture that’s spared”
(Winks, as cited in Eustace)
Berg: He’s not racist because he is not white. Making his race salient through comedy
Clip: Difference between racism (against South Asians) in Canada and racism in LA
DISCUSSION How can each of these comedians be seen as
subverting racial issues in their comedy?
How can they be seen as “selling out” by reinforcing racist stereotypes?
DICHOTOMIES IN COMEDY
Audience laughing at racial differences
LAUGHING WITH LAUGHING AT
Dichotomies used to determine the extent to which comedy is subversive or selling out.
Audience laughing with the comedian about race
DICHOTOMIES IN COMEDY
Jokes about racism Audience interprets the
meaning behind the words (Jenkins)
A component of the politics of representation (Park et al.)
Racist jokes Audience interprets the
actual words used (Jenkins)
Reflecting existing social relations (Park et al.)
SOCIAL COMMENTARY IDEOLOGICAL REPRODUCTION
DICHOTOMIES IN COMEDY
Social responsibility (Acham)
Work to “get” the joke (Wright)
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE COMEDIAN
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE AUDIENCE
DICHOTOMIES IN COMEDY
May indicate comedy is subversive (Park)
“Necessary condition for the naturalization of racial differences” (Park, et al. p. 173)
OFFENSIVENESS INOFFENSIVENESS
COMEDY NOW…MOVIES Rush Hour 2 study (Park, Gabbadon & Chernin, 2006)
Naturalizing beliefs in racial differences. Textual devices used to justify the
acceptability of racial stereotyping: Minority status of characters Racial jokes about every race Relevance of racial stereotypes to the plot Characters’ perceptions of the remarks
Another way of looking at it: Does this promotion the acceptability of
stereotypes, disrupt the racial status quo by portraying positive representations?
RUSH HOUR 2 VS. HAROLD AND KUMAR
Can these dichotomies objectively define the differences between comedy that is “selling out” and comedies that subvert racism? Why or why not?
Based on these clips and the dichotomies we presented, how are the portrayals of minorities in each of the movies different?
How are they the same? Why do audiences use the textual devices
to interpret “offensive” narratives and characters as humourous?
CONCLUSIONS There are no definitive ways in which we can
decide whether comedy is subversive or selling out because it is interpretive.
Both the comedian (actors, writers, producers, etc) and the audience must work to subvert dominant racial ideologies.
Comedian (actors, writers, producers, etc) – working through encoding.
Audience – working through decoding.