Asians are good at math, Irish are alcoholics, African Americans are athletic, and Caucasians are privileged. These are just some of the well known stereotypes that are frequently used for humor. Stereotypes are certainly not always true and are often criticized for generalizing large groups of people, but they coincide with comedy well because they can resonate with an audience instantly and receive a humorous reaction. In this essay, I will respond to the texts All in in the Family, Chappele’s Show, and Family Guy by discussing the satire of bigotry and the importance of context when telling a controversial joke. TRANSITION I believe that any controversial or offensive topic is acceptable if it is presented using humor, but in order for
Tina Fey uses generalizations about race, gender, race, and sexuality to satirize the double standards women and minorities face in daily life. Fey’s awareness of gender inequality is evident in her use of satire when discussing what she imagines to be her readers reasons for buying the book. The second paragraph of the “Introduction” is Tina Fey addressing those who bought her book “for practical tips on how to make it in a male-dominated workplace.” She gives her readers the following list of instructions:“No pigtails, no tube tops. Cry sparingly.”
The television show Saturday Night Live performed a skit titled, “Black Jeopardy” in order to suggest that people, no matter their race or background, are more similar than society portrays. The writers of SNL support their suggestion by creating a fake game show, “Black Jeopardy,” for which the object is to answer the black cultured questions correctly. On the game show, the host, as well as two of the three contestants, are African American; the third contestant, Doug, is a white Trump supporter. During the start of the game, it is assumed for Doug to lose due to his race and assumed lack of knowledge of black culture with remarks such as “Sorry Doug!”
“The Influence on the Unconscious” As young adults, we have laid around our homes for countless hours watching different types of television programing. Many of us, have a good idea on whether a program tries to offend viewers with their content. For over a decade, the popular television show “Family Guy” created by Seth MacFarlane, has shown controversial content that many people throughout the world have either loved or hated. In the writing piece titled, “Family Guy and Freud: Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious” by Antonia Peacocke that is discussed below encourages us to distinguish between offensive and insightful content that airs on Family Guy.
Comedy has become a part of a vast majority of television shows, especially satirical comedy, rising to the top with shows such as: The Daily Show, Chappelle’s Show and Saturday Night Live to name a few. These satirical comedies have had a vast and continuing impact on the discourse in today’s society. By examining “Black White Supremacy,” by Dave Chappelle and “Conservative Libertarian,” by Jon Steward, through their use of satire, we can see that skits such as these have a lasting impact on society by creating discourse on the objects being mocked. “A Black White Supremacist,” by Dave Chappelle highlights the absurdity of racism by parodying members of white supremacy groups such as the KKK. Whereas, Chappelle is addressing a social justice
A way to add sarcastic humor to the racial
In the sixties, segregation and racism dominated in most social settings. In the seventies, most minorities were trying to deter from old beliefs of prejudicial ideas. In modern times, minorities have equal rights and respect to their white counterparts. Four sitcoms, Amos ’n’ Andy, Julia, Sanford and Son, and The Cosby Show depict how the role of minorities changed throughout different time periods. First of all, in the 1950’s, African Americans had few roles in television sitcoms, but when they were offered parts, it consisted of stereotypical portrayals of characters being lazy, simple, or holding domestic servant roles.
The article “South Park and the Carnivalesque” written by Alison Halsall delves into both parody and satire within the context of the program. South Park’s Carnivalesque humor, or carnival laughter “is a method by which popular culture in general, and South Park in particular, provides liberation from constraint” (Halsall 24). South Park makes it a point to use humor that provokes the inherent “dirtiness” that we contain, in an attempt to expose cultural aspects that generally go undiscussed (Halsall 34). Through profanity, South Park brings carnival humor down to the basic grotesque humor that serves to “critique linguistic sanitation” (Halsall 34).
Nowdays in an era of technological advancements, such as TV, smartphones, tablets, etc. All of this has made a huge a impact on media, and marketing, and social interactions. In movies, specifically in the genre of comedies, certain stereotypes about races and cultures are exploited for the sole purpose of laughter. There are some truths on which these movies are based on yet they are taken to the expreme and lose a lot of truth as well. For example, the blacks are the ones that can sing and dance, the white girls are the ones that are always drunk and at a party, and the hispanic girls are the ones who are the maids.
This serves to objectify Asians for comedic effect and reinforces the stereotype that they are exotic and foreign. According to James J. Yoo, “By ridiculing Asians in this way, Family Guy perpetuates the myth that Asians are forever foreigners” (Yoo, 2011). This type of humor perpetuates a dangerous form of racism that sees Asians as inherently different and inferior in addition to being offensive. Additionally, Family Guy frequently employs offensive and crude stereotypes in its jokes, using Asia as a punchline.
Dave Barry In society today, people are becoming more and more easily offended. A simple joke is often times blown way out of proportion instead of being laughed off and taken as just that. Dave Barry, a comedic essayist, understands that idea, which is why he uses self-deprecating humor to distract the readers from the fact that he is making fun of them. Along with the use of sarcasm and hyperboles, this form of humor is, at times, relatable and allows him to get certain points across without offending his readers.
Although Get out can be praised for its humorous scenes, no jokes were ever told, the comedic scenes are all too real and relatable for ethnic minorities. From Jordan Peele’s incorporation of casual racism in Get Out, the audience is able to conclude that Peele is aware that discrimination, alienation, and segregation, are all still prevalent in modern America. After releasing this highly successful film, Peele went from comedy writer and actor to a highly respectable director. The film, Get Out, targets the White liberals as the focus audience.
Politics is often a serious matter. In today’s society, there is a comedic atmosphere around politics. In the 2016 election, there were many comedians joking and parodying Donald Trump which gave him a boost in winning the election. Not only did the joking distract the voters from Trump’s real political stance but the fake news and jokes about Hilary Clinton which diminished Hilary to just her negative traits also gave Trump the upper hand in the election. as not So is that humor necessarily good for politics, especially when it concerns presidential elections?
F or this written task, it is an editorial for the New York Times magazine associating stereotyping individuals through their accents. Stereotyping people’s accents has created a big controversy, if it should be considered as a racist remark or for entertainment. In this editorial, I will be explaining why stereotyping accents can and isn’t racist. In class, we investigated about this matter of why it is okay to make humorous remarks about certain accents over others.
Comedy news shows fail to successfully inform their viewers, change people's perspective on important topics, and fail to report many current events happening around the globe. The article “The Good, The Bad, and The Daily Show” was written by Jason Zinser and first appeared in The Daily Show and Philosophy: Moments of Zen in the Art of Fake News in 2007. This article discusses the pros and cons of The Daily Show, a comedy news cast and how it can have a negative effect on people's beliefs and opinions about politics.
Many audiences of stand up comedy enjoy hearing their favorite comedian entertain them. But what would one think when a comedian cracks a joke about a sensitive topic, for example, a tragedy that affected hundreds of people. Some may argue that, comedians are not supposed to overstep the boundary of controversial jokes. These controversial jokes are linked with political correctness—which is used to describe language, policies, and measures that are taken to avoid offense to certain groups of people. Comedians are not compelled to restrain from controversial topics due to the topic not being sugar-coated, the higher level of contemplation that the joke can reach, and the job of the comedian—to make the current issue manageable.