stereo-types in comedies...

[R_P_A_S]

I'm sitting here watching a movie called 'head of state' starting Chris Rock. and I noticed all the typical stereo types and punch lines dealing with racial comedy. you know? the white guy using "black slang" and sounding dorky... the black guy freely criticizing how "crazy white-folk is"...

this gets laughs and some people think is funny. I mean i think some of it is. not this movie in particular but Dave Chappelle for example! ANYWAYS. as some may argue that this lay back attitude and comedy about race loosens the tension and shows how much more liberal America has become since slavery and the cival rights movements, etc. however do some of you feel that all this stereo typing that focuses mainly on racial differences between black and white only create a bigger awareness that WE ARE DIFFERENT? and that its ok to make fun of and laugh at our differences?

If you noticed theres no real focus on actually getting to know that particular race. so that you can understand it and open your self to their customs and struggles. Its only something to make you laugh. so much that it has blacks thinking whites are generally &#39;white hicks&#39;, and &#39;black are people who talk &#39;ghetto and dress in baggy clothes".. :mellow: <_<

[bolshevik butcher]

I know what you mean about some crude racial comedies. However it&#39;s not always like that. There&#39;s some great comedy sketches that demonstrate how stupid these stereotypes are, and make some pretty good social comentaries.

[détrop]

"Humor is the birth-pangs of the absolute mind (based upon the misrelationship, discovered by the I, between the I and the idea of I)."

- Kierkegaard (Concept of Irony)

I think I can explain this little gem with reference to the opening post and the interests in humor through stereotyping.

First I&#39;d like to mention that the comedian, when producing a parody or an irony, is neccesarily denied and misunderstood by the viewers. When a joke is told about a stereotype...the audience laughs. But why? The joke, although passed through the harmless medium of narration, is supposed to reveal hipocricy, contradiction, and an uneasy truth about a certain thing. The joke can be about a type, and this type, in the viewing audience, laughs...but he is laughing at himself in spite of himself, for himself. No, it is not a good thing that races mock each other, and the joke is supposed to confirm this without being dangerous or violent. But rather than heeding this truth, it is ignored by the type who is stereotyped, and they laugh as if to say "no, I&#39;m not like that...but really I am. Please keep that a secret."

Here, Kierkegaard&#39;s point is that the misrelationship is this denial of the truth of the stereotype about the person who is in turn laughing at the joke. He is ignoring its truth and with his laugh, he does not find it funny...but is instead trying to relieve himself of the true guilt felt about the truth of the joke. This is the birth-pangs of the truth about the "self" when it is mocked through the joke.

No, the black race is not amused by the white race making a mockery of its lingo or culture, and vice-verse. The humor and the irony is supposed to smash this dishonest barrier between the races, but instead it only strengthens the alienation between them.

There is indeed a looming tragedy behind most forms of comedy, and the comedian is the highest type of social healer; he fixes and destroys without hurting.

There is nothing more absurd than an audience laughing at a joke when it is told about them.

"No you idiot&#33; I&#39;m making fun of you, not praising you&#33;"

[Political_Chucky]

Well I think sometimes there is a fine line between when a joke is utterly racist and when it is mocking an idea that is usually brought up among society.

You mentioned Dave Chappelle and I think that this is a great example. I had been thinking the exact samething when I was watching his show. Are these jokes really neccessary or do they just undermine the whole cause? I think it has a negitive effect on society more then it does a positive one because of the ignorance of the common American.(this is my opinion due to my experiences) I mean, I think a lot of younger people take it as a joke and understand that its mostly just for laughs, but then there are those kids who take the stereo-type to the next level and thats where the problem is.
Even adults look at these skits and then suddenly ask why "us Mexican and Black" kids are selling drugs or believe that Mexicans have to be gangster if we have our head shaved. I remember I even had an older white male say the stupidest shit I have ever heard that I took in so much offence when I had been working at Stator Bros. "Great thing you got a job pushing those carts and not a Mower," or something like that. It even goes to the point where white people think its "O.K." to say Wetback because they heard it on T.V.

I really believe that Racism is inevitable because of the popular media that says its ok. I even admit I sometimes say some ignorant shit because of something I saw on T.V. It just all depends on the person and how he takes it I guess.