Here's some links of Russell Peters' comedy. He talks a lot about racial issues in his comedy but I find that he seems to strike a good balance between challenging racial stereotypes and prejudice and also playing on them and using them for laughs. There seems to be a big difference for instance between these two clips:
In the first one, he talks about a lot about racism. Specifically he talks a lot about how racism
can be very clever, and how it isn't specific to white people. The clip is very funny but what is interesting is that he mentions racial stereotypes as well (including the idea of racism being a white thing), such as "I'm Indian... convenience store, not casino."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlKKkXQGrMQOn the other hand, in this clip he speaks on Indian and Chinese relations and uses a lot of stereotypical representations, like Chinese people being cheap and speaking in strong accents (which he acts out).
Do we see this as harmful? To go along with the readings, is there a possibility that his humor is perpetuating stereotypes? Or does the fact that he plays both sides make it more acceptable and bring an amount of awareness to his comedy that otherwise might be lost?
The first video seemed more innocent and informative, actually, and working to negate stereotypes by exposing how ridiculous some racist terms are. The latter video does seem to be perpetuating stereotypes- it's the kind of joke that will come into someone's mind the next time they're in a similar situation.
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty similar to the media that I posted for this week also (Margaret Cho)! I'd be interested in hearing what others have to say about this.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alissa. I think the first video is less harmful in that Peteres doesn't act out any negative/damaging stereotypes. The second video is funny...but represents Chinese individuals in a really negative light.
The joke about Black people being called "Mondays" in the first video reminded me of two of the readings for this week.
ReplyDeleteThe first reading was by Santa Ana where he stated that Jay Leno's humor was intended to give the audience emotional release by distancing the audience from the targeted group. Peters' joke, however, seemed to have the opposite effect, causing a few seconds of tension in the audience. I find it interesting that humor done in a similar fashion can both cause tension and relieve it.
The second reading was by Park and colleagues where they state that racial stereotypes may be acceptable if the jokes cross color lines, implying that all races are racially stereotyped. In Peters' joke, he crosses racial lines, but he receives a negative reaction from this audience. Is this simply because the joke is one-sided in that there isn't a Black man making an equally racist joke about Peters? In other words, would reciprocity alleviate the tension in the audience?