Posts
| Mind and Society MIN5010 |
| Comedy as a Means to Ameliorate Racial Prejudice |
| Annotated Bibliography |
| |
| Vivek Narayan |
| 12/5/2008 |
Tag Cloud created through http://www.tagcrowd.com/
| |
1. An Introduction to the Psychotherapies(1)
This book is used as a training aid for mental health professionals. The contributors to the various chapters are specialists in their fields. The book provides an excellent overview of the broad field of psychotherapies. The chapters relevant to the paper are well written and referenced, with up to date peer reviewed articles. The chapters relevant to the topic at hand are...
a. Chapter 4, What is Psychotherapy by Jerome D. Frank
In the broadest sense, Psychotherapy can be defined as “[interdependence] of humans, on each other, for their... psychological well being.” [i] Structure is provided to this statement by a brief outline in the commonalities between different psychotherapies, which are elaborated by the author on Pg 68. The author provides a “historical” and “cultural” background into the different psychotherapies and hence has the ability to draw out the similarities between the different modalities. Points 3 - 5 are most relevant to the topic at hand...
i. “Cognitive and experiential learning” [ii] allow the patient to receive new information about his problem and new ways of “dealing with it” or “conceptualising it”.
ii. “Experiential learning implies emotional arousal” and provide the impetus for behavioural change.
iii. “Ability to control one’s environment starts with the ability to accept and master one’s own impulses and feelings, an achievement which in itself overcomes anxiety and strengthens self confidence”. [iii] The idea is to provide the means of creating a sense of agency to the individual. This sense of agency has been described as the “chief therapeutic effect of the rationales and procedures [used in the psychotherapies]” [iv] (A)
These three points will form the bed rock of why the author considers Comedy, and the effects of certain types of comedy on a multi ethnic audience, as a form of psychotherapy for the masses.
b. Chapter 7, Cognitive Psychotherapy by Nicholas B Allen
“the aims of cognitive therapy are two-fold: to reduce the distress by teaching skills to recognise, evaluate, and change relevant cognitive processes; and, in later phases, to engender and understanding of themes in maladaptive cognitions, and their autobiographical roots, in order to modify enduring sets of attitudes and beliefs that are the basis of the patient’s vulnerability. The process involves the following steps: eliciting autonomic thoughts; testing their accuracy and viability; developing realistic alternatives; and identifying and challenging underlying maladaptive schemata.” [v]
The idea of challenging maladaptive schemata is perhaps the most difficult part in this form of therapy. This, maladaptive schemata, is relevant to minorities especially when they are targeted by popular culture[vi]; pitting one group against the other.
c. Chapter 11, Group Psychotherapy by Mark Aveline
“Humans...find and express their identity through social interaction. Not surprisingly, many of the psychological problems they experience stem from disturbed relationships within the groups in which they have learned to be the people they are.” [vii]
The author identifies the “therapeutic factors”, nine of them (of which four are relevant to this topic) which render groups and therapy in groups a viable alternative for psychotherapies at large. These factors are...
i. Group Cohesiveness: the sense of belonging in a group. All audience members present have a common goal. With reference to comedy; to be entertained.
ii. Learning from interpersonal action: In the comedic setting, an audience member may react differently to members of the same group. However, this difference is what will create an awareness of his automatic behaviour and responses to issues of race.
iii. Universality: The idea that the patient’s experience isn’t unique to him, but affects other members of the group. Recognising issues of racism and selective race based actions (individuals targeted or exposed to racial profiling) in the setting of a comedic performance provides a healthier atmosphere than discussing these issues in isolation, where ulterior interpretations of this type of behaviour may be presented . More importantly, the comedic setting is a specific setting where the idea is to be funny and entertain. [viii] The socially responsible [ix] comic, by means of his performance and its content, can prevent unilateral interpretations of action and behaviour, which is reinforced by the group in the form of appreciation of the joke.
iv. Vicarious Learning: “Herein lies the distinct advantage of the group” (Pg 238) Learning behavioural responses by mimicking others in the group. This is where one learns to laugh at oneself from watching others, laugh at themselves. The benefits, of the ability to laugh at one’s self, will be elaborated later.
2. The Joke and its relation to the Unconscious(10)
Freud’s account of the ‘Joke’ starts off with the various techniques used to create and deliver the joke. It ends with a description on how similar ‘joke work’ and ‘dream work’ are. He provides insights into what makes a joke funny and elaborates the cognitive mechanism which renders the joke funny. He suggests that by virtue of ‘finding’ and joke funny, the “third person”, listening to the joke, our audience, undergoes the same “psychical work” that led to the creation of the joke in the comic. This empathy with the comic creates awareness in the audience on different ways of looking at race, race relations and issues regarding race; which led to the formation of the joke in the first place. Freud admits, however, that certain jokes, due to their multiple methods of delivering pleasure, may not give insight into what led the comic to form that particular joke; it is perceived as being funny, but we don’t know why exactly. This however may not stop members of the audience from trying to figure out, by themselves, why the joke was funny. The relevance of the joke may arise in them later when they undergo similar circumstances and hence this would be considered to be a form of preventative psychotherapy; where the individual is forewarned what to expect in certain situations and how he might react to them.[x] The various types of jokes, and they way they can be presented, shall be discussed under the heading ‘Content is King’ in the main paper. Content analysis of the various comics shall shed some further light on which topics invoke laughter in the audience, and how it does so, in a non-threatening way.
3. Assessing Racial Profiling(11)
The author argues “that racial profiling involves a clear injustice to innocent African Americans. The lack of precise probabilistic information on the ‘welfarist’ side [not on the deontological side] of profiling means that the assessment of profiling is an example of decision making under ambiguity. I resolve this ambiguity by an appeal to a Fairness Presumption, which requires that there exists an affirmative case for a policy that reduces fairness in order for it to be implemented. The Fairness Presumption leads to a rejection of racial profiling as a traffic stop strategy.” The author “concludes that studies on racial profiling using African American and traffic stops cannot be used when considering racial profiling of Arab males” due to the unavailability of properly defined parameters and statistical numbers. However to evaluate this claim, he uses the exceptional artifice of Arabs in front of a nuclear power plant (Pg 27 ) but avoids talking about the routes (airports) which Arabs (and those that potentially look like Arabs) cannot avoid (an argument he uses for African Americans travelling on highways). He writes about anti terrorist activities but remains ambiguous about the effects of these policies, when clearly the principals of fairness, which the author argues for, apply to the more pervasive example of airports and general populations (civic institutions which mimic official security procedures; where ID's are checked) and not a specific situation of Arabs in front of nuclear power plants.
The author doesn’t mention the system failure within the FAA and the FBI, CIA and the CAPS program, which enabled the terrorists to board the plane in the first place. [xi] Using the fairness principal itself would mandate that once the laws, that allowed the Highjackers to carry 4” blades on a plane, for example, were changed, and if the incidence of minority violations at the TSA were higher than non-minorities, a set of segregated procedures or racial profiling could be instigated. One can conclude, using the authors own arguments, that racial profiling was initiated only as a knee jerk reaction and as a way of deterring 'terrorist' looking persons from flying. The assumption that Arab/Muslim extremists would use the same modus operandi seems logically flawed, given the detailed preparation that was required for the 9-11 attacks. The logic that Arabs or Arab looking individuals would be used to penetrate any kind of security seems flawed as proven by recent CIA statements that Al-Qaida is training “western” looking terrorists.[xii] Of course the US dept. of transportation isn’t going to segregate “westerners” now, as they have introduced a more ‘sophisticated’ emotional screening program.[xiii] However, this evolution into sophisticated screening didn’t require segregated screenings in the first place. A responsible “fairness based” approach would not have fuelled the media circus that surrounded race and issues of race.(2)
4. Ambiguous insiders: an investigation of Arab American invisibility(5)
The author identifies four paradoxical identities for Arab Americans
a. "Arab" as a monolithic identity used to describe a Diaspora that migrated from regions of Arabia, the Middle East and central Asia; regions known for the differing religious practices. This identity of being "Arab", in popular culture, erases other identities, which are distinct in culture and beliefs. The author argues that the "Arab" identity is a fictional identity, a negative stereotype, used for political gain; a product of neo-colonialism. This article provides a background into the Arab-American identity, an identity which, on one hand, is bombarded with negative stereotypes in the media, but on the other hand, denied representation, in the form of legitimate news coverage. This article indentifies the bias in news and popular culture.
b. Is an Arab White or not?
The author identifies the dichotomy of being considered white racially but not white culturally. This dichotomy plays itself out in the form of the ability to deny their culture and embrace their race, or deny their race and embrace their culture.
c. The 'racialisation' of religion
The author elaborates the links created between Islam and violence and portraying Muslims as being inferior to 'white' based on religion rather than colour. The author contrasts this uniqueness, this ‘racialisation’ of religion, with African Americans, who are Christians but are considered to be inferior due to their race.
d. The paradox of identity:
The author elaborates the difference between social differentiations based on race, as practiced in the US, vis a vis, the religious differentiation as practiced in Islamic countries.
What the author doesn't elaborate is that Islam has actively sought to create a Muslim identity, which crosses racial and geographical boundaries. The author touches upon this thrust, identified by the author as occurring, under the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. However, this 'egalitarian' society under Islam isn't an aim that was confined to the 16th century. This ideology exists today, in the mind of many Muslims, and is used, by the disenfranchised, to justify violence against non-Muslims. It is also used to spread Islam.(9) It may be argued that this identity arose, due to a response, to the marginalisation forces active in the US and the rest of the world. However, this is a moot argument, as the Pan Islamic concept of the Caliphate had existed before Arabs were migrating to the US, as elaborated in the article, and it has been used in many countries to convert local populations, by force, into Islam. It has to be mentioned, however, that faith conversion by force or otherwise isn’t unique to Islam. (8)
Another point that the author fails to consider is that Islam created, within itself, a means to create a socio-political society in which a practitioner couldn't separate religion from state in the form of Sharia, which is practised throughout most of the Muslim world. The most glaringly obvious omission from this article however, is the support that the US has given Saudi Arabia in lieu for its loyalty to the petro dollar. This support, ironically, condones the very barbaric acts that popular culture criticises; the laws that are upheld by the Saudi monarchy, in the name of Sharia, are in direct conflict with basic human rights.
The raison d’être of this critique is to bring attention to the fact, that within Islamic society and those that have to interact with it, there is a clash of pluralism.
5. Ethnic Identity, Immigration and Well-Being: An Interactional Perspective(3)
This study, published in 2001, suggests that “decisive factors for identity formation [of an immigrant] and psychological adaptation are not national policies, but more local circumstances (for example dispersal versus high concentration of a particular group), personal relationships, and activity settings such as school and neighbourhood... [which] may be independent of official immigration policies.” The author also identifies adolescence and the time spent in school as a key phase where this identity develops. The paper also elaborates on the role of gender in the formation of this identity, stating that “Adult females...are more likely to remain at home and maintain traditional practices; younger females, particularly from traditional cultures that are restrictive towards women, may identify with Western values that allow greater freedom.”
This article is being used to state the conditions influencing immigrant identity formation before the socio-cultural ruckus; post Sept. 11. It is also being used to identify an age group that stand-up comedy doesn’t address. (B)
Content Analysis of Comic Material:
The idea of doing a content analysis of the comic material, to be presented in the paper, is to gauge the type of jokes that comics rely on for their performance. A criticism levelled on comedy is the isolation and targeting of certain stereotypes, which can create a negative environment for these individuals, within popular culture. However, by quantifying the topics of these jokes, the data presented is being used to counter this criticism by arguing that individual jokes on certain populations are taken out of context of the entire performance and hence used to create a misrepresentation of comedy and of the comic.
Difficulties with Content Analysis:
There are many ways of looking at a comedic performance. Here are a few possibilities, based loosely on Freud’s classification of jokes and their tendencies.
1. Classification of the joke based on technique. Eg. Word play or caricature.
2. Classification of content based on the motivation behind the joke
Freud describes the comic material and the comic as a social process, but draws the distinction between individuals who have the comic ability and those that don’t. An example relevant to this paper would be the an academic, who uses his skills at presenting material which he thinks will reduce racial prejudice, contrasted with a comic, who uses his skill at comedy, to achieve the same purpose.[xiv]
3. Classification of content based on the tendencies of the joke
A ‘tendentious jokes’ Freud argues, are the funniest, due to the psychical resonance created by these types of jokes.[xv]
However, the need is not to analyse how funny the comic is; it can be argued that their popularity, itself, is a sign of that. The need is to analyse, who the topic of their joke is, irrespective of the technique that is being used. We can find evidence of their motivation from other sources.[xvi]
For this purpose topical categories were created and the jokes were enumerated based on those categories. There is an overlap in some categories, for example, jokes related to African-American culture can be considered to be American culture as well. Since, we are looking at race and the comic as a racial icon[xvii] the polycentric nature of American society and other cultures are being presented with a valence of race, hence, the categories of ‘Caucasians’ or ‘Asians’, and those that are racially neutral; the category of ‘American culture’.
The problem of Bias:
There are two categories of material being presented.
A. Stand up comedy
B. TV shows
Content Analysis of Stand-up Comedy
The categorisation of these jokes is based on the author’s understanding of these jokes and, hence, represents his bias towards comedy and towards the comic himself. The methodology of creating these categories, in itself, represents a bias towards the aim behind presenting this material.
Content Analysis of TV programs
‘The Daily Show’ [xviii] and ‘The Colbert Report’ [xix] tag their content for online viewing. The content analysis has been done based on these tags, hence, it represents an inherent bias by these shows to categorise their own content. They use ‘Google’ search engines within their site to search for these videos. This search was verified by searching for tags using the external Google search engine when results were showing errors of tabulation using the Colbert Report’s website.[xx]
Overcoming Bias
The ideal way of conducting the content analysis would be to use a team of cross cultural and multi-ethnic individuals and have them cloud tag[xxi] a particular joke for its ‘funniness’, ‘its message’ and ‘its potential to alienate’ or such similar categories. This level of sophistication wasn’t available to the author at the time of writing this paper.
Russell Peters [xxii]
Russell Peters is a Canadian comic of Anglo-Indian origin. [xxiii] The following graphs represent the content of his first two stand up shows, now on DVD, “Show me the funny”(6) and “Uncensored”(7). This content pre dates 2004 and hence represents the material that really made him popular. In trying to explain his popularity amongst minorities his ‘bio’ page says this...
“Russell has made his reputation by speaking to people that no one else is talking to. Much of his comedy speaks to immigrant communities around the world - Indian, Arab, Caribbean, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, and other South and Southeast Asian communities that remain invisible to the mainstream media and sometimes to the broader white population.”
Russell has a unique perspective on race and the issues surrounding race due to his heritage. He is an Anglo Indian who couldn’t assimilate due to his colour, whereas other Anglo Indians could due to their ‘whiteness’[xxiv]. However, due to his Christian name and Anglo – Indian heritage, he suffers from reverse racism from, parts of, the post colonial Indian community within India. [xxv] [xxvi]
Russell Peters: “Show me the Funny” and “Uncensored” - 120 minutes
The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour [xxvii] (4)
“My intentions are for people to lighten up and be able to laugh at ourselves. I want all walks of life, especially Americans, to understand Middle Eastern culture and Muslims through humour. Americans only see what they see on the news and have the tendency to be brainwashed by the media who, often time[s], show negative images of us.” [xxviii]
There is an important point which is brought up in this performance by comedian Maz Jobrani. This pertains to the ability to criticise the society which we live in. This freedom is appreciated not only in this performance but also by another comedian, whose work is being presented, Chris Rock. (C)
Though these jokes are predominantly about Arabs and/or Muslims, the level of critique is mainly directed towards misunderstanding between mainstream American culture and Minorities from the Middle East. The issues surrounding this misunderstanding are avoided. There is no critique about the issues of inequality that figure in news reports about human rights violations or Women’s rights under Sharia Law. [xxix] The absence of this critique, or the inability to voice this critique, is made obvious by analysing the content of another famous American comic, Chris Rock.
Chris Rock [xxx] - Never Scared [xxxi]
Noted comedian Jerry Seinfeld describes Chris Rock, who came 77th in Times 100 most influential people, as follows...
"You know how hard it is to make racism just plain fun? Rock does it. Racism to Chris Rock is just a Hacky Sack on his foot. He kicks it up over here, over there, behind the back and then right over to you. The tension release he offers is available nowhere else, from no one else. He has the same facility with sex, with marriage, with politics." [xxxii]
Chris Rock has the ability to criticise American culture and African American culture in such a non-threatening and humorous way; it is no surprise that he is receives accolades from within his peer group. He takes on the, extremely popular, black music industry, the history of slavery, with his wit and voices his, soul searching, opinion regarding the meaning of ‘Black’ and ‘American’ culture.
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart [xxxiii]
The show describes itself by this tongue in cheek opening paragraph on their website. [xxxiv]
“One anchor, five correspondents, zero credibility.
If you're tired of the stodginess of the evening newscasts and you can't bear to sit through the spinmeisters and shills on the 24-hour cable news network, don't miss The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the nightly half-hour series unburdened by objectivity, journalistic integrity or even accuracy.”
The daily show edits content from news channels to create a parody of the news. This is highlighted from this clip [xxxv], where the democratic primary is being parodied and compared to an “endless Bataan death march to the Whitehouse.” The editing technique, itself, is a parody of the selective sound bites used by journalists to present an ‘unbiased’ opinion on the topic of reporting and discussion. Not only does Stewart parody the news (mainly CNN, MSNBC and Fox News), he cuts through the rhetoric of political dialogue and exposes the contradictions between political pandering and political debate. He exposes unnecessary talking points created by the media[xxxvi] [xxxvii] and uses their hyperbole to take the discussion to level that exposes its ridiculousness.
As can be seen from the charts below, the main topics that Stewart parodies, are the US president, the war on Iraq and the news. Colbert on the other hand has a strong tendency to talk about personalities.
Both Stewart and Colbert were on the Times 100 list of most influential people of 2008. Though Colbert has the ability to rally his fans in the Colbert Nation to vote for him, their popularity suggests the ability of comedy to deal with political and national issues in such an effective way that they now influence political debate itself. This is best described by Time under the ‘Con’ heading for his Time 100 entry on their site. “Colbert's ‘making’ of surprise Iowa winner Mike Huckabee — endorsed by the Report when his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination was at a comically low ebb — raises questions about whether Colbert's meta-ness has turned meddlesome. Is he satirizing American politics...or hacking it? Also: do we care?” [xxxviii]
The Colbert Report [xxxix] [xl]
Whereas Jon Stewart exposes rhetoric in the political realm, Colbert (who was a correspondent for the Daily Show till 2005) personifies political rhetoric in mockery of, what is generally thought to be, the Fox News program The O’Reilly Factor, [xli] something which the content analysis supports. Colbert, in character of a pro republican pundit, presents topics under his segment ‘tonight’s word’ [xlii] and in this particular example he tackles the issue of ‘knowledge’ in the public realm. Though he remains in character, the graphical text that accompanies his dialogue, usually states the exact opposite of what he is saying, creating the comedic effect by exposing the rhetoric. Stephen’s guests include a plethora of accomplished individuals whose sincerity to domestic and global issues is exemplified when viewed in contrast to Stephen’s character.
Obama Vs Clinton : There are 1389 references to Obama and 999 to Clinton.
Reference List
1. An Introduction to Psychotherapies, 4th ed. Oxford University Press, 2006
2. David Domke, Philip Garland, Andre Billeaudeaux, John Hutcheson: Insights Into U.S. Racial Hierarchy: Racial Profiling, News Sources, and September 11. Journal of Communication 2003; 53:606
3. Jean S.Phinney, Gabriel Horenczyk, Karmela Liebkind, Paul Vedder: Ethnic Identity, Immigration, and Well-Being: An Interactional Perspective. Journal of Social Sciences 2001; 57:493-510
4. Maz Jobrani, Ahmed Ahmed, Aron Kader, and Dean Obeidallah. The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour. 2006. Levity Productions.
Ref Type: Video Recording
5. Naber N: Ambiguous insiders: an investigation of Arab American invisibility. Ethnic and Racial Studies 2000; 23:37-61
6. Russell Peters. Show Me the Funny. 1997. Year End Productions Inc.
Ref Type: Video Recording
7. Russell Peters. Uncensored. 2004. Canada, Hi Guys Seven Productions Inc.
Ref Type: Video Recording
8. Sharkey H: Empire and Muslim conversion: historical reflections on Christian missions in Egypt. Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 2005; 16:43-60
9. Shelley Saywell and Deborah Parks. Hamas - Behind the Mask. 2005. Bishari Film Productions Inc.
Ref Type: Video Recording
10. Sigmund Freud (Translated by Joyce Crick): The Joke and its Relations to the Unconscious Penguin Classics, 2002
11. Steven N.Durluaf: Assessing Racial Profiling. Economic Journal 2006; 116:F402-F426
[i] Pg 59, An Introduction to Psychotherapies
[ii] Pg 68, Ibid
[iii] Pg 69, Ibid
[iv] Ibid
[v] Pg 147, An Introduction to Psychotherapies.
[vi] ‘Popular culture’ is used, here, in the broadest sense. However the relevant part of popular culture, with respect to this topic, is the combined onslaught from government and media, in the form of rhetoric and irresponsible journalism. At the core of this issue, is the identity of the immigrant. This shall be discussed further with relevant references.
[vii] Pg 238
[viii] Comedy is mostly funny in the setting of a comedic performance. The same comment, outside the realm of a comedic setting, may not necessarily evoke the same kind of entertainment. A good example of this was highlighted by ‘Media watch’ in an episode that aired on the 24/4/2008 http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2229657.htm
[ix] What is a socially responsible comic? A socially responsible comic is one who presents stereotypes for what they are and presents them in such a way, to elicit a comedic response from the audience. There are all types of insults and racial vilifications that too can produce a comedic response. This is where the selection of comic and his tendencies for creating jokes is an important criterion. Content analysis of certain comedic performances will clarify what the author intends to present as evidence of a socially responsible comic.
[x] Issues related to preventative psychotherapy, with respect to its limitations shall be covered later in this paper.
[xiv] Pg 137, The motives for jokes – The joke as a social process(10)
[xv] Pg 115, The mechanism of pleasure and the psychological origins of a joke, Ibid.
[xvi] Interviews and articles written about the comic.
[xvii] American Culture is being broken into its constitutive parts for the purpose of this content analysis.
[xx] Tags, such as, “Clinton”, “Obama”, “McCain” tabulated results numbering “1970” using the Colbert Report’s website, but returned separate tabulated scores when Google’s native interface were used.
[xxiv] Blunt, A. 2000, ‘Postcolonial Migrations: Anglo-Indians in ‘White Australia’’, The International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies, vol. 5, no. 2
[xxv] Gist, N.P. & Wright, R.D. (1973) Marginality and Identity: Anglo-Indians as a Racially Mixed Minority in India. Netherlands : Leiden
[xxvi] Something which he encounters, from a heckler, during the recording of his DVD release for “outsourced”
[xxviii] Ahmed Ahmed - from an email correspondence with the author.
[xxix] http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9DB6EE1E-4173-4ED8-A520-429777F3F4BF.htm?FRAMELESS=true&NRNODEGUID=%7b9DB6EE1E-4173-4ED8-A520-429777F3F4BF%7d
No comments:
Post a Comment