They say every war has casualties, and no war has been as all-encompassing as the one that’s being waged across the globe today; sexism, racism, anti-nationalism being few of the many notions persistently targeted fueled by a seemingly endless ammunition of free speech, revolts, rallies, bans and outcries. It’s no wonder then that the collateral damage too is just as significant and grave. But perhaps one that really needs to be acknowledged is something that is just as old and precious as humanity itself, give or take a few million years: humor.
Humor as a concept is quite underplayed. We take it for granted, and treat it simply as something that provides us with a much-needed respite from our daily chores and stress. For the average human being, humor is just something that manifests itself in the form of movies and TV shows, painfully unfunny WhatsApp forwards, memes, one-liners, puns and videos of people getting kicked in the nuts, among other whathaveyous. It’s not wrong to treat humor as such, but take a long, hard look and you’ll know that humor is arguably THE most powerful means of affecting change in the society. And it’s not something that has been happening recently.
Deep within the annals of the internet are buried articles that bear witness to the fact that humor has always been used as a tool to provide commentary on the social state of a community, bringing forth its many fallacies and also victories in equal measure. Many black comedians have time and again used the power of the stage to throw light on the race relations in the United States, and one worthy of mention is comedian Dave Chappelle who, in one of his mostly widely acclaimed sketches as part of Chappelle’s Show, plays a blind white supremacist named Clayton Bigsby who’s never realized the fact that he is actually black. And he frequently embarks on hateful rants about African-Americans. Look it up, it’s freakin’ hilarious. Watch it and you’ll realize that I’m not overstating things when I say that humor changes things. It drives the point home but doesn’t bombard you with distressing imagery or messages, and doesn’t bludgeon your senses into submission and acceptance. The laugh takes away the sting. Perhaps Mary Hirsch says it best: “Humor is a rubber sword: it allows you to make a point without drawing blood”.
And this is just one of countless examples. Political satire is an old concept, one that has been in existence for long and is used during times of war, political change and strife or even in general to bring to the forefront the government’s failures and missteps in a way that the common man appreciates it, understands it, and feels empowered and informed enough to be able to do something about it if he/she so wishes.
Standup comedians have, for long, been known to push the social boundaries in terms of representing potentially taboo topics as part of their material. They generate laughs, but also create some much needed awareness towards hush-hush subjects. They don’t set out to change the world, but a lot of them end up doing so. An example closer to home is AIB. The comedy collective’s ten-episode news comedy show ‘On Air With AIB’ highlighted many issues plaguing our country; some we absolutely had no idea about, and some we are too afraid to talk about.
Hell, humor even allows you to soften the blow when it comes to delivering bad news to someone. Picture this:
*Sans Humor*
Person A: Dude, I kinda broke your phone today. Really sorry.
Person B: Goddammit. I knew it. I never should have trusted you with it. You always do this. I’ve had it with you. Get me a new one or I swear to god Bonnie and Clyde will pound your face till it’s red as a baboon’s ass. [Person B is a bit of a maniac. He named his fists Bonnie and Clyde]
*With Humor*
Person A: Dude, you would not BELIEVE what happened today! Ok, so I was walking down the street just listening to some music on my phone. Out of nowhere, this guy on a skateboard bumped into me from the side. Dude loses his balance, runs over a dog’s tail so of course it starts chasing him. Then he knocks this lady’s bag out of her hand, the veggies in her bag fall out, the dog trips on some melons, skateboarder is still flying down the street. He finally crashes into a car, goes through its window, and his ass is still hanging out, and the dog starts yanking at his pants while he tries to hold it up. It was HILARIOUS! I recorded it all on my phone. Here, take a look!
Person B: Hahahadamnthatishotstuff.
Person A: Of course he knocked your phone out of my pocket too and a car ran over it so it’s basically a hunk of useless metal now. But hey, you at least got a good laugh out of it. amirite!?
Person B: You’re damn right I did man! It’s alright, I don’t mind. It was only a super expensive phone. Totally worth the 76 seconds of laughter I got out of the situation!
Ok, that may not be how this situation might go in real life, but you get my point.
You might be thinking ‘Alright alright. Your impeccable writing skills, your sweet sweet sense of humor and your ability to draw a picture as it were have convinced me that humor is important. Even so, what exactly is the point of this article, oh wise blogger?‘ Let’s cut to the chase then.
Of late, it seems like with the rising need to cultivate sensitivity among people towards issues like sexism, racism, violence against women, religion, cultural appropriation etc., humor and consequently outlets of pop-culture have really taken a bad beating. The threshold people have for cultural representations in cinema/TV/books, edgy and probably-maybe-slightly offensive humor has taken a nosedive.
Consider the image above. It hangs outside Jimi’s Beer Cafe in Bengaluru. Clever, wouldn’t you say? A bit funny maybe? Well, it surely can’t be sexist, can it? It’s only trying to market the establishment with a bit of humor dammit! Well, apparently not. Scoopwhoop ran a rant of an article about the above image is sexist, an insult to feminism, and makes fun of women yaddayaddayadda.
REALLY? Is it though? I mean it’s just a bit of humor if nothing else. It’s very clearly meant to be a joke and not a representation of the “establishment’s regressive mindset” as the article puts it. It’s meant to catch attention and probably generate some laughs, and win over some customers. Seems to be doing its job, but it’s apparently a disgrace to women all over. Go figure.
Jumping to something that’s more up my alley: comic books! There’s been a huge controversy surrounding casting Tilda Swinton as Ancient One in Marvel’s upcoming film Doctor Strange. In the comics, Ancient One is a master of the mystic arts and, more importantly, a seemingly immortal Tibetan man. In the movie adaption, well, it’s the White Witch. Which is the bone of contention as people are accusing Marvel of whitewashing the character by not hiring an Asian actor to play the role. As I see it, Marvel would’ve had 3 ways to go:
- Hire a Tibetan actor to play the role. Which is Marvel’s main issue that if they acknowledge the character being Tibetan, they risk alienating the Chinese. And with over a billion people there, that’s not a wise movie for an entity that still, at the end of the day, needs to make money. (Still find this argument weird. Yeah China, you’ve got your beef with Tibet. Or the other way around, I should say. Why bring that nonsense into the sacrosanct world of comic books!?)
- Hire an ‘Asian’ actor to play the role and not identify the character Tibetan. Marvel gets accused of cultural appropriation. Bam.
- Hire a Chinese actor to play the role and identify the character as Tibetan. This way they’ll at least appease the Chinese. Marvel still gets accused of racial misrepresentation and generalization. Double Bam.
There’s no possible outcome that plays out favorably. Marvel seemingly took the wises possible choice. I don’t blame them for it. Hell, Tilda Swinton is a terrific actor and the best part about adapting comic books into movies is that as a filmmaker, you have the liberty of interpreting the source material in your own way. You can take creative liberties as long as it makes sense in the grand scheme of things and keeps the spirit of the story alive. But people just can’t seem to suck it up and move on.
We all know the Kiku Sharda case. No need to dig that up again.
I’m not saying everything needs to be let off the hook in the name of humor. What’s wrong is wrong. The JWT ad campaign for Ford Figo featuring caricatures of Silvio Berlusconi and three bound and gagged women in the trunk (meant to highlight the awesome boot space of the car) is one such example. Unfunny and just plain tasteless. Even so, we need to learn to lighten up a bit. Everyone got up in arms about Coldplay indulging in cultural appropriation with their portrayal of India in the video of ‘Hymn For The Weekend’. Really? What do you expect makes good material for a music video? The many skyscrapers, half-constructed flyovers and swanky malls that dot the Indian cities? Or the wide, open areas full of greenery and natural beauty that we have so much in abundance because we totally care about deforestation? I never felt like the video meant to demean our culture, or show that it’s still a third world nation. It fit the video, and it was beautiful, and it showed one side of India. Granted, as a citizen of the country you’d want artists from the West to probably the other, developed and technologically advanced side of India too, but you can’t place the burden of your expectations on one artist/band.
I’ll sign off by bringing up Amrish Puri into the conversation [Randomness. Deal with it!]. For me, he epitomizes the ‘who gives a shit’ attitude. Why? Well, for the uninitiated, he played the big baddie, Mola Ram, in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The movie has frequently been accused of a wrongful portrayal of Hinduism, especially Maa Kaali, as well the India culture. He offers human sacrifices to Kaali in the film. And there are scenes that depict Indian Royalty enjoying delicious delicacies such as eyeball soup, snakes, and chilled monkey brains for dessert. You know, like we all do.
The reason I mention this is because probably if the movie were to release today, it’d be ripped to shreds. Hindus across the world would ban it to limbo and make sure Steven Spielberg never works a day in his life. And Amrish Puri? Guy probably won’t even be allowed to set foot in India. Did I mind it? Not really. The movie might have gotten it painfully wrong, but I still love it. It was good entertainment. Those who need a reason to demean a particular culture/race/nation would do so anyway. Someone who has it for Indians and just derives great pleasure in insulting them won’t need to say’ You Indians so nasty, you eat monkey brains. Heyo!’ He’ll find some other pointless argument. For the educated, it’s clearly meant to be an exaggeration.
Here’s hoping we learn to take things the way they’re meant to be and laugh at ourselves every now and then!
Pop Culture Ramblings 