In William Youmans’ article, Humor Against Hegemony: Al-Hurra, Jokes, and the Limits of American Soft Power, he considers humor theory and some of the concepts that are built into it. Specifically, Youmans discusses the American television station Al-Hurra, or “the free one” which is located in the Middle East as a source for American propaganda and influence in the region. The theories that Youman’s employs is applied to his studies on the reactions of both the employees and viewers of the station, however, they can also be applied to American, popular culture and humor. The comedian, Maz Joubrani and the other Axis of Evil comedians use humor in order to defuse a certain negative or hostile attitude toward Muslims after September 11 and to highlight injustices that they face.
In one of his comedy routines Joubrani compares Arabs and Iranians. He begins his act by explaining that his friends often assume that because he is Iranian he identifies himself as Arab. When they find out that he does not feel this way, they ask, “Well, how can we tell you apart?” His routine explains the differences between Arabs and Iranians first by showing a similarity but then by showing differences. One of the first things that he does is suggest that all people in the Middle East are being “shot at”. He is referencing the fact that the United States is in the Middle East, but does not seem to be able to differentiate between different types of Middle Eastern people, but considers them threatening simply because they are Arab. However, his delivery and execution of the joke because it has truth to it, get people laughing and make a serious situation feel less serious by acknowledging the ridiculous nature of the situation.
Another aspect of Joubrani’s explanation of the difference between Arabs and Iranians is the way that they speak. He exaggerates the ways in which Arabs and Iranians talk, saying that Iranians speak much slower and are much more friendly than Arabs who speak much more quickly and harshly. Using his “Arab accent” he says, “Arab, Arab talk a lot faster, Arab a lot faster…” One thing that Joubrani does really effectively is poke fun at Arabs while still making those members of the audience feel good about what he is saying. Joubrani executes his performance in a perfect way by highlighting the stereotype often put in the media that Arabs are in general, a violent intense and emotional people. He acts out his Arab friends, who when asked about their ethnicities scream out that they are “ARAB!” He uses stereotypes as the humor, and without saying it directly, highlights how absurd these notions are by getting his audience to laugh with him.
Joubrani’s and rest of the Axis of Evil tour’s approach to post- 9/11 stereotypes and issues that people of Arab and Muslim descent have to deal with, is one of the most effective. It allows a group of people to collectively acknowledge situations, stereotypes and difficulties that the majority of the group faces and laugh at the way that they are understood or treated by the population. This form of “counter culture” is very interesting because the dominant rhetoric of the time was to make fun of Arabs through vehicles like Saturday Night Live or highlight indiscretion on the news. Joubrani’s approach to changing the rhetoric is best exemplified by Henri Bergon’s theory that humor can be “a functional form of ‘scorn and humiliation’ intended to correct certain transgressions.” That is to say, the tour highlights transgressions and conclusions that people have made about the Arabic community based on the actions of a certain group of people. The tour intends to bring these issues to light through comedy and hope that people become more aware.
No comments:
Post a Comment