In Mary Douglas’ essay she suggests that jokes are used in relation to power structures as a way of challenging the nature of authority. This notion of ‘punching up’ can be found across the spectrum of comedy from satire, stand-up and sit-coms.
There is an agreement amongst several academics like Freud, Bergson, and Douglas that jokes have the power to challenge systems of power whilst liberating and uniting those who are making the jokes. Freuds’ theory of relating jokes to the unconscious acknowledgement of hidden desires perhaps speaks to this notion of quietly rebelling against the situations one is powerless to control.
Punching up is a comedic mode that has become synonymous with contemporary comedy and controversies surrounding it. There is now and has been for several generations of comedians the idea of the socially conscious comic.
As far back as the 60s comedians like Lennie Bruce would serve time in prison for, amongst less admirable things, saying outrageous things on stage whilst highlighting systems of oppression in America. The irreverent Eddie Izzard in an article for The Guardian about Lennie Bruce said: ‘He died so alternative comedy could live. Everyone can say motherfucker because of him.’ Many have followed in using jokes to address power structures in society. There is ample evidence to support Mary Douglas’ claim.
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However, this idea of speaking truth to power can also be used little more than a mask for the reaffirmation of power structures by targeting the marginalised. Another purpose of jokes that Douglas writes about.
Often offensive jokes are just this: a thinly veiled attack on marginalised groups. In a recent stand-up special James Acaster made a poignant remark about Ricky Gervais’ jokes about the trans community and ‘edgy comedians’ in general in what is a very solid and pretty meta example of challenging power structures through jokes.
Thank you very much for discussing this, I found it to be heavily on my mind while reading the texts for the week. It is simply wild to me that someone like Gervais might cite George Carlin as an influence and yet do the exact opposite of what he stood for.
I think perhaps there should be an analysis on how our current cultural forces frame the purposes of comedy and view the dynamics of “punching up/down” now that seemingly everyone has their own definition of what that means and when one shifts to the other.
I think you bring up a great point about the thin line between freedom of speech in comedy and this power being abused in order to target oppressed groups. When this is done, comedy verges on bullying. With the example of Ricky Gervais, he is a person in a position of power and privilege attacking a group that is already experiencing enough struggles without him making jokes that belittle their very existence. I think your example of James Acaster calling Gervais out for this is a great example of Douglas’ point of power structure being challenged by the joker figure.
I think you bring up a great point about the thin line between freedom of speech in comedy and this power being abused in order to target oppressed groups. When this is done, comedy verges on bullying. With the example of Ricky Gervais, he is a person in a position of power and privilege attacking a group that is already experiencing enough struggles without him making jokes that belittle their very existence. I think your example of James Acaster calling Gervais out for this is a great example of Douglas’ point of power structure being challenged by the joker figure.
This is an issue that is very near and dear to my heart as a comedy fan. Dave Chappelle is indisputably one of the greatest comics of all time, and on his last Netflix special, he went full-on unhinged JK Rowling-style transphobic. It’s frustrating when someone like Chappelle, who has multiple bits about race relations and police abuse in America, then turns his attention to attacking trans people, looking down the camera and verbatim saying “I am a TERF.” It’s enraging really, and it forces us to Douglas’ question, “Is the percep-
tion of a joke culturally determined so that the anthropologist must take it on trust when a joke has been made?” (92) Also: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E53rzsBVgAMrYCo.jpg
Jimmy Carr’s ‘joke’ about the holocaust is another example of this ‘you can’t say anything anymore’ punching down- the supposed subversion of expectations just involves saying that the murder of Romani people by the Nazi’s was positive. There is no real subversion or commentary here, just a reaffirmation of relatively mainstream racist attitudes. Very edgy.