Umberto Eco argues that a “carnival is revolution (or revolution is carnival): kings are decapitated (that is, lowered, made inferior) and the crowd is crowned.”[1] The prime example of this is the real time invasion of the Capitol Hill by trump supporters on January 6, 2021. These rioters transgressed the rules and created their own chaotic carnival in a state of temporary liberation. The Capitol Hill is a symbol of American democracy and order, which makes its intrusion unacceptable and highly ironic. For an audience who experienced this vicariously, seeing the storming of the Capitol Hill resulted in a sense of disbelief coupled with “comic pleasure.” What was amusing or comical was the intensity of the mob in creating a scene of absolute uncontrolled anarchy in a matter of a few minutes. The revolt was equivalent to an unexpected carnival or what Eco calls “nonauthorized carnivalization.” It also fits in with Eco’s definition of “comic effect,” involving the violation of a rule and subsequent lack of sympathy towards the transgressors.
The mob took control, altering the usual power dynamics between the masses and the law enforcers or the police. This directly aligns with Eco’s discussion about the carnival as a “natural theatre” in which “animal like beings take over the power and become masters.” The police’s inability to control the crowd also presented a loss of authority, which most memes examined. Some of the rioters were dressed in fur, horns and had painted faces, adding to the carnivalesque and animal-like imagery of the entire scene. One of the memes compares the rioters to jokers with painted faces while another compares a rioter to Chewbacca from Star Wars. The connection between fictitious characters and real people highlights the carnival-like nature of the uprising. Ultimately, the rioters were sentenced reminding us of the punishment given to the rascal in early film comedy. In this instance, the rioters were disruptive to the narrative and turned it around completely.
[1] Umberto Eco, “The frames of comic ‘freedom’,” Carnival (Amsterdam: de Gruyter, 1989), 1-9.
This is a very cool way to look at Eco’s reading and a great example choice. The Jan 6 rioters are often a divisive topic so i dont think people can actually appreciate how genuinely funny their militant disorder was. The guy smiling while stealing a podium goes on to say that he did not know anything he was doing was illegal, the weird shaman dude talking about how prisons wont accommodate his vegan diet, it’s the perfect meeting of the lack of sympathy the audience feels for them, you referenced, as well as earlierf week’s ideas about control and consciousness, as these people deluded themselves into thinking they were taking part in a meaningful demonstration.