9/22

Ok, so I'm a little behind with my blogging...it's now October 1, and it's about time I get caught up. I was thumbing through my notes and realized I had some stuff I wanted to post for class on September 22, when we were focusing on various subtopics and genres. I researched a little about ethnic jokes, and here's some insight I found:

With regard to today's class, I did the reading on Ethnic Jokes, and also found a couple more interesting articles on the topic that I read up on as well. One was titled, "How Ethnic are Ethnic Jokes?" which pretty much explained that ethnic jokes seem to cater to mainstream American humor. That is, mainstream American humor tends to be white and middle class, and serves as the benchmark for all other humor. Essentially, what the majority of Americans recognize and enjoy as ethnic humor is actually pretty far removed from its ethnic roots. It seems the more ethnic comedians succeed with the mainstream, the closer they have brought their humor to mainstream customs and values. It is as if mainstream audiences do not really want ethnic values to be the main ingredient. Rather, they want ethnicity to serve as a spice that will lend new flavor to old jokes. The article gave Jewish, Native American, and Hispanic magical realism (to name a few) as examples of jokes. This article also made another interesting point, in that special interest groups (such as feminists, gays, and disabled people) are now following the lead of ethnic groups in creating their own humor as a replacement for hate speech.

In another article, titled "Ethnic Jokes: An Introduction to Race and Nationality", the author highlighted the exclusiveness of ethnic jokes. In other words, it seemed acceptable if members of one group were to make self-deprecating jokes about themselves, as opposed to mocking another member/members of an outside ethnic group. What really caught my attention in this article was the fact that academics have come up with an interesting justification for racial self-abuse. When blacks call each other "nigger", for example, they are, in a way, usurping the rhetoric of their oppressors. By making it their own, they reduce its power to hurt. I thought this point was very interesting.