#this is the one time a transphobic comment has actually made me laugh hysterically | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lunapaper · 4 years

Photo

(Photo Credit: Natalie Piserchio)

So there I was a few weeks ago, ready to write a review of Sad13’s new video for ‘Hysterical’...

And then I read about the inspiration behind the track:

‘I think there were three comedians in really short proximity last year who made some kind of claim that comedy isn’t funny anymore and they can’t work in it because “PC culture” and “cancel culture” have made things unfunny. I think one was Todd Phillips in promoting Joker, he was like, I won’t do comedy because the feminists have destroyed it [laughs]. This was around the time that Hari Kondabolu — who did The Problem With Apu — was getting death threats again because they finally decided to relent on that character in The Simpsons.

‘It’s just a common refrain that, to me, is ironic. I never had a big interest in comedy growing up because it was always not for me. It was intentionally shutting women out or making them the butt of jokes that just weren’t good. As comedy has become more inclusive, I’m actually interested in it now and was able to get some of my favorite people in comedy to be in this music video.’

Now, I love Sad13 and Speedy Ortiz. I consider Major Arcana one of my favourite albums. I appreciate all the good work she does for charity, and her latest solo record, Haunted Painting, is filled with scuzzy synthpop gems. But as a snarky, cynical bitch who’s always loved comedy, I have mixed feelings about Sadie’s statement.

I’ve never hid the fact that my own sense of humour can be dark, filthy and twisted. I grew up with such ‘problematic’ fare as South Park, Chapelle’s Show, Drawn Together and American Dad, and although I had female friends, my immediate family is mostly made up of boys. I’ve - thankfully - never felt intentionally shut out of comedy, and if I was I’d still be trying to force my way in, no matter what. Hell, there are episodes of King of the Hill I still enjoy that would probably make a Zoomer blush (That said, the Season 12 episode, ‘Tears of an Inflatable Clown’ should be required viewing).

I can’t help but find Sadie’s view of comedy rather vague and simplistic. Also, Todd Phillips never said ‘feminists’ ruined comedy, so that’s just plain misleading. Here’s what he actually said:

‘Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture […] There were articles written about why comedies don’t work anymore—I’ll tell you why, because all the fucking funny guys are like, ‘Fuck this shit, because I don’t want to offend you.’ It’s hard to argue with 30 million people on Twitter. You just can’t do it, right? So you just go, ‘I’m out.’ I’m out, and you know what? With all my comedies—I think that what comedies in general all have in common—is they’re irreverent. So I go, ‘How do I do something irreverent, but fuck comedy? Oh I know, let’s take the comic book movie universe and turn it on its head with this.’ And so that’s really where that came from.’

We should be able to condemn racist, sexist, homophobic or transphobic behaviour without having to strip away the essence of comedy itself. If executed well, it - like a lot of satire and parody - can be very funny. It’s more than just doing something to be edgy or for shock value, which is just cheap and lazy.

But the problem nowadays – on Twitter, on Instagram, on any site with a comment section, really – is that there’s no room for nuance or context. We seem to thrive on twisting each other's words and being deliberately obtuse. Everything is so black and white. You’re either with us or against us; there is no in between. And because of this, meaningful criticism ends up being dismissed.

It’s frustrating that we’ve come to a point where most of us feel like we’re walking on eggshells trying not to offend. But it seems like such an impossible task nowadays, like walking a tightrope with a bunch of sharks waiting for you at the bottom should you fall (and you will eventually fall). It’s even more impossible trying to impose a set of criteria on comedy, or on any artform.

If we remove anything that could be potentially ‘offensive’ from comedy, then we’re only left with... what, episodes of Degrassi? Turning every stand-up routine and sitcom script into a Very Special Episode, just moralising or pandering to the viewers, or – God forbid – be stuck with shitty Jimmy Fallon sketches and Carpool Karaoke? Life is so brutal and soul-crushing at the moment, we need comedy more than ever to cope.

Humour, even of the offensive variety, is usually born from a place of pain. It can help us navigate through grief and unleash our anger. It can help us form bonds. It can hold a mirror up to ourselves. Comedy, at times, should make us uncomfortable. There’s a big difference between making a tasteless joke and being a dick, and I think most people can grasp that (at least I hope they can).

Face it, the best jokes are usually taboo or absurd or just all-out inappropriate, even if we don’t want to admit it. What we laugh about online is gonna be a lot different to what we laugh about in private with friends. But because we laugh doesn’t mean we endorse it, either. And that’s why it’s so important to keep perspective.

Sadie’s comments also bother me because they subtly perpetuate yet another stereotype – that ‘offensive comedy’ is primarily the domain of men.

Men have a higher tolerance for dirty jokes and innuendo, while women wilt at the mere thought. Women can only be vulgar within approved boundaries and only in a way that’s ‘empowering,’ because everything we do has to be goddamn ‘empowering’ somehow, which just feels patronising. Only guys get to relax and shoot the shit. Women don’t watch shows like South Park or Chappelle’s Show or American Dad, and if they do, well then, they’re not ‘true’ feminists or just ‘cool girls’ trying to score brownie points with the boys. Usually, it’s upper-middle class progressives and certain male feminists of Twitter who seemingly dictate these rules, at least in my experience.

Do some people use comedy as a way to confirm their biases? Of course. But it didn’t make them bigoted; they were already bigoted in the first place.

Laughing at an offensive joke isn’t going to make me support refugees or multiculturalism or LGBT+ or women’s rights any less. It’s not going to make me stop calling out racism or xenophobia, or stop me from demanding action on climate change or gun control.

I’m tired of some people trying to suggest that my sense of humour is somehow tied to my morality, that I must have *internalised misogyny* or I’m being contrarian, or that it must mean I’m a cruel and nasty person. I don’t go out of my way to say hurtful things to others. Sometimes a joke is just a joke, not a true reflection of my thoughts or feelings.

Sadie can have whatever taste in comedy she likes, but it’s not fair, in my opinion, to paint it with such an incredibly broad brush...

#music #sad13 #speedy ortiz #hysterical #haunted painting #longform #opinion

1 note · View note