--- In [email protected], anon_couscous_ff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Just off the top of my head -- some comedy that possibly "demean" > some > groups and stereotypes -- but does so in the context of so many > mult-dimensional barbs aimed at many others that it is not bigoted > (these are top of my head, hypotheses - not firm arguments ) > > Jack (Will and Grace) [gays are queens] > > Pheobe (Friends) [blondes -- and women -- are ditzy] > > Gracie (Burns and Allen) [Women -- are ditzy] > > Tony (Taxi) [Italians are big, lunks with limited brains] > > Ross (Friends) [Jews are intellectual geeks] > > Latka (Taxi) [foreigners are dumb] > > Early Rachel (Friends) [Jewish suburban girls are princesses] > > All (South Park)[skewers most every one] > > Redd Foxx (Sanford and Sons ) [Blacks are uneducated, boisterous > and crude] > > Seinfeld (Jerry) [Jews are clever but whiny] > > Eddie Murphy (48 Hours) [Blacks are uppity] > > Eddie Murphy (SNL Buckwheat) [Blacks are slow and dumb] > > All (Blazing Saddles) [So many "demeaning characterizations -- > where > to start .. Blacks are lazy and shiftless, WASPS are bumbling and > corrupt, back woods hillbillies are stupid ...] > > HotLips, Hawkeye... MASH [.....] > > Ben Stiller (Meet the Fawkers,...) [Jews are .. , WASPs are ...., > Women are ..., Men are ... ] > > Eddie Murphy, (Bowfinger) [Blacks... ] > > Steve Martin (The Jerk) [Blacks,Whites ...]
I think the larger issue is that some people are AFRAID of the power of comedy to reveal truth. Look at the basic issue being *ignored* in these discussions (or the parts of them I see as a result of killfiles). The basic issue is the caste system. The original article just DEVASTATED the concept of the caste system, rather effectively. So what happened? A few people tried (successfully) to DIVERT attention away from the real subject of the parody -- the caste system and its indefensible evils -- and get people to focus on whether the style of the humor was socially acceptable. As far as I can tell, these attempts WORKED. In the posts that I can see, only Shemp kept trying to come back to the real subject -- the caste system and how much of an affront to humanity it is. Other folks got lured into the DIVERSION, and got lured into arguing with people who were (essentially) trying to dictate to them what is permissible as humor and what is not. Lesson to be learned from all this: whenever someone reacts to a joke by trying to say that the humor in the joke is politically incorrect or racist or demeaning, LOOK CLOSER. Chances are that this is a tactic, a DISTRACTION, meant to divert attention from the thing that the joke made people laugh at, and see a new side of. Kudos to Shemp for being the only one to be able to stick to the subject... To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
