Women in comedy:
I wanted to share one of my favorite shows
recently it's called "Nanette," and it's by Hannah Gadsby's. Ms.
Gadsby, an Australian comedian, is the creator of “Nanette,” a stage show
Netflix special that is showing her anger about how women and queer people like
her, and anyone else who might behave or look “other" get treated,
excluded and silenced. She is truthful about the abuse that she has been
through as a lesbian and the cultural norms that enabled it. She calls out men,
powerful and otherwise. In “Nanette” Ms. Gadsby explains that while a story has
three parts beginning, middle, and end, a joke only has two, setup and end
line. There is, therefore, no satisfying conclusion to a joke, she says, the
audience’s laughter notwithstanding.
She also says that
she has built a career out of self-deprecating humor and that doesn't want to
do it anymore. She says “do you understand what self-deprecation means from
somebody who already exists in the margins? It’s not humility. It’s
humiliation. I put myself down to speak, to seek permission to speak. And I
will not do that anymore. Not to myself, or to anybody who identifies with me.”
(Gadsby,2018).Gadsby makes us
ask: Who is defining what’s funny? Who is being allowed to speak? What
perspectives are we including? Those questions bring us to our previous
readings and asking who set the rules and say what is right or wrong. Watching
Gadsby, made me think of the many women who’ve come forward in recent months
with stories of abuse that were years old. You could consider the #MeToo moment
itself as a kind of callback, collective stories that women have been telling
one way to others, to themselves with a new understanding and feeling empowered
not as victims. For other women, the #MeToo moment was not the first time they
had spoken out; it was only the first time that they were getting attention and
be believed. This is the most vital way in which “Nanette” reflects the events
of the past year.
Over the past
decade, the comedy community has shared a series of statements, from excising
the speech that women aren’t funny, to grappling with sexual assault
allegations against Louis C.K., to the culture-wide reassessment of the women
who had accused Bill Cosby of assault which began from a single comedy routine
by Hannibal Buress. (Romano,2018).The moment that
hit this entire era of comedy came in 2012, when comedian Daniel Tosh, known
for his involvement to rape jokes when doing standup, took things too far by
telling an audience member during a set that she should be gang-raped.
(Romano,2018) This moment sparked ongoing discussion and backlash within the
world of comics that, it’s important to see how comedians like Tosh are
building their careers on similar jokes.
Gadsby understands
that the point at which comedy breaks down is the point at which its abstract
ideas have to fight with physical reality with the identities and lived
experiences of real people. Comedy is well-known for sharing people stories and
experiences. But when marginalized comedians take the stage, far too often,
their means for being heard runs on self-deprecating humor. But Gadsby isn’t
interested in being doing this anymore as she is saying that her comedy
couldn’t protect her from being the victim of hate crimes, or self-hatred and
sexual assault.
Habiba, thanks for suggesting this Netflix comedy special. I would have missed it. What stuck to me the most was Hannah’s discussion on how certain histories and perspectives are ignored (i.e. Monica Lewinsky and the painter’s partners) while others are glorified and popularized. Her discussion on the construction of comedy and self-deprecation challenged my past time experiences and interests in comedy. It seems to be connected to our postcolonial discussions on knowledge production.
ReplyDeleteFirst, it’s easy to look up to someone who was talented like the painters she mentioned, especially when they are glorified for the obstacles they overcome and their accomplishments, and ignore how they treated women. In a way, history can be absolute and held in a vacuum, so people ignore the malice behind people with this constructed and historical prestige, power, and reputation. But it is necessary, right? We need to protect Cubism and political figures! I guess this issue is why we need people like Hannah to deconstruct history so that we can recover marginalized voices.
Second, I could not wrap my mind around the issue of self-deprecation. For starters, in my teenage years, I had an interest in George Lopez because I connected with his Latino comedy. I thought one of his jokes about Mexican-drive-thru attendants was hilarious. I still do. But it makes fun of the accents of people who are marginalized in work spaces. There are tons of comedians that still do this. But I find it difficult to stop this form of comedy. Also, I do not understand if she called for a stop in this form of comedy or to simply deconstruct it. If it’s the former, I find it difficult to do. If it’s the latter, then who will and will not listen?
This post dug into some of the questions I have about the nature of comedy and I could go on. I appreciate your post.
Hi Habiba,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. I have recently watched Nanette and I found it very powerful and impactful in many ways. So far, it is one of the most powerful examinations of gender, sexuality, power, and resilience I have ever watched. And it is also very timely. I completely agree with you that it is a must watch! You will laugh, learn, and likely cry.
Hello Habiba, thanks for sharing this post. I can totally relate to the fact that most of the time when making jokes, I tend to be self-deprecating.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to comedy, people tend to find what doesn't affect them as funny. I mean you find that male comedians tend to freely tell rape jokes, violence jokes, or sexual assault jokes because these are the things they don't live fearing. And since the comedy industry has recently been structured to be male dominated, the audience too became predominantly male that even reviewers were male. In the end, women were given backlash that they weren't funny because they don't tend to tell rape jokes.
When it comes to marginalized women: LGBT+ and POC, you find that there is also double marginalization and prejudice. When black women do comedy, talk loud, act aggressively on stage they are condemned and labeled as ghetto. But this does not apply to either a white woman or Latina woman who would be labeled as real and a great performer. Comedicans such as Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Whitney Cummings, have come out to speak about white male privilege in the industry. While comedians such as Wanda Sykes, Whoopie Goldberg, and Tiffany Haddish have to deal with the double discrimination of being women of colour. In this case, they have to deal with creating content that's not self-deprecating but at the same time that's what people find to be funny. Such prejudice goes across so many fields where even in the #MeToo movement, POC have to work twice as hard to be heard and represented.
In the end, this space is dominated by men who also are the critiques of the work produced. This is not surprising that women are given negative reviews and claimed to not be as funny. When looking at comedic TV shows such as SNL and The daily show, you find that there is male dominance on screen but reports have been published that indicate the many women backstage who write the beloved humorous scripts.