Some things are too serious for satire
“I realize humor is subjective, but there is one categorically unfunny thing about Gadsby’s remonstrations against sexism, gender violence, and homophobia in Nannette. That she had to say it at all.” -Rebecca Krefting
Rebecca Krefting writes a brilliant review of Hannah Gadsby’s standup show on Netflix, Nannette. She notes how some people have critiqued the show because they think it might be too serious or too angry at times to be considered “true” stand up comedy. These critics, she claims, miss the point of Nannette.
She notes how satire, the comedy form used by stand-up comedians, is a limiting structure for promoting social change. By making jokes about serious things, the comedian is often able to bring light to serious matters that need to be discussed. But these matters are usually forgotten and not seriously dealt with because of the way the audience is supposed to laugh things off.
What is really neat about Hannah Gadsby is, that she uses satire in her show, to criticize the form of satire and stand-up comedy that does not actually bring about social change. It is pretty mind blowing in an inception (the movie) type way.
She skates the line of being both funny and serious, and because of that she is critiqued for being too serious or not actually being a comedian. Because of this, I think she succeeds in her attempt to promote social change. The style in which she uses draws so much interest and argument/debate that the message which she wants to pass on is heard over and over again.
Nanette is a captivating and inspiring show, and like its critics say, it definitely is not just a stand up comedy. It is way more than that.
I thought it was so important that you pointed out how Gadsby turns satire on its head and uses it in a very (I think the word you're looking for here is "Meta" though I did get the inception reference) meta way. I think it's also so important to note that she is successfully using her show to promote social change. My research for my final project has led me to some writing about social justice in comedy which is starting to become more popular in our modern day, that social justice and comedy can actually be a really effective pairing.
ReplyDeleteIt is way more than just a stand up comedy show! The use of jumping back and fourth from jokes to serious issues is pure genius. It takes it to a level that I didn't knew existed before. Social change is such a touchy subject and so hard to get the attention it needs.
ReplyDeleteI too am working on social change in comedy for my final project and finding a ton of new information and people that have started using this platform as well. I hope the this new trend will continue to grow and more comedians will use this approach.
You've got a nice conversation going on here about what happens when comedy (or any kind of text, I guess?) becomes so meta--keeps talking about itself or at least its relationship to its genre.
ReplyDeletePosting this for Cara, who is still having difficulties getting her comments to post: "I completely agree that it is and stands for way more than just a comedy show. I liked how you included the discussion of Satire, both how Gadsby used it, and how it may be used in a different way. You also made a good point that taking serious situations and making jokes out of them does bring light to the matter, however it does not make it memorable, and that's where the problem occurs. Nice blog post!"
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