For my blog post I wanted to focus on On the limits of Satire. In this article Krefting talks about Hannah Gadsby who is a comedian that tackles issues such as gender violence, sexual assault, and homophobia, and she uses satire to push the boundaries during her show to talk about topics that others are afraid to speak about (Krefting 93). What I found interesting about this is Gadsby says satire is frustrating for her because comedy is suppose to be funny but satire doesn't allow for her to fully explain her story so when she began pushing the limits on satire, that is when she received the most attention because she really began to speak on topics others won't (Krefting 95).
When reading this article all I could think about was other comedians that have received backlash for their use of satire and I thought of Kevin Hart and Dave Chapelle. More recently there has been an uproar with Dave Chapelle because he just did a special on Netflix where he said a lot of transphobic jokes and it has made a lot of people upset especially because Netflix won't take it down. But what has been interesting for me is that there has been a lot of arguments on social media where people aren't exactly defending him but mentioning how Dave makes jokes about different races and social issues going on and no one was fighting for that but that now he made jokes about transgender people and that is worse than everything else. It makes me wonder the limits other people think comedians should have and if there are certain topics comedians should just stop talking about it all.
Hey Amina,
ReplyDeleteWe had the exact same thoughts about the Hannah Gadsby reading in relation to the new Dave Chapelle Netflix special. I found it interesting that you brought up the topic of limits. More specifically, what are the limits that comedians are allowed to go to. Many people have argued that there should be no limits at all. I'm not sure if I agree with that notion. I would also argue that this solution would not fix the problem at hand. Rather I think other comedians should use the methods of Gadsby to hold other comedians accountable. I think the use of satire to talk about global issues, or really any conflict, would be the best route for comedians. While many comedians use satire I feel like most do not jump into it as deep as Gadsby. I would argue that if more comedians drew the line with satire, the Chapelle issue could have been squashed before it arose. So no, I do not think comedians should not stop talking about hard subjects. Rather they should use their platform and performative styles to shed light and bring awareness to them.
I touched on a lot of the same points in my blog post too, and I am sure many others did as well considering how timely the Chappelle controversy is to the reading this week. I have also wondered what the limits are for comedians to tell jokes. I think the problem is the line to cross differs between people and you can not please everybody. I wonder why comedians are getting more heat than they used to, is it because people are speaking up about their feelings being hurt more?
ReplyDeleteHey Amina,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think that it is a good thing that Hannah Gadsby uses satire to tell others how she truly feels about those topics. In a time of heightened sensitivity about various topics, it is easy to limit your voice/views when you may face cancellation. If satire is allowing her to do this, I think it is awesome.
When it comes to Dave Chappelle, he does the same thing, just in a different direction than Gadsby. Although the jokes may be offensive to many groups, I believe this is his way of saying how he truly feels. Just because people disagrees with him does not mean it should be taken off of Netflix. Almost all groups were made fun of in some way during his special. Just because you are the most offended by one topic does not provide grounds for removal, in my opinion. Additionally, I think the more limits placed on comedy, the worse our nation will become in terms of allowing free speech.