During election season, Americans often feel more exhausted than excited about exercising their right to vote. Political discussions can be very controversial and people avoid talking about it even among friends.
The ability to embarrass politicians through ridicule and satire is also a historic right, enshrined in the First Amendment. The essential line uttered by Benjamin Franklin became entrenched in the public consciousness long after he commented on a specific incident during the American Revolution.
Jamario
“Political life has been full of laughs for a while now,” says Dr. Patrick Jamario, associate professor of political science at UNC Greensboro. He explores the evolution of political humor in his book Laughter as Politics: Critical Theory in a Hilarious Age.
Jamario said the fear surrounding the upcoming election and general instability in society has fueled his desire for humor. “This is a sign of the times, where we have so much more available,” he says.
His term “age of hilarity” seeks to understand the dissemination and democratization of humor facilitated by decentralized and accessible technology and media platforms.
“In the 19th century, the main form of political humor was cartoons, some of which were very good, biting, and powerful,” he says. “The 20th century saw late-night TV hosts and a few comedians do comedy specials on HBO, which brings us to where we are today. Everyone is obsessed with X-memes and trolls. They can make funny videos on TikTok, which I think is exciting in some ways and worrying in others.”
The impact of laughter on political engagement
For his research, Jamario studied comedic philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes and contemporary comedic figures such as Hannah Gadsby. He posed the question: Is laughing at politics always beneficial, or can it do more harm than good?
Benjamin Franklin and James Gilroy were prominent caricaturists of the 18th century. Franklin’s 1754 “Join or Die” presents Franklin’s call for united action by the colonies against Great Britain. British cartoonist Gilroy painted the “American Rattlesnake” in 1782 to represent the decisive colonial victory at the Battle of Yorktown. “Laughter as politics”
“The philosophical and historical lineage of this concept is that when we laugh at politicians and political debates, no matter what political party they belong to, we are freeing ourselves from them and refusing to be governed.” “It’s going to happen,” Jamario said. It could be more complicated, he says. “I reconsidered this traditional philosophical question of, ‘Should we take things more seriously, or should we laugh more about them?'” focused on how to get involved. ”
One problem he found is that comedy can reinforce harmful stereotypes and discriminatory practices. But even if the humor is aimed at bigotry or social controversy, he says it can undermine the audience’s motivation to participate in activism and other forms of change. He explained: “When people laugh, it can temporarily make them feel better. Then they think they can put that anger aside.”
Jamario seeks to reconfigure laughter as a political “field” in society. “The experience of laughter highlights, and in some cases exacerbates, the vulnerabilities and fissures in our shared social environment,” he says. “For example, we might laugh when something doesn’t feel quite right or when something unexpected happens. That’s a site of conflict and uncertainty. And that’s where politics happens. .”
shake things up
Political humor has expanded from cartoons in pamphlets to stand-up specials on streaming networks. One person with a camera and a TikTok or Twitch account can grow as much of an audience as someone with a million-dollar TV studio and a Hollywood agent. The use of likes and shares on social media can turn political views into competition.
Jamario says people should pay attention to the situations in which humor occurs. “A lot of humor ends up being just entertainment,” he says. “Late night TV hosts making fun of the president may sound subversive or transgressive because they are making fun of the most powerful person in the country. That can be quite ironic. Unfortunately, I think a lot of political humor has been lost in the last decade.”
In researching his book Laughter as Politics, Jamario studied the work of classic humorists such as Thomas Hobbes, as well as modern satirists such as comedian Hannah Gadsby.
When considering how the public enjoys political humor, Jamario advises people to approach it with intention and introspection. Does humor influence behavior? Are prejudices involved? Does humor hinder our motivation to act on our beliefs and push for change when needed?
“The promise of laughter is its aesthetic effect,” Jamario says. “It literally shakes people up in a physical sense. It shakes them up out of their traditional existing ways of thinking, whether it’s social, political, religious, or anything else.”
Jamario will continue to explore the nuances of political engagement. He is currently writing a book about deception in politics. For now, during this election year, he’s encouraging voters to think critically and stay engaged even if they feel burnt out.
“There is no easy path in politics,” Jamario says. “Whether you realize it or not, you’re always involved in it. The question becomes, ‘How do you want to approach it?'”
Article by Janet Imrick, University Communications Department
Photo from AdobeStock
Additional photos courtesy of Edinburgh University Press and Ari Goldstein, Netflix
