I keep meaning to share this with you guys and forgetting, so here it is: “Things Asians Hate,” by comedian Eliot Chang. Some of the assumptions underlying these questions relate to the readings we’ve done on defining “Asian,” which are very much tied to understandings of nationality, origin, and otherness that are based upon preconceived notions of “Americanness” and “otherness.”
Would love to hear reactions to this as a text and the use of humor as a form of critique.
Anne, I forgot to respond to one of the class posts yesterday, but seeing this post, I’d rather respond here if that’s okay.
“What’s MSG?” That one was probably my favorite. I could watch this video a few more times without getting tired of it. Along with his facial expressions, this guy has a really, really classic delivery. His intonations are just perfect. In response to your post, I love humor, especially satire (which is sort of going on here?), when it comes to effectively critiquing something. I think it works better than other forms because it causes viewers to reconsider their actions, ideologies, and/or other modes through laughter. If you laugh at a video like this, you are essentially agreeing that there is a certain lowness/stupidity/irrationality to the stuff being mocked. In this way, humor as a critique is sort of mercilessly aggressive because an immediate and generally uncontrollable response, laughter, of the viewer determines the agreement of that viewer with the argument the comedian is implicitly making. I hope that makes sense.
I love this! The trend that “S*it Girls Say”started is really unfortunate, because it has been used to emphasize stereotypes in a way we are expected to laugh at and take in stride. This video and others like it accomplish the opposite, pointing out the offensive nature of such stereotypes in a silly but poignant way. It’s a much better use of someone’s comedic talents.