but names will
It’s an interesting time to be asking what the
parameters are when it comes to comedy about
race and ethnicity in Australia. Post September
11, Australia continues the “battle to fight terrorism”, make decisions about contributing to
foreign aid and negotiate its policies surrounding immigration and refugees. The Cronulla
Riots hang above our heads, India’s response
to the treatment of taxi drivers… and before all
this, the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 also
known informally as the White Australia policy. The term used for the policy of restricted
non-European immigration to Australia from
1901 to 1973.
Traditional forms of media continue to represent issues and everybody seems to have
very strong opinions on social media. We often
criticise our politicians for not having a stance…
Fear of racism is on our national radar, and racial and ethnic jokes have become increasingly
socially unacceptable or socially taboo. But
what does this all mean for practicing comedians? And who should be telling the jokes?
Comedy worldwide has always engaged with
notions of race and ethnicity. It’s safe to assume
jokes to do with race, culture and ethnicity have
existed since people first noticed they were
different from one another, when ethnocentrism
and a sense of ethnic identity first appeared.
Australia, in particular, has a rich history of
immigration and multiculturalism. As new waves
of immigrants try to find their place in Australian
society, comedy has been outlet for people to
make sense of it all.
On the global comedy scale many are familiar
with iconic performances dealing with race and
ethnicity. Whether it be John Cleese imitating
the Germans, Eddie Murphy, the classic jokeirishman, scot and english… In Australia, and
with our most recent past, ethnicity has been
explored in television shows and productions
such as Comedy company, Wog Boys, Acropolis Now, And the comedy act ‘Fear of a Brown
Planet’, which burst onto the scene in 2008.
Social impact of Ethnic jokes
Research highlighted by several academics
in international contexts shows that there are
varying degrees of impact from ethnic jokes and
the use of ethnic stereotyping, where most of
the time the comedy poses no serious threat to
people, leading to the argument according to
Davies that derogatory ethnic jokes don’t always indicate hostility or hatred of the targeted
group.
He maintains that ethnic jokes are usually told
and enjoyed for their own sake because they’re
clever and entertaining and can provide a
momentary sense of amusing superiority even
among those who may belong to the group
being ridiculed.
In the study where a large sample of ethnic
jokes were scrutinised, it became clear that
they were mainly about the behaviour of ethnic
groups that deviated from commonly accepted
social norms or values. The conclusion was that
ethnic jokes and comedy routines amuse large
audiences because they emphasise common
human foibles appreciated by everyone.
The point of the jokes, he claims, is n