Asian American Humor the Power of Disruptive Laughter in Literature and Media
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Asian American Humor The Power of Disruptive Laughter in Literature and Media by Elizabeth Moser B.A. in English, May 2009, Boston University M.A. in English, October 2012, Rutgers University A Dissertation submitted to The Faculty of The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 19, 2019 Dissertation directed by Patricia P. Chu Associate Professor of English The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of the George Washington University certifies that Elizabeth Moser has passed the Final Examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy as of April 10, 2019. This is the final and approved form of the dissertation. Asian American Humor The Power of Disruptive Laughter in Literature and Media Elizabeth Moser Dissertation Research Committee: Patricia P. Chu, Associate Professor of English, Dissertation Director Kavita Daiya, Associate Professor of English, Committee Member Gayle Wald, Professor of English and American Studies, Committee Member ii © Copyright 2019 by Elizabeth Moser All rights reserved iii Dedication To my family, whose stories taught me that laughter is, indeed, the very best medicine. iv Acknowledgments Like laughter itself, projects like this are only possible because of others. I want to thank my dissertation committee for their understanding and unending support. Over the past five years my director Patty Chu gave me the inspiration to tackle the neglected subject of humor, guided my research, helped me polish my ideas, and whittled away hours together sharing our love of stories. My first reader Kavita Daiya always paired her insightful feedback with support and enthusiasm for my project. Gayle Wald, Christine So, and Marshall Alcorn volunteered their time and ideas and provided guidance that helped me sharpen my ideas and strengthen my argument. I also want to thank the faculty and university staff for providing the support to make this project a success. Connie Kibler and Linda Terry always lent a hand and answered my questions, Tara Wallace and Nicole Davidson guided me through the dissertation process, and Alexa Joubin helped me see the big picture of my project. Much thanks to my colleagues in the 2016-2017 Postcolonial, Race, Gender and Migration Reading Group for giving me advice on how to adapt my ideas for conferences and to the Association for Asian American Studies for giving me a venue to present my ideas over the past three years. Thanks to all of my colleagues, especially Patrick Henry, Vicki Barnett-Woods and Alan Montroso, for being such fantastic guides and models. Very special thanks to Sam Yates, my Ph.D. partner, who helped me keep pace throughout this marathon. Thank you to the students of my "Protest and Resistance" class, who responded to my ideas with profound creativity and insight. And thank you to George Washington University for its generous financial support; through their stipends and fellowships this project was made possible. v Finally, thank you to my family, who has never once doubted me on my journey. Thank you, Chris Moser, my father, and Carol Sands, my mother, for your support, inspiration, and for teaching me to set my eyes on the stars. vi Abstract of Dissertation Asian American Humor The Power of Disruptive Laughter in Literature and Media This project aims to increase interest and awareness of Asian American humor in literature and media, a subject that has so far been neglected by critics and the general public. "Asian American Humor" expands upon the work of established Asian American literary scholars and their efforts to analyze and promote texts of political and cultural resistance. This dissertation widens the field's scope to include humorous works and to provide critiques and remedies to political, social and literary problems. On one hand, the project demonstrates how humor resists dominant nationalist power structures, racial stereotyping, and limitations imposed by traditional literary conventions and entertainment distribution methods. On the other hand, it argues that humor offers remedies to these issues. Humor can be a reparative tool that helps individuals and communities heal colonial wounds and reclaim agency. Humor can create opportunities for representational resistance through new genres and politically progressive counter memories. And lastly, humor can cultivate a safe and validating environment in order to share painful experiences and create opportunities for understanding and solidarity with others. More broadly, this project seeks to do more than just analyze humor through the lens of major Asian American literary debates. It also investigates ways to use humor to bolster the voices of writers and performers and create opportunities for healing and recovery, agency and growth while still promoting the reformation of political and social institutions. vii Table of Contents Dedication ........................................................................................................................ iv Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... v Abstract .......................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures .................................................................................................................. ix Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 1: Mythic Resistance: The Reparative Comedy of the Philippine Trickster Hero....................................................................................................... 17 Chapter 2: Laughing Under Duress: Representational Resistance in Detention Narratives ............................................................................................................. 70 Chapter 3: American Sitcom 2.0: Racial Visibility and the Future of Television ......... 135 Chapter 4: Breaking the Fourth Wall: Affective Connections and the Writer-Reader Relationship ....................................................................................................... 183 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 216 viii List of Figures Figure 1: Chris Anderson’s Long Tail Hypothesis .........................................................173 ix Introduction In an opinion piece in The New York Times, Adam Conover, a popular College Humor web comedian, addressed the widespread criticism of Michelle Wolf, the comic who bravely took the stage at the 2018 White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Conover reports that Wolf was criticized not only by partisan defenders of President Trump but also by members of the press, whom Wolf accused of benefitting as much from the 24/7 news coverage of Trump as the president did himself. In his defense of Wolf, Conover also summarized what he claimed to be the central tenets of comedy. "Comedy has no rules, per se," Conover writes, "but in my 15 years of writing and performing, I've come up with a few guidelines that I find helpful: 1. Be funny. 2. Tell the truth. 3. Make people in power uncomfortable" (Conover). The people in the studio or audience don't matter, Conover argues. The only audience that counts are the "folks at home," who don't want comedy that's "polite and tasteful" but instead "want comedy that stands on the rooftop and calls out hypocrisy and deceit at the top of its lungs." In a post- truth age, it can seem impossible even to agree on the facts, much less break through the partisanship that divides our nation. But in times of crisis, comedy may be our last bastion of hope in a darkening world. Comedy helps us speak truth to power by denouncing the lies and deception perpetrated by our leaders and institutions. In a nation that has been facing the steady erosion of its civil liberties, comedy gives us the chance to rattle the thrones of our leaders while raising the morale and inspiring the support of our allies. Wolf bravely excoriated the presidential administration and the press in person, 1 and the critical backlash she faced only underscores the effectiveness of her truth-telling comedy routine. This project arises at a crossroads where our nation, once again, has resumed amending its immigration policies and rolling back protections for some of its most vulnerable, including refugee women and children. These political changes have been accompanied by a rightward cultural shift; rising demands for assimilation and heated debates over over language, culture and national character arrive daily on a wave of headlines and tweets. Archaic stereotyping and hate speech have become commonplace on our televisions and in our schools, and hate crimes along racial lines are on the rise.1 In these bleak times, I hope that this project, through its focus on the political resistance of Asian American comedy, can be a model for future acts of resistance for communities that find themselves under siege by the US legal system and cultural nationalism. This project aims to increase interest and awareness of Asian American humor in literature and media, a subject that has so far been neglected by critics and the general public. "Asian American Humor" expands upon the work of established Asian American literary scholars and their efforts to analyze and promote