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Copyright by Catherine Mckenzie Blouke 2015 Copyright by Catherine McKenzie Blouke 2015 The Dissertation Committee for Catherine McKenzie Blouke Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Laughter and Consequence: Rhetoric and the Trouble with Intention in Humor and Identity Politics Committee: D. Diane Davis, Supervisor Casey Boyle Joshua Gunn Justin Hodgson Patricia Roberts-Miller Laughter and Consequence: Rhetoric and the Trouble with Intention in Humor and Identity Politics by Catherine McKenzie Blouke, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin August 2015 For my mom and dad, who gave me a Blouke sense of humor and have supported me all the way through this crazy trek to a PhD. Acknowledgements There are so many people that warrant acknowledgment in helping me finish this project that to attempt to name them all in these few pages will inevitably feel insufficient. But to make the attempt anyway, I will begin at the beginning: my parents produced and supported me, and without their willingness to let me pursue my dreams (impractical as they may have seemed), I certainly would not have made it to graduate school, let alone to cross this particular finish line. Similarly, my godparents have been incredible mentors and coaches over the course of my life, but their support over the past several years in particular has been truly invaluable. I’m also grateful for the English teachers I had over the years who taught me to read and think critically, and specifically to Kelly Mays for being the kind of professor I decided I wanted to be, essentially inspiring me to never leave college. I’m also grateful to James Loehlin, Elizabeth Richmond- Garza, and Doug Bruster for supporting me through the first phase of my graduate studies as I fumbled around with dramatic literature. Were it not for Justin Hodgson and a casual conversation at The Hole in the Wall in fall of 2010, however, it’s likely that none of this would have happened. At least, this dissertation wouldn’t have happened, and maybe I wouldn’t have made it to this point at all. Justin encouraged me to (i.e. insisted that I) take the course with Diane Davis that ultimately rocked my intellectual world and pointed me down the path of rhetoric. In Diane’s performative rhetoric class, I found a vocabulary and theoretical framework that finally helped me articulate the things I hadn’t even known I wanted to say. Under Diane’s careful v direction, I entered the world of rhetorical studies and this project evolved. I am profoundly grateful to both of these scholars for their contributions to my intellectual and personal enrichment over the past five years. I am also indebted to the other members of my committee, both for their willingness to work on this project, and for the various things I’ve learned in their classes and company. Josh Gunn opened my eyes and ears to the rhetoric of film and introduced me to theoretical texts that will forever influence the way I watch things on screen. Without Trish Roberts-Miller and our weekly writing group, I would still be writing chapter two and might have given up long ago. Trish, thank you so much for the accountability and willingness to read the license plate for me. My conversations with Casey Boyle and his enthusiasm for the project have helped me stay grounded in my discipline and focused on the finish line as I wrote and rewrote and rewrote my drafts this year. Of course, I also got by with more than a little help from my friends. My colleagues and sisters in arms deserve just as much credit: Connie Steel, Tekla Hawkins, and Mary Hedengren – you kept me focused, accountable, and afloat this year. Rachel Schneider, girl, you got me through this in so many ways. I less than three you, forever. I also want to thank my DWRL colleagues Will Burdette, Eric Detweiler, Marjorie Foley, Kendall Gerdes, and Megan Gianfagna for all the conversations and encouragement in the years we worked together. One of the beautiful byproducts of graduate studies is all the smart and insightful people willing to talk about you work, and I’m grateful for all such conversations with Lauren Gantz, Megan Eatman, Dustin Stewart, Emily Bloom, and so many of my marvelous colleagues. vi The chapter on rape jokes in particular began with a conversation many years ago between myself, Rachel Schneider, and Kevin Bourque, and that was just one of many pivotal yet seemingly random incidents in my life from which this project evolved. Another was taking Kirk Lynn’s New Play Dramaturgy course and reading a play by Young Jean Lee that both made me laugh and made me profoundly uncomfortable for laughing. Kirk, thank you so very much for that experience, you continue to awe and inspire me, and I’m so grateful for our friendship. And to all the smart, insightful people who read various drafts or had conversations with me about this stuff, if you ever read this project, I hope you’ll recognize traces of your contributions. Outside of academia, the encouragement and support of my friends has been tremendous and humbling. Natasha MacNevin, you helped me keep my eye on the finish line so many times. Rebekkah Rumora, you’re such a smart, talented, and adventurous friend – I’m so grateful to have you in my life. To Anna Warde, Rachael Neally, Stephanie Goldsmith, Rachel Murray, and the host of other marvelous women who have talked me off figurative ledges, thank you from the depths of my heart. I very likely would have given up on this project and myself without you. Finally, to John Miles and my new colleagues at Wofford College – thank you for giving me the means to keep my eye on the prize these past few months. I’m thrilled to get to close this chapter of my career with the prospect of such an exciting new chapter ahead. vii Laughter and Consequence: Rhetoric and the Trouble with Intention in Humor and Identity Politics Catherine McKenzie Blouke, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2015 Supervisor: D. Diane Davis At the turn of the 21st Century, comedians such as Sacha Baron Cohen and Dave Chappelle, as well as the theater group Speak Theater Arts (figures analyzed in the following chapters), use humor to critique contemporary notions of identity in terms of race, gender, and sexuality. As we increasingly see humor used to address issues of identity, we must strive to understand the implications and effects of laughing at/through/with (our) communities. When and how do performers and audiences perceive humor as the means to disrupt harmful cultural stereotypes? And when, conversely, does humor reinforce negative ideologies, preserving racism and homophobia, chauvinism and bigotry? By thinking through individual relationships to various topics and to the structural modes of presentation, we might move a step closer to understanding humor’s positive potentials and its destructive forces – how they veer in one direction or another, how it can be used as a tool of liberation and oppression, and how this depends fundamentally on the subjects it touches (upon). Read across texts of cultural and linguistic theorists of the past fifty years, the works of many contemporary comedians question the possibility of stable contexts and fixed meanings, as well as the very notion of group or self-identity. viii The humor we see emerging from the chasm that the civil rights and political correctness movements sought to bridge operates within and relies upon instabilities: challenging the notions of what a humorist can get away with and what an audience will (or should) accept. Within the system of identity politics, these humorists act as double agents: often gaining authority from the notion of a group identity while simultaneously breaking that notion apart. They highlight the totalizing effects of identity politics: the claim that one voice may speak for the many (with or without their consent) on the basis of a shared identity. And they do it with a smile. Laughter and Consequence analyzes the relationship between humor and identity politics, how we tend to read laughter and intention in relation to the body, and how language, violence, and power come together in comic performances. ix Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................1 The Three Dominant Theories of Humor ............................................4 Theories of Comedy..........................................................................11 Rhetoric and Laughter.......................................................................13 Joking About Identity.........................................................................19 Acts of Language ..............................................................................25 Identity (and) Politics.........................................................................27 Contemporary Comedy — Blurring Boundaries................................31 Bodies That Speak............................................................................35 Naming and Re-framing....................................................................39 Chapter One: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat, and the Serious Problem of Intention ............................................................................................44 What a ‘Fake’ Reporter Did with/to ‘Real’ People .............................47 Bourgeois and/or Racist ‘Inauthenticity’....................................51
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