THE AMBIVALENCE OF RACE' BASED HUMOUR. TARA ATLURI A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN HIGHER EDUCATION YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO MAY 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-38984-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-38984-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada Abstract This work examines the psychic and performative life of "race' based comedy. I use Sacha Baron Cohen's Da Ali G Show, its subsequent spin off films and the controversy surrounding these texts to discuss humour that plays with "race.' I argue that "race' based comedy is a site of ambivalence. The "race' based joke threatens to trouble essentialist notions of "race,' by playing with notions of authenticity and by revealing the psychic life of "race' within liberal societies that claim both rationality and colour-blindness. However, the "race' based joke also threatens to reinscribe racism, as one can use the realm of the comedic to mock the assumed racialised other. In Chapter One, I outline the theoretical frameworks I will employ throughout my work. In Chapter Two, I discuss the methodological frameworks that inform and justify this work. In Chapter Three and Four I turn to the controversy that Cohen's primary characters Ali G and Borat have caused. In Chapters Five and Six I analyse sketches featuring the character of Ali through the lens of contemporary cultural studies, psychoanalytic, post colonial and post structuralist feminist/queer scholarship. In Chapters Seven and Eight I use similar theories to examine Cohen's increasingly more famous/infamous character, Borat. Chapter Nine draws on media studies, cultural studies and post-colonial studies scholarship to analyse sketches in which Cohen interviews major political figures. Finally, I conclude by offering a discussion concerning the social, psychic, philosophical and political possibilities and limitations of comedic texts that play with "race.' IV For my mother, whose resilient laughter never failed to inspire... v Acknowledgements: Thank you to Dr. Tania Das Gupta, Dr. Sheila Cavanagh, and Dr. Andil Gosine. Your constant support, academic integrity, and compassion not only helped me to produce this dissertation, but to realise how precious progressive scholars are in the academy. Thank you to Vijaya Atluri, Satya Atluri, and Anita Atluri. Without your immeasurable sacrifices I would not have been able to complete this degree. Thank you to all the friends I made along the way, both inside and outside of the University. A final thanks to all the artists, writers, performers, and activists whose strategic play and defiant laughter are as entertaining as they are instructive. vi Table of contents Abstract iv Dedication V Acknowledgements vi Introduction Humoring "Race', "Race'ing Humour 1 Chapter One 41 Theoretical Considerations Chapter Two A Method to the Madness: Methodological Considerations 79 Chapter Three Lighten Up? Analysing the Controversy surrounding Ali G 105 Chapter Four Jokes on Who? Analysing Reactions to Borat 148 Chapter Five Modern Day Minstrel or Post-modern Mixture? Ali G, "Race' and Humour 190 Chapter Six Ali G, Masculinity, Sexuality and Comedy 229 Chapter Seven Revealing or Reinscribing Racism? An Analysis of "Borat' 269 Chapter Eight Enter Laughing: Borat and the Humour of the Immigrant/Foreigner 305 Chapter Nine Court Jesters and State Clowns: Da Ali G Show and the Mockery of "Politics." 348 Conclusion 394 Works Cited 410 Introduction Humoring Race', Race ing Humour "What the Borat movie does best is to make us question the boundaries of funny. Each gag properly demands a set of responses from the viewer before laughter can erupt. However, the more I think about the film, the less amusing it becomes. That's the funny thing about comedy - analyse it closely and it ceases to be funny." - Jason Solomons, The Observor. "I can appreciate the humour of an innocent confronting an expert and neither understanding what the other is on about. But a lot of the humour is laughing at black street culture and it is being celebrated because it allows the liberal middle classes to laugh at that culture in a context where they can retain their sense of political correctness.2" -Felix Dexter, Comedian "The joke is not on Kazakhstan. I think the joke is on people who can believe that the Kazakhstan that I describe can exist.. .1 think part of the movie shows the absurdity of holding any form of racial prejudice, whether it's hatred of African- Americans or of Jews."3 -Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat )has managed to spark an immense interest of the whole world in Kazakhstan, something our authorities could not do during the years of independence.. .If state officials completely lack a sense of humor, their country becomes a laughing stock."4 -Sapabek Asip-uly, Khazakh novelist "Perhaps he's trying to mock not just youth culture, but the hypersexism of capitalised Black culture. If that's his aim, there are better ways of doing it. In Britain, and this is a particularly British phenomenon, Ali G is able to crowd out a space of multiculturalism. Because, we are told by our friends in the House, Britain is a multicultural society, it seems not to matter much that Baron Cohen 1 Jason Solomons, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." The Observor: The Guardian Unlimited. Sunday October 29, 2006. Online edition. http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Storv/Critic Review/Observer_review/0„ 1934191 .OO.html. (accessed: November 24, 2007). 2 Malik, Sarita, Representing Black Britain: Black and Asian Images on Television. (London: Sage, 2002), 102. 3Sacha Baron Cohen, quoted in Neil Strauss, "The Man Behind the Mustache." Rolling Stone Magazine. November 14, 2006. Online Edition. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstorv/sacha baron cohen the real borat finally speaks, (accessed November 24, 2007). 4 Sapabek Asip-uly, quoted in Mansur Mirovalev, "Kazakh Says Borat Creator Deserves Prize." CBS News. November 24, 2006. Online Edition. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/ll/24/ap/entertainment/mainD8LJMP600.shtml. (accessed: November 24, 2007). 2 isn't a person of colour. He's appropriating the space of cultural criticism, facilitating Black cultural critique, and we should be both grateful and colour­ blind about it. And for the many who think there's more to multi-culturalism than second-rate tokenist lovefests involving Meera Syal and Jasper Carrot, Ali G's continued popularity should be a cause for desperate anger."5 -Raj Patel What is the difference between a white person in blackface and Sacha Baron Cohen, the English/Jewish comedian behind the characters of Borat and Ali G who presumably come from Muslim cultural backgrounds?6 -Abdul-Halim, "Planet Grenada" 5 Raj Patel, Voice of the Turtle Blog, comment posted February 1, 2002, http://www.voiceoftheturtle.org/show article.php?aid=88, (accessed: April 22, 2007). Abdul Halim, Planet Grenada Blog, comment posted November 1, 2007, planetgrenada.blogspot.com/2006/11/borat-and-ali-g.html, (accessed: November 24, 2007). He has been called a genius and a disgrace, a truth teller and a bigot, a modern day Lenny Bruce7 and a modern day minstrel.8 Sacha Baron Cohen, star and creator of Da AH G Show and two films featuring characters from the show, has gained international acclaim and international infamy for his often outlandish comedy. Da AH G Show and its characters play with racial and cultural identity and authenticity, often through the parodying of racist, xenophobic, misogynist, homophobic, and classist stereotypes. Da Ali G Show and a (briej) Genealogy of "race' based humour: Both Sacha Baron Cohen and his comedy can be situated within a broader genealogy of "race' based humour in the United Kingdom. Exploring the emergence of racialised and white subjects through the comic allows one to see the ways in which comedy might shed light upon, negotiate and produce changing meanings of "race' in contemporary social life. Arguably, one could also trace Cohen's work genealogically through forms of Blackface minstrelsy in both the UK and the United States.