10-21-2009, 12:16 PM | #1 | |||
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ping: Cam
WARNING! Literary Criticism Ahead!
Be careful what you ask for, Cam. I thought it would be better to set this aside from the Obama thread. Quote:
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10-21-2009, 12:29 PM | #2 |
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Thanks JPhillips! I'd definitely agree that a libertarian-themed comedy show is going to have a better chance of success than a conservative-leaning comedy show, though perhaps not for the same reasons as you.
I'll have to ponder this some more, but I really appreciate your thoughts on this. I'll respond at length, but it may not be today... it's my wife's birthday and I'm a little consumed by that and work at the moment.
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10-22-2009, 11:29 AM | #3 |
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Okay, so I've had some time to think about this.
First of all, the traditional power structure stopped being “conservative” sometime in the 1960s, and it has only accelerated in the intervening decades. Is academia "conservative"? Is the media "conservative"? Even among America's top earners, you'll find plenty of Democrats. I'd also disagree that conservative means "status quo". I think you'd be hard pressed to find many conservatives that think a winning message these days is "keep things exactly as they are now". True conservatives recognize that change is sometimes necessary, but it shouldn't be undertaken for light and transient reasons, and certainly not with the expectation that all change will be for the best. I think conservative comedy has largely failed because conservatives who try to be funny don't do a very good job of being subversive. It's easier to go after Michael Moore or Cindy Sheehan, or to make the easy joke about Pelosi or Barney Frank rather than digging for the subversive humor. I still think it's possible for a conservative comedy show to make it, but you're right that "let's keep things the way they are" won't do it. "Look at how they've fucked things up", however, might work.
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10-22-2009, 12:10 PM | #4 | ||
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Quote:
Quote:
Nah, they just want to turn the hands of time back to when they were the traditional power structure |
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10-22-2009, 12:17 PM | #5 | |
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Quote:
You're being too specific to current politics. The overall shape of the U.S. government is conservative as it hasn't changed much in 200 years. The same with academia in that how universities are structured is still based on nineteenth century models. You might be right, however, if conservatives could challenge the larger structure of society as opposed to current political leaders. I think that's what The Daily Show does that drives it's comic narrative. Sure, Stewart supports Obama, but that alone wouldn't make for much of a comedy narrative. His narrative is based on the idea of attacking and eventually displacing the power structure. The irony with comedy is that even if he and his audience were to succeed, the resulting power structure would become the object of attack for a new generation of younger, wittier people. I'd argue that while a lot of conservative comedy has been bad, there is indeed a contradiction between the tenets of conservatism and the radical change sought through a comic narrative.
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