Race, Racism and Political Correctness in Comedy: A Psychoanalytic Exploration

251 Pages·2021·4.264 MB·English

by  Jack Black

‘In our world today, where we struggle with the dissolution of community and
trust in each other, with only the contractual communicative dimensions of poli-
tical correctness as the tether to the social, what can we make of the underlying
roleofhumour,comedy,andjokes,sooftenthesourceofoffenceandresentment?
InRace, Racism andPolitical CorrectnessinComedy,JackBlackshows usthat theonly
way to achieve a proper universality under these conditions is through the sub-
versive dimensions of comedy, itself. Drawing on the influential work of Lacanian
theorists,suchasAlenkaZupancˇicˇ andSlavojŽižek,Blackteachesusaboutthepoli-
ticallysubversivepotentialsofcomedy,andhowhumour,moresothanpoliticalcor-
rectness,istheonlyrealwaytogoontheattackagainstsocialills,likeracism.Joining
otherleadingLacanianscholars,suchasZupancˇicˇ andToddMcGowan,Black’sbook
issuretobeawelcomedadditiontothegrowingfieldofLacanianstudiesofcomedy.’
Matthew Flisfeder, author of Algorithmic Desire:
Toward a New Structuralist Theory of Social Media
‘This book provides a much-needed correctiveto the asinine managerialist mindset
that promotes the politically correct banality of safe spaces over the unpredictable
challenges of critical thinking. Jack Black expertly demonstrates how the path to
true seriousness is strewn with jokes. He puts the open-minded reader genuinely
concerned about racism on the psychoanalyst’s couch and reveals the various ways
in which comedy is a highly resilient antidote to dominant ideological stupidities.
University apparatchiks will not like this book – which is why I cannot recom-
mend it highly enough.’
Paul Taylor, University of Leeds

RACE, RACISM AND POLITICAL
CORRECTNESS IN COMEDY
In what ways is comedy subversive? This vital new book critically considers the
importance of comedy in challenging and redefining our relations to race and
racism through the lens of political correctness.
By viewing comedy as both a constitutive feature of social interaction and as a
necessary requirement in the appraisal of what is often deemed to be ‘politically
correct’, this book provides an innovative and multidisciplinary approach to the
study of comedy and popular culture. In doing so, it engages with the social and
cultural tensions inherent to our understandings of political correctness, arguing
that comedy can subversively redefine our approach to ‘PC debates’, contestations
surrounding free speech and the popular portrayal of political correctness in the
media and society. Aided by the work of both Slavoj Žižek and Alenka Zupancˇicˇ,
this unique analysis adopts a psychoanalytic/philosophical framework to explore
issues of race, racism and political correctness in the widely acclaimed BBC
‘mockumentary’, The Office (UK), as well as a variety of television comedies.
Drawingfrom psychoanalysis, socialpsychology and philosophy,thisbookwill be
highly relevant for postgraduate students and academic researchers studying comedy,
race/racism, multiculturalism, political correctness and television/film.
Jack Black is a Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University. After completing
his postgraduate studies at Loughborough University, his research has continued to
explore the interrelationships between sociology, media and communications and
cultural studies. Drawing upon ‘traditional’ media forms (newspaper analysis) as well
as television and film studies, Jack’s published work provides an interdisciplinary
approachtothestudyofideology,politicsandpowerinboththemediaandpopular
culture.

RACE, RACISM
AND POLITICAL
CORRECTNESS
IN COMEDY
A Psychoanalytic Exploration
Jack Black
Firstpublished2021
byRoutledge
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments x
Introduction 1
1 Political correctness and comedy 30
2 Subversive comedy 63
3 Comedy, race and racism 108
4 Comedy’s Real subversion 145
5 The Office 185
Conclusion 223
Index 236