Comedy is regressive ....

There are two opposing arguments that question whether comedy is either regressive or progressive, although both are compelling arguments. I am more swayed towards the argument that it is regressive, although humour is a great way at tackling difficult issues and further opening them up for discussion. At the same time it doesn’t make things ok as it sends a message that these jokes are acceptable and some viewers may decide to actually repeat the jokes. On YouTube I watched a few (a few too many) Bro Town short clips that were uploaded, one of them was quite shocking. It follows Jeff the Maori and his aunty walking, the auntie is explaining how Jeff has to go to the city because there is no land to play on – she says that the bloody thieving colonialists took it all when Jeff cannot say it because it’s too long she says “just call them Pakehas”.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxFGMmSCch4&feature=related. To say that this is progressive in that it provides a forum for serious issues such as the complexities involved with the definition of ‘Pakeha’ would be difficult as the YouTube comments weren’t very progressive. The 68 comments for the 0.23 clip there was little discussion on what Pakeha means, soon things turned sour with heated discussion about whether Maoris are black or brown.

Stereotypes of the characters include Jeff the Maori whose favourite food is fried bread, has 8 dads and then there’s a minor character Satisha Maadkraaklikka who runs the local dairy and Wong the boy from Hong Kong who loves Karaoke and loves to eat anything with chop sticks. This is regressive as it confirms negative stereotypes. It is understandable for a show to use stereotypes as it provides a short hand for some of the viewers who watch the show irregularly, stereotypes allow them to keep up with the show. Bro Town used to be shown on prime time; because it is animation I presume it attracts a younger audience. Younger people because of their inexperience, they may take the show “too seriously” and even if they haven’t met any Polynesians before they may remember some of the representation that they saw on the show. The meanings of the humour change depending on the audience. But of course, it is arguably progressive, in fact comedy can be both at the same time; Serena Pearson refers to this as polysemic bomidality.