Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Feminist Humor'

This thesis argues that textual and historical analysis of The Carol Burnett Show reveals that the program utilized slapstick, women's comedy and feminist humor to create comedic parodies of television commercials, melodramas and women's films, and soap operas. Their television commercial parodies reflect Second Wave feminist critiques of media advertising contemporary with the program. Comparison of the work of early feminist film theorists and media critics to the program's parodies of film and soap opera reveal an interest in texts that address a female audience and that The Carol Burnett Show was making similar critiques to feminist media scholars in the years before it became a field of inquiry.

This thesis argues that textual and historical analysis of The Carol Burnett Show reveals that the program utilized slapstick, women's comedy and feminist humor to create comedic parodies of television commercials, melodramas and women's films, and soap operas. Their television commercial parodies reflect Second Wave feminist critiques of media advertising contemporary with the program. Comparison of the work of early feminist film theorists and media critics to the program's parodies of film and soap opera reveal an interest in texts that address a female audience and that The Carol Burnett Show was making similar critiques to feminist media scholars in the years before it became a field of inquiry.

This dissertation examines humor as a situated practice of reappropriation and transformation undertaken by a subject within a social world. I bring together insights from humor studies, philosophy of humor, and feminist philosophy (especially feminist continental philosophy) to introduce the concept of humorwork as an unstable political practice of reappropriating and transforming existing images, speech, and situations. I argue that humorwork is an unstable politics because the practice of reappropriation and transformation often exceeds the intentions of the subject practicing humor, taking on a continued life beyond the humorist’s intentions. By focusing on the practice of humor, the subject who produces it, their social and political world, the affects circulated through political humor, and the politics of popular and scholarly discourse about humor, I push against a reductive, depoliticized concept of humor and the trivializing gesture of “it’s just a joke.” Instead, I argue that humorists are responsible and connected to (if not always blameable) for the social and political life of their humorwork, despite the unstable and unpredictable uptake of humor against a humorist’s intentions.

Auto Fem: Essays is a nonfiction essay collection revolving around one young woman’s family and their relationship to the motors that accelerate familial bonds. Each motor-related essay brings readers deeper into the admiration of speed and the environment that surrounds it. The essays span from the author's childhood into adulthood, revealing the different ways a woman is sexualized within these subcultures. This sexualization leads to internal battles for the female participant that result in sometimes toxic eating habits and a complicated body image. The author provides a sometimes brutal, sometimes funny, but always honest view. The essays collected here explore one woman's experience of being a woman within male-dominated spaces-- from table gambling in casinos to Harley Davidson motorcycle rallies. These essays explore over twenty years of one nuclear family's love for motors and each other.

The purpose of this study is to explore how the relation between gender and humour is maintained and challenged in the Swedish TV show Parlamentet. Using an interactional approach based on Judith Baxter’s theoretical framework for feminist post-structuralist discourse analysis, the study focuses on how communicative strategies are used in negotiating for the ideal position of “the successful comedian”. This position is seen as an ideal position in Parlamentet, where comedians do political parody. In the conversation sequences examined in this study, both verbal and bodily semiotic modes have been analyzed using conversation analysis and multimodal analysis. The study focuses on how different communicative strategies encourage or reject the comedians and how this leads to different possibilities in negotiating for a powerful position, the position of the successful comedian. Humour is culturally seen as a male-coded discourse. The relations between humour and gender that are in focus are the hegemonic notions of women as lacking a sense of humour or being less humorous than men. The notions of gender are based on Judith Butler’s theories and hence seen as something performed through discourse and within a rigid regulatory frame where the subject’s possibilities are not infinite. The results of the study show that the female and male comedians do not have the same possibilities in the negotiation for the position of “the successful comedian”. The male comedians are strongly encouraged to a greater extent than the female comedians. The female comedians are also rejected to a larger extent than the male comedians. The male comedians are mostly rejected by the moderator whereas the female comedians are rejected by the moderator, male comedians and female comedians. The female comedians encourage other comedians to a larger degree than the male comedians. A significant finding of this study is that the relations between humour and gender, where women are seen as less humorous than men, are maintained when female comedians through discourse are made less humorous. However, there are strategies in the interaction that do encourage the female comedians or that lead to female comedian’s resist being rejected. These strategies indicate that the hegemonic cultural notions of women as less humorous than men are also challenged in this public discourse.

Em O mau humor da TPM: uma interpretação do feminino propomos mostrar como são construídas algumas representações do feminino a partir da sua relação com a menstruação e discutir alguns significados culturais acerca dos transtornos de humor derivado de uma síndrome comumente conhecida como a tensão pré-menstrual. A partir de um recorte teórico do corpo e do olhar médico sobre este enquanto objetos das ciências sociais, isto é, como construções sociais, e tendo como orientação os estudos feministas, analisamos dois tipos de discursos circulantes acerca da menstruação, localizados nas camadas médias cariocas, no início do século XXI, que dizem representar ou dialogar com este corpo hormonal. Estes seguem duas direções diferentes: o primeiro discurso analisado é um livro de um médico, no formato de literatura de auto-ajuda, voltado para a discussão da inteligência hormonal; que pretende ser um modelo de subjetivação do feminino, baseado no olhar médico-científico. Este propõe um controle sobre o corpo, organizando o feminino a partir de idéias essencializadas as quais universalizam os corpos e tratam das descrições desse feminino como pré-determinadas por condições localizadas no corpo Natural. O segundo é um conjunto de entrevistas realizadas com bancárias, que registram o feminino subjetivado. Estes discursos sobre a vivência do feminino, apesar de também articularem descrições corporais enraizadas na biologia e nas ciências médicas, revelam ainda outros significados culturais representativos, destacando assim a importância dos estudos que privilegiam o agenciamento do sujeito na construção social de gênero, no caso desses femininos.
In The Bad Mood of Premenstrual Syndrome: An interpretation of the feminine intends to show how representations of the feminine are constructed in relation to women s monthly cycle and to discuss some cultural significances concerning the upsetting of humor one of the symptoms of the syndrome commonly known as: "premenstrual tension". Grounded in the theoretical approach of the body and the physician `s glance as objects of the Social Sciences, that is, as social constructions, and guided by feminist studies, we analyzed two types of current discourses, concerning women s monthly cycles, located in the carioca middle social strata, in the beginning of the XXI century; that are said to act on, or to dialogue with this "hormonal body". The discourses follow two different directions: The first analyzed speech is a doctor s book, an example of self help literature, engaged in the discussion of "hormonal intelligence"; aiming to become a model of subjectification of the feminine, based on the doctor s -scientific eye. It proposes a kind of control on the body, organizing the feminine through essentialized ideas which universalize the bodies and deal with this feminine description as pre-determined by "Natural" body conditions. The second discourse is composed by a group of interviews carried out with female bank employees, registering a subjectifyied feminine. These speeches on the feminine everyday life reveal that, in spite of the articulation of corporal descriptions rooted in the biology and in the medical sciences, they nevertheless show other cultural representative meanings of the feminine, and thus demonstrates the importance of case studies that priories the agencing of the subject in the social construction of gender.

No conjunto das produções ficcionais brasileiras contemporâneas escritas por mulheres, há razoável singularidade no blog “Adorável Psicose” (http://www.adoravelpsicose.com.br/) escrito por Natalia Klein, que deu origem à série homônima exibida pelo canal pago Multishow entre 2011 e 2014. O blog, enquanto processo de produção literária, teve postagens com regularidade entre 2008 e 2013, auxiliada a sua divulgação pelas redes sociais como o twitter e facebook. Observada a condição do seu blog enquanto texto criativo que admite uma interação mais intensa com o leitor, nitidamente interessado no contato não só com a autora, mas também com outros leitores, surge a hipótese de que a utilização do humor para tratar de assuntos inerentes a relacionamentos interpessoais seria o maior responsável pela recepção do público. Ao mesmo tempo, em termos de escrita feminina, a expressão da subjetividade deixa de ser algo íntimo e encontra uma vitrine praticamente ilimitada que, acompanhada do elemento humor, desperta a seguinte pergunta: pode um blog humorístico feito por uma mulher ser entendido como uma prática contestadora, além de uma forma de empoderamento? Posto isso, somam-se outras inquietações que motivaram este trabalho: ao se tratar das produções literárias no ciberespaço, a noção de literariedade atribuída a essa nova modalidade de escrita e, por consequência, de leitura – logo produção, circulação e recepção – cabe perguntar a partir de que critérios um texto deve ser considerado literário? Que instâncias julgadoras determinam o que pode ser vir a ser Literatura? A identificação do público com as postagens, enquanto produção literária, e sua releitura nos episódios televisivos motivaram essa pesquisa no sentido de entender “Adorável Psicose” como manifestação cultural contemporânea, uma tentativa de reflexão sobre as relações interpessoais cotidianas de sujeitos imersos em um contexto fragmentado e movediço. Todos esses elementos encontram-se em uma escrita permeada pelo humor e passam pelo crivo pessoal de uma mulher em seu blog.
Among the contemporary Brazilian works of fictions written by women, the blog so called “Adorável Psicose” (“Lovely Psychosis”, in a literal meaning - http://www.adoravelpsicose.com.br/) has reached reasonable notoriety. Written by Natalia Klein, the website spawned a homonym TV show broadcasted by Multishow from 2011 to 2014, having new content regularly posted from 2008 through 2013 and promoted with the help of social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. The blog is characterized by its creative content and a high level of interactivity with an audience who is clearly willing to have contact not only with the author, but also between themselves; such characteristics raised the hypothesis of its humorous language while addressing subjects related to interpersonal relationships as being the major responsible for its good reception by the audience. At the same time, when it comes to women’s writing, expressing subjectivity can cease being an intimate process to become something with a wide variety of spectra that, associated with humour, bring up a question: can a humorous blog written by a woman be seen not only as a questioning practice, but also as an empowering one? With that said, other questions also came as motivators for the making of the following work: when addressing literary work in the cyberspace, the idea of literarity attributed to this new concept of writing and reading brings up a query – which criteria should be adopted to classify a piece of writing as literary? Which parameters can exactly determine what is to be considered Literature? The way the audience could relate with the posts, and their television-adapted episodes guided this work, which also aims at approaching the content of “Adorável Psicose” as a contemporary cultural manifestation and an attempt at meditating over the daily interpersonal relationships of people immersed in a moving, fragmented context. All these elements can be identified through a humorous writing style and the personal filters of a woman in her blog.

Orientador: Sirio Possenti
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-12T17:51:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Moraes_Erikade_D.pdf: 6270764 bytes, checksum: 5ebbab6d507830be2bad8f83a83361d3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008
Resumo: Esta pesquisa investiga os discursos que circulam sobre a mulher na atualidade, a partir de sua representação em quadros humorísticos impressos que põem em destaque personagens femininas, especialmente os de Maitena (autora das obras Mulheres Alteradas, Superadas e Curvas Perigosas), Miguel Paiva (autor da personagem Radical Chic) e Adão Iturrusgarai (autor da personagem Aline). Propõe-se uma reflexão sobre como os discursos estereotipados em relação à mulher emergem nesses textos, a partir da memória discursiva, e, de certa forma, podem revelar representações que extrapolam o nível do humor e se tornam constitutivas do sentido corrente dos discursos sobre ser mulher. O respaldo teórico é o da Análise do Discurso de linha francesa (AD) e o conceito de discurso utilizado é o de Maingueneau (1984: 2005), que o entende como uma "dispersão de textos cujo modo de inscrição histórica permite definir como um espaço de regularidades enunciativas". O corpus permite a análise de aspectos verbais e não-verbais do discurso, conforme propõe o conceito de Semântica Global (MAINGUENEAU, 1984: 2005). A opção de priorizar o discurso humorístico se justifica pelo fato de que, como sabemos, o humor, para ser compreendido e provocar riso, exige um conhecimento prévio mínimo do fato que o inspira, isto é, uma memória, que representa um discurso legitimado por uma determinada posição discursiva e se caracteriza como um pré-construído. A idéia de que o humor está sempre vinculado a uma posição é reforçada por Bergson (1900: 2004), para quem nosso riso é sempre o riso de um grupo. A partir dos estereótipos e dos discursos sobre a mulher postos em circulação nos quadros de humor estudados, busca-se interpretar a que posições de sujeito (ou a que ethos) corresponde a imagem de mulher que se configura nesses textos. A análise aponta para a existência de discursos heterogêneos que correspondem a uma identidade feminina atravessada por conflitos e contradições.
Abstract: This research investigates the discourses about women which circulate nowadays, based on their representation in comic strips whose focus are the female characters, especially the ones by Maitena (author of Mulheres Alteradas, Superadas and Curvas Perigosas), Miguel Paiva (creator of the character Radical Chic) and Adão Iturrusgarai (creator of the character Aline). We propose a reflection about how the stereotyped discourses about women emerge in such texts based on the discursive memory, as well as how they can reveal representations which extrapolate the level of humor and become part of the common sense of the discourses about being a woman. The theoretical perspective is based on the French branch of Discourse Analysis (AD) and we use the concept of discourse by Maingueneau (1984: 2005), who understands it as a "dispersion of texts whose way of historic inscription allows its definition as a place of enunciation regularities". The corpus allows an analysis of the verbal and non-verbal aspects of the discourse, as it is proposed by the Global Semantic concept (MAINGUENEAU, 1984: 2005). The option to prioritize the comic discourse is justified by the fact that humor, to be understood and provoke laughter, requires a previous minimum knowledge of the fact in which it is inspired, that is, a memory that represents a discourse legitimated by a determined position and that is characterized as a pre-construct. The idea that humor is always related to a position is reinforced by Bergson (1900: 2004), who views laughter as a group laughter ever. Based on the stereotypes and the discourses about women that circulate in comic strips, we try to interpret the subject positions (or the ethos) which are equivalent to the images of women within these texts. The analysis indicates the existence of heterogeneous discourses which correspond to a female identity influenced by conflicts and contradictions.
Doutorado
Linguistica
Doutor em Linguística

Submitted by Josimara Dias Brumatti (bcgdigital@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-03-10T16:48:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO PARA ENTREGAR NA SECRETARIA.pdf: 6650294 bytes, checksum: cd49cc0810b0523b0acb9196b5a9660c (MD5)
Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-10T16:48:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO PARA ENTREGAR NA SECRETARIA.pdf: 6650294 bytes, checksum: cd49cc0810b0523b0acb9196b5a9660c (MD5)
Este trabalho traz como finalidade uma reflexão sobre a mulher a partir da construção do discurso do humor das tirinhas da Mafalda, criadas pelo humorista gráfico argentino Quino (Joaquín Salvador Lavado Tejón), entre 1964 e 1973. Para isso, são analisados os enunciados das personagens Mafalda e Susanita, meninas que, apesar da mesma idade - 5 ou 6 anos - pensam de maneira diferente em relação a diversos assuntos, entre eles a respeito da mulher na sociedade: enquanto Susanita sonha em se casar e ser mãe, Mafalda acredita que a mulher é chamada a ocupar novos lugares na sociedade. A análise se desenvolve à luz da concepção de discurso proposta por Maingueneau (1997; 2008), a qual é vista como prática discursiva, pois está formado por um componente social e outro textual. Além dessa noção de discurso, trabalha-se o conceito de gênero discursivo (BAKHTIN, 2011) a fim de pensar o tipo relativamente estável no qual esses enunciados se materializam: as tiras cômicas. Tomando como base uma das principais características do gênero em questão, o humor, pretende-se analisar como é constituída a comicidade em tiras que tematizam a questão da mulher. Para isso, serão observados os enunciados verbais e não verbais. Entendendo metodologia como processo (ESCÓSSIA, KASTRUP & PASSOS, 2009), não se parte de categorias predeterminadas a serem aplicadas na análise, pois se acredita que isso é realizado através do andamento analítico da pesquisa. O que se pôde observar é que as duas personagens remetem a formações discursivas diferentes e que possuem características bem marcadas, caricatas, que levam a refletir sobre as identidades femininas como uma construção (HALL, 2012) e que geram humor nas tiras. Além disso, notou-se que ora existiam categorias específicas que causavam a comicidade, como o uso de determinado vocabulário, a ironia, ora o não verbal provocava o sentido de humor nas tirinhas. Por meio do cômico é possível notar como a mulher nas tirinhas da Mafalda é retratada e, principalmente, constatar que não existe uma identidade única e fixa do gênero feminino.
Este trabajo presenta como finalidad una reflexión sobre la mujer a partir de la construcción del humor en las tiras de Mafalda, realizadas por el humorista gráfico Quino (Joaquín Salvador Lavado Tejón) entre 1964 y 1973. Para esto, se analizan los enunciados de las personajes Mafalda y Susanita que, a pesar de tener la misma edad -5 o 6 años- piensan de manera diferente con relación a diversos temas respecto a la mujer en la sociedad: mientras Susanita sueña casarse y ser madre, Mafalda cree que la mujer debe ocupar nuevos lugares en la sociedad. Por lo tanto, este análisis se desarrolla desde la concepción de discurso propuesta por Maingueneau (2008; 1997), que la ve como práctica discursiva, ya que está formado por un componente social y otro textual. Además, se utiliza la noción de género discursivo (BAKHTIN, 2011) con el propósito de pensar el tipo relativamente estable en el cual estos enunciados se materializan: las tiras cómicas. Tomando como base una das principales características del género utilizado, el humor, se busca analizar cómo se constituye la comicidad en las tiras que tematizan la cuestión de la mujer. Desde una perspectiva de metodología como proceso (ESCÓSSIA, KASTRUP & PASSOS, 2009), no se pretende analizar categorías predeterminadas, se cree que esto se realiza por medio de la marcha del proceso analítico de la investigación. Lo que se observa es que las dos personajes remiten a formaciones discursivas diferentes y que ellas poseen características marcadas y como caricaturas, que llevan a reflexionar sobre las identidades femeninas como una construcción (HALL, 2012) y que generan humor en la tira. Además, se notó que ora existían categorías específicas que causaban la comicidad, como el uso de determinadas palabras, la ironía, ora el no verbal provocaba el sentido de humor en las tiras. Por medio de lo cómico es posible notar cómo se representa la mujer en las tiras de Mafalda y, principalmente, constatar que no hay una identidad única y fija del género femenino.

The aim of this thesis is to use intersectional queer theoretical analysis in order to investigate if the Swedish female-fronted humor series "Mia och Klara" can be understood as feminist. Through semiotic analysis of discourses in the material, the appearance and non-appearance of different social location and the portrayal of these can be established. The social location-analysis coupled with the Bechdel test will show us that the show can be perceived as female-focused but that certain characters are paradoxical and challenge the primacy of the male gaze through storyline and camera angles. The TV-series can to the most part be seen as a liberal- and post-feminist storyline that reinforces and re-affirms a white, Swedish, femininity project.

In view of the fact that David Lodge’s campus novels are renowned for their ability to make light of traditional gender stereotypes as well as for their purportedly liberal, pro-feminist, intertexual, dialogical and metatextual dimensions, this article seeks to explore more precisely the strategic and unavowedly political functions humour and the comic fulfil in Changing Places, Small World and Nice Work. What will be demonstrated is that Lodge’s light-hearted, tolerant and at times even progressive liberalism is little more than an effect produced by the textual surface structure. In the case of Nice Work, this discrepancy between the surface and the deep structure leads to the paradox that while voyeuristic structures and male bonding are overtly ridiculed, on a deep structural level they are effectively reaffirmed. Though Lodge’s novels are at the level of their surface structure sustained by a logic which uses the “comic mode” as a more or less subtle form to critique traditional gender stereotypes, literary conventions, the British university system and British industry, ultimately his ‘Rummidge trilogy’ reinforces an aesthetically, morally and politically conservative subtext.

MACHADO, Antonio Augusto Araujo. Estudo das representações sociais do gênero feminino em piadas sobre a mulher. 2009. 153 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Linguística) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Letras Vernáculas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Linguística, Fortaleza-CE, 2009.
Submitted by nazareno mesquita (nazagon36@yahoo.com.br) on 2012-06-21T14:56:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2009_diss_ AAMachado.pdf: 813874 bytes, checksum: cf13f5c49122f7ab0dbe18a3d1d37cc4 (MD5)
Approved for entry into archive by Maria Josineide Góis(josineide@ufc.br) on 2012-06-21T15:38:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2009_diss_ AAMachado.pdf: 813874 bytes, checksum: cf13f5c49122f7ab0dbe18a3d1d37cc4 (MD5)
Made available in DSpace on 2012-06-21T15:38:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2009_diss_ AAMachado.pdf: 813874 bytes, checksum: cf13f5c49122f7ab0dbe18a3d1d37cc4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009
This qualitative research intends to analyse the Social representations of the female gender in jokes concerning blondies, in order to study the discourse-language strategies used and how they work for keeping a sexist discourse which provides for a stereotyped image of that woman as ―stupid‖ and sexually available. The corpus for this research comes from the internet, considering as a basic requirement the determination of spaces of enunciation which guides the analysis. For this study, besides taking into account Moscovici‘s approach on representations, we focus on the theoretical basis from the French Discourse Analysis, highlighting Maingueneau‘s views concerning polyphony and scene of enunciation, which enabled us to develop a more accurate analysis of the discourse marks, the building up of a scenery in the discourse and the manifestation of an interdiscoursive space and the way they led to give birth to the representations. The study of representations in jokes is due to the fact that we consider them important vehicles for representations and stereotypes alike,being profitable for both a linguistic and discoursive analysis as it is our proposal. This research becomes important not only for being one among a universe of a few ones, concerning humour, but also for its approach on polyphony and scene of enunciation to understand about the way jokes function and the matter of the social representations involving the character of the blonde woman. The results of this research may point out new horizons to be discovered in Linguistics, Discourse Analysis and other fields of knowledge which need to find in language the answers to their inquiries, in terms of relating representations, stereotypes, and jokes
Esta pesquisa, de natureza qualitativa, tem por fim analisar as representações sociais do gênero feminino nas piadas de mulher loira e propõe-se como objetivo estudar as estratégias lingüístico-discursivas empregadas e de que forma elas contribuem para a manutenção de um discurso machista que sustenta o estereótipo mulher loira como burra e sexualmente disponível. O corpus para a pesquisa foi obtido através da internet, considerando como requisito básico a determinação de certos lugares enunciativos, que orientariam a análise. Para tal estudo, além de considerarmos a abordagem de Moscovici acerca das representações, buscamos a base teórica proveniente da Análise do Discurso francesa, priorizando as contribuições de Maingueneau acerca da polifonia e cena enunciativa, categorias estas que nos permitiram uma análise mais apurada quanto às marcas deixadas no discurso, a construção de cenas no espaço discursivo e a manifestação de um espaço interdiscursivo e de que formas estes concorriam para a formação dessas representações. O estudo das representações através do exame das piadas se deve ao fato de que consideramos que estas se tornam importantes disseminadoras de representações e estereótipos, rentáveis para uma análise lingüística e discursiva, tal como a proposta. Este estudo se justifica não só por estar entre um universo de poucos trabalhos sobre o estudo de cunho humorístico, mas pela abordagem que faz, ao partir da polifonia e da cena enunciativa para examinar o funcionamento das piadas e a questão das representações sociais voltadas para a figura da mulher loira. Dessa forma, os resultados obtidos poderão apontar novos caminhos a serem trilhados na lingüística, análise do discurso ou outro campo da ciência que precise encontrar na linguagem a resposta para seus questionamentos no que se refere à relação entre representações, estereótipos e piadas

This thesis focuses on the use of feminist humor as a method of coalition building among African American women. It is motivated by the central question: what are the ways in which comedic performances may act as both a rebellious counter to dominant views of women of color in the United States and a way to articulate feminist ideologies? More specifically, I am interested in how African American women utilize comedy to articulate specific standpoints and build solidarity. As comedy is often used to persuade and perhaps bond audiences, it is important to continue research in the rhetoric of humor—especially that which takes into account comedy that challenges hegemonic systems and builds cohesion among oppressed groups. I wish to address ways in which theories of humor may work to include not only feminist modes comedy, but performances that also address the intersections of oppressions—including race, class, sexuality, etc. I will be examining the 2001 film The Queens of Comedy starring standup comedians Laura Hayes, Adele Givens, Sommore, and Mo’Nique. A follow-up on the 2000 movie and live standup tour The Original Kings of Comedy, the film depicts the four women’s comedic routines at the Orpheum Theatre in front of a predominately Black and predominately female audience. I argue that the Queens’ use of humor acts as a method to articulate intersections of oppression from a Black female perspective. This creates a specific counterpublic space, defies dominant views of Black American women and fosters cohesion among sympathetic audiences. The first chapter works towards a theory of feminist humor—one that builds off of current comedy research by integrating radical feminist thought (mostly that of Black feminisms). Chapter two identifies anti-feminist dimensions of the Queens’ performances in order to understand unsuccessful (and perhaps harmful) methods of rhetorical humor. Chapter three closely examines dimensions of the Queens’ performances that articulate Black feminist thought and how those performances encourage coalition building among Black women. Chapter four will draw critical implications and address concerns for those interested in humor as a method of encouraging social stability and change.
text

Modalities of Freedom argues that comedy and the laughter it ignites is a vital component of feminist and anti-racist community building. The chapters of my dissertation analyze the work of three Black standup comedians from the United States: Wanda Sykes, Jackie Mabley and Mo’Nique. These three women have an outsized presence in standup comedy, but have been chronically underrepresented in academic literature despite their nuanced, complex and emboldening performance styles. I claim that their particular brands of humor are modalities of freedom. That is, under varying social, temporal and cultural contexts, Sykes, Mabley and Mo’Nique resist and expose marginalization and oppression. In turn, their comedic material and the act of laughter bond their audiences and generate anti-racist/feminist coalitions. The first chapter of my dissertation shows how Wanda Sykes employs comedic performance to “crack up” white supremacist historical narratives. That is, Sykes’ comedy functions as historiographical intervention that not only critiques history, but also moves Black lesbian women from silenced subjects to active (re)creators of United States’ collective memory. My chapter on Jackie “Moms” Mabley claims that Mabley’s legacy has been misremembered in both mainstream and scholarly texts. Employing Black queer theoretical frameworks, I trace how Mabley’s standup solidified important precedents for Black female comics in contemporary U.S. performance and generated specific modalities of freedom unique to Black feminist humor. The final chapter of my dissertation analyzes Mo’Nique’s 2007 documentary I Coulda Been Your Cellmate. This film is a live taping of Mo’Nique performing for convicts at the Ohio Reformatory for Women. Mo’Nique’s performance articulates the multiplicities of identity, and builds feminist community across difference. Mo’Nique and the women in the audience demonstrate how laughter is an intimate survival strategy and a freeing act even while under the restriction of state power. In short, my dissertation is an effort to validate how laughter can harness and express the complexities of Black feminist lives, and be a productive site for social change and stability.
text

Under the recent shadow of the Civil War and the failures of Reconstruction, popular writers mocked the national naiveté that led to major distortions in the American cultural self-image. In this dissertation, I study the socially and politically motivated satire of the era between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the First World War. For too long, scholarship in this area has focused almost exclusively on three major satirists and social critics from the Gilded Age: Henry James, Edith Wharton, and Mark Twain. Though I do include some of Mark Twain’s lesser-known later writing as a lens through which to re-examine what is arguably the greatest work of American satire, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the main objective here is to interrogate lesser-known works by other authors of the period, famous as well as relatively unknown. My dissertation aims to uncover neglected works by more famous authors like William Dean Howells and Charlotte Perkins Gilman; to refresh our thinking about writers such as Charles Chesnutt, Finley Peter Dunne, and Edward Bellamy; and to reveal the satirical depths of overlooked figures like Marietta Holley and Mary E. Bradley Lane. Given the parallels between the Confident Years and the United States in the early twenty-first century, in-depth review of the satire of the earlier period seems not only timely but vital.
2020-11-07T00:00:00Z

Yasmina Reza is a contemporary French playwright who is not indifferent to the richness of humor. Her award-winning plays are portfolios of humorous situations that have attracted the attention of crowds composed of the general public and of academics. Reza turns discussions of art, parenting, existentialism, solitude and tragedy into comedies that distill a feminine humor. The public loves it, laughs and applauds. Inspired by Hélène Cixous’s call to laugh as ‘medusas’ (« A feminine text cannot fail to. . . break up the truth with laughter », and « laughs at the very idea of pronouncing the word silence »), I elaborate on the subtle presence of a feminine voice in Reza’s humor. I also consider the fact that Reza has inherited a Jewish humor. The combination of this ancient humor with a feminine voice contributes to Reza’s original imprint upon French theater. Applying selected theories of humor (mainly Bergson and Freud), to the textual analysis of five of her plays, I provide examples of how Reza’s humor transcends the old dichotomies of masculine/feminine and superior/inferior to inscribe a laughter that is particularly feminine. This project is organized in three chapters. The first chapter provides an introduction to the discussion of feminine humor, setting forth Cixous’s, among others, theoretical framework. Selected passages from the play « Art » provide examples of specific strategies of Reza’s feminine humor. The second chapter analyzes passages from the plays Le dieu du carnage and Trois versions de la vie. In the third chapter, the discussion is enlarged to include a short study of Jewish humor and its traces in the plays La traversée de l’hiver and Conversations après un enterrement. The conclusion takes a brief look at how the play L’homme du hazard also contributes to Reza’s feminine manifestation of humor. Reza’s theater is a fun, thought provoking, reenergizing experience that can shed new light on our daily struggles in life and in relationships. Reza’s feminine humor introduces a new way of relating to reality. This project reflects my desire to share this with the readers. Have fun!

碩士
輔仁大學
應用美術學系碩士班
94
Feminity depiction in advetising have been increasingly created as career-women since 1990, which could imply the changing and pgrading of women social status. The research concenrated on humorous feminity depicion in print ads, realized a joke-making to asculinity presented a brand new female role performance of independence and autonomy in the modern era. The research adopted quantitative analysis to proceed 500 copies of feminity humorous depictions ads which data was collected from over 10 different magazine subscribes. The purpose of the research was to explore the inter-relationship and usage between humorous appeals and products categorization.The results showed as following: 1. The hostile or aggressive humorous ads would depict female as career-women ocelebritiesd. On the other hand, female would be depicted as wife or girl-friend when it was sexual ads. The significant diferenct characters of protagonists in ads have their appropriate performance to transmit and deliver products’nformation. 2. The humorous advertisement presented an impression of bantering, joke in the past, thata should rarely apply to「high risk」and「high function」in products classification. The research outcome figured out that the humorous advertisement applied more to the products of high function, high risk and high practical value. This showed credibility to people of humorous advertisement improves greatly. 2. The humorous advertisement presented an intelligent and skillful feminity depiction. The funny or silliness fmale role portrayals were replaced by liberated and confident feminism in the recent decade.

Trabajo Final para optar al grado académico de Licenciatura en Comunicación Social, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (inédita).
En un contexto marcado por el capitalismo, la tecnologización y la modernidad líquida, abordaremos un análisis de las viñetas de Nico Ilustraciones desde una perspectiva socio discursiva en articulación con un enfoque feminista que nos posibilitará explicar y (re)significar las construcciones contemporáneas de los vínculos socio afectivos. Para ello nos basaremos, primeramente, en autores como S. Federici, Z. Bauman y J. Van Dijck, para hilvanar una base teórica respecto a la relación entre el sistema capitalista, la tecnología y los vínculos de la modernidad líquida. Luego, desde la teoría socio discursiva de Angenot y el análisis sobre el discurso humorístico realizado por A. Flores, desarrollamos un entramado teórico que sustentará el análisis discursivo de las 30 viñetas seleccionadas de la tira "Humor de Camas deshechas de amor"
Fil: Altamirano, Paula de Jesús. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación; Argentina.
Fil: Boxler, Yamila Belén. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación; Argentina.