Humour has no borders - Nota: 9 PDF

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Una redacción que cuestiona si el humor tiene fronteras nacionales....

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Félix Guillén Muñoz

Eddie Izzard, humour without borders and globalization. In this essay we will be analyzing the statement of comedian Eddie Izzard that humour has no borders and if this is true. “Humour has no borders”[ CITATION You15 \l 3082 ], Izzard here is referring to cultural and national borders. At first glance, I disagree with the assertion. However, I find it to be quite a vague declaration, we need to look deeper into it to find a fitting answer. First, the term “humour” is very broad, which kind of humour is Izzard referring to? Jokes, movies or stand-up monologues like the ones she does? Different comedy formats have a different impact, so it highly depends on this. One could say that I am nit-picking, and while it is true, I feel like we must find the reason for why she thinks this way. After looking for Eddie Izzard’s live shows, we see that one of her most international tours has been Force Majeure Reloaded from 2013 to 2017, where she mostly performed in the UK, North America, Europe and a few Asian countries between others[ CITATION Wik20 \l 3082 ]. This may show that she has a lot of “international experience” because she has performed in different variety of countries. But I have a complaint. Even though these are countries with different cultures and histories, they all exist under a similar mindset. Korean film director Bong Joon-ho said in an interview for Birth.Movies.Death. [ CITATION TRY21 \l 3082 ] that “Essentially we all live in the same country, called capitalism.". This was his explanation for why his film, Parasite, got so much attention in a lot of other countries. What he meant by this was that, even though his movie was a commentary on Korean society, this could be applied to a lot of globalized capitalist countries. The reason why I bring Parasite into this discussion is that this discourse applies to a lot of different kinds of media, these work in other countries because they all share some cultural aspect, and applies to humour as well. In parts of the world where the economy and culture are way underdeveloped (at least compared to countries in the first world), some discourses or commentaries do not have the same impact, not only because people there are not familiar with some concepts displayed, but because the exposure to a more diverse and “advanced” media have desensitized its audience. You do not even need to take it to another country, if we take the same humorous element (let’s say an Eddie Izzard monologue) from the big cities into a small rural village, it will not have the same impact. There is an exception though, slapstick comedy. This kind of comedy is one of the most basic and pure kinds of comedic expression, so much so that it does not even require talking. And it has been present throughout history. This next YouTube video [ CITATION TRY21 \l 3082 ]) shows exactly what I am referring to. We can see some Pakistani adults reacting to a clip from Mr. Bean, one of the best examples of slapstick comedy. Even though some of them seem reluctant at first, at the end of the video, they all agree that they find it funny in some way. This shows that even if some people perceive the content differently, the “humorous” aspect of it still works. But I believe this does not work for all types of humour though, other types of comedy require the audience to have previous knowledge and experience for the “comedy” itself to properly work. It all narrows down to the format, content and context for humour to properly be “without borders”.

Bibliografía

Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Traducción e Interpretación 2º, Lengua Inglesa III

Félix Guillén Muñoz Saathoff, E. (16 de October de 2016). Birth. Movies. Death. Obtenido de https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2019/10/16/bong-joon-ho-discusses-parasite-genrefilmmaking-and-the-greatness-of-zodia TRYBAL. (22 de February de 2021). Youtube. Obtenido de https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=UzAgGWSm_gU&t=13s Wikipedia. (19 de December de 2020). Obtenido de https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_Majeure_(tour) Young, H. (2015, February 15). The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/feb/05/eddie-izzard-force-majeuretour-paris

Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Traducción e Interpretación 2º, Lengua Inglesa III...