Millions of years ago, before fire was invented, cavemen would eat fish raw. They would kill them by bludgeoning them with their clubs in the river. In the frenzy of fish-whacking, the cavemen would occasionally mistake each other’s feet for fat flounders and WHACK! The victim would howl and grasp his toes while his fellow cavemen stood around pointing and giggle-grunting.
That’s how I imagine comedy was born. That may not be accurate, but at any rate, man’s sense of humor has evolved just as much as man himself. Or so we like to think.
No matter how repressed or high-class society became, it could not rid itself of its own sense of humor. Thus comedy adapted. It grew into wit, sarcasm and irony. But since society has let loose on its social mores, so has comedy.
Since the unofficial lift on censorship in the 1970s, comedy has been on the move, like everything else, pushing the envelope to every extreme. It was the hey-day of stand-up and improv, which inevitably opened the door to jokes with racism (and sexism) as the punch line. In Mel Brook’s classic 1974 film Blazing Saddles, which is about the first Black sheriff in the Wild West, the ‘n’ word is used excessively, often in its original derogatory context. Yet the film is ultimately against racism, because in the end the Black sheriff wins over the untrusting townspeople. Not that using the ‘n’ word was unheard of, but back then, it had meaning, albeit negative.
So why are we still hearing racist jokes today? Honestly, I can’t think of a reason. Moreover, why is that stand-ups make racist jokes about their own ethnicity? It does nothing to empower their community. In the 1970s, the nation was still reveling in the essence of civil revolution, so using race in comedy to take a standpoint made sense. But now that (for the better part) minorities can reap the benefits of mainstream equality, why say ‘nigger’ or ‘wetback’ as part of a joke? As to why people still laugh at those jokes, your analysis is as good as mine.
Today, when it comes to funny film, irreverence is the key ingredient. Just look at some of the contemporary classics of the last decade such as Napoleon Dynamite (2004), and the string of Judd Apatow husky-infantile-but-lovable-guy comedies like Superbad (2007) and Pineapple Express (2008). Perhaps what made these films so hilarious was just how outrageous and out-of-nowhere they were. They made you laugh but they also made you uncomfortable at the same time. However, what really made these films and others like them so memorable were the characters. Still, what’s a good character if there’s no plot?
Personally, one of my favorite films of the past decade was the 2004 Wayans brothers’ flick White Chicks, because it actually had a plot, albeit unlikely. Two men must go undercover as women. Sounds cliché, no? Well, if you think the plot sounds old, that’s because it is, but it is definitely time-tested and proven to produce laughs. Audiences were laughing at this same idea fifty years ago when Billy Wilder’s monumental Some Like It Hot opened in theaters in 1959. Just like in White Chicks, two men must go undercover as women, only Some Like It Hot is far funnier. Bottom line, movies need more transvestites.
However, if the modern ailments of commercially-produced humor aren’t enough to make you cringe from sheer irreverence, you clearly have never used the internet, and I advise you never do. But if you have, then you know it’s low comedy at high-speed.
There’s no easy way to describe what’s out there on the World Wide Web, but if I could sum it up in one word it would be lol. If I have to explain what that is then you are too old to be reading this article.
Credit should be given to Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, co-founders of YouTube, for setting the internet on fire by adding television to internet and subtracting censorship from the equation. American fame-culture has forever been augmented by YouTube, because now, if your video is good enough, you can make it to internet stardom, and without taking off your clothes. Just look at successful cyber-grown comedians like Dane Cook, Shane Dawson and the good folks at CollegeHumor.com.
If they could make it, so could you, right? Wrong. The anonymous aspect of the internet gives users many delusions. The worst, in my opinion, is the way that most people (and by people I mean high school sophomores) think they are the wittiest thing since Oscar Wilde. Everyone tries to top everyone else with smugly delivered one-liners to point where there is no sense in them whatsoever. By being anonymous, internet users can post virtually anything they want, no matter how offensively stupid, and get away with it. Sociologists would be amazed.
In fact, I’m not sure how sociologists haven’t committed mass suicide due to the obscenely rapid growth and change in American culture. It’s hard to keep up. To say that trends spread like wildfire would be an insult to wildfires. But honestly, there’s not much you can do to ignore it, aside from moving to the Amazon rainforest.
It might be poor writing to discuss a social problem and not offer a solution, but what typically makes a problem a problem is its inability to be solved. You can’t really solve the fact that modern humor is at its most base since the cavemen whacking each other in the river. It’s a generational thing. The plain fact is that this generation laughs at stupid things. If someday all the news networks on television are cancelled, and the media devotes itself entirely to your entertainment, you can either go with it and be entertained, or you can turn your television off. Until that day comes, I suggest you stop and think about what’s so funny once you’re done laughing your head off.