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Published on: January 26, 2024
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Comedy as dissonant rhetoric
1University of British Columbia, Canada.
Philosophy & Social Criticism
|October 17, 2023
Summary
Popular comedy can foster critical democratic engagement. Its effectiveness in promoting reflective judgment depends on audiences experiencing its content as
Area of Science:
- Political Science
- Media Studies
- Communication Theory
Background:
- Popular comedy's role in political discourse and democratic society is often debated.
- Existing political theory literature provides a foundation for analyzing comedy's impact.
- Understanding audience reception is crucial for assessing comedy's critical and transformative potential.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the normative and critical value of popular comedy within democratic contexts.
- To explore how audience reception influences the democratic effects of comedic performances.
- To examine the potential of comedy to foster critical thinking and reflective judgment.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of political theory related to comedy.
- Case study analysis of a climate change segment from 'Last Week Tonight'.
- Application of scholarship on deliberation, judgment, and rhetoric to comedic performance.
Main Results:
- Popular comedy can yield critical and transformative democratic effects.
- These effects are contingent upon audience reception, specifically a 'dissonant' engagement.
- A 'dissonant' reception involves unresolved, affectively turbulent, and aesthetically attuned engagement.
Conclusions:
- Comedy is uniquely positioned to stimulate 'dissonant' engagement with complex issues.
- Such engagement can promote audience acknowledgement and encourage reflective judgment.
- Popular comedy holds significant potential for enhancing democratic discourse and critical awareness.
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