First of all, the claim that young white christian males are not portrayed on tv exactly as they appear in real life may be true, but doesn’t seem to be a very good parallel in this situation. Sure tv-portrayed christian white males are not exactly true to life, but they aren’t portrayed in such a way as to prompt us to resond “Those wacky young white christian males — what will they do next?” That seems to me to be exactly the appeal of a show like banzai. It’s like watching monkeys at a zoo. Sure it’s entertaining, and I’m sure i’d laugh at a show like banzai, but it makes me a bit uncomfortable as well.
Furthermore, unless you’ve lived in a culture where you’re completely and obviously an outsider (a young white christian male in america is exactly the opposite of that), you likely can’t know what it feels like to be stereotyped or, as in this case, to become the object of a parody created by those people that view you as an outsider.
I’m not trying to say that cultural differences can’t be used to great comedic effect. I think there are plenty of times where poking fun at cultural differences is completely valid, but it should be done thoughtfully. As I haven’t seen Banzai, I guess I can’t really say whether this is the case or not. But from what I’m hearing, many of the people that are being parodied are not particularly happy about it. This seems to suggest to me that it is not done in a particularly thoughtful way.
I’d be interested to hear a response to the ‘minstrel show’ criticism from somebody who’s actually seen the show.
jonner
Aug 01 2003
11:17 am
First of all, the claim that young white christian males are not portrayed on tv exactly as they appear in real life may be true, but doesn’t seem to be a very good parallel in this situation. Sure tv-portrayed christian white males are not exactly true to life, but they aren’t portrayed in such a way as to prompt us to resond “Those wacky young white christian males — what will they do next?” That seems to me to be exactly the appeal of a show like banzai. It’s like watching monkeys at a zoo. Sure it’s entertaining, and I’m sure i’d laugh at a show like banzai, but it makes me a bit uncomfortable as well.
Furthermore, unless you’ve lived in a culture where you’re completely and obviously an outsider (a young white christian male in america is exactly the opposite of that), you likely can’t know what it feels like to be stereotyped or, as in this case, to become the object of a parody created by those people that view you as an outsider.
I’m not trying to say that cultural differences can’t be used to great comedic effect. I think there are plenty of times where poking fun at cultural differences is completely valid, but it should be done thoughtfully. As I haven’t seen Banzai, I guess I can’t really say whether this is the case or not. But from what I’m hearing, many of the people that are being parodied are not particularly happy about it. This seems to suggest to me that it is not done in a particularly thoughtful way.
I’d be interested to hear a response to the ‘minstrel show’ criticism from somebody who’s actually seen the show.