The Comedy of Fear
Jesus is Magic (2005; s. Sarah Silverman) . Comedy is violence. At least, that was my take-home message from Stranger in a Strange Land. In that novel, the hero raised on Mars doesn't understand what is funny until he sees what is cruel. And that lesson is written all over Jesus is Magic. Language drops like a bomb. You can actually feel the tension coil around you with every punchline, because you know whatever you're about to laugh at will be very funny, and very shaming all at once. Even knowing the cruelty is coming, you still feel ambushed, and exposed. I actually apologized to my friends before the movie started about the types of things I expected to be laughing at. And I was glad I did.
In the middle of all the bits about race and dead and raped grandmothers, Silverman does a small bit about the relationships between jokes and fear, and how she edited a punchline because she was afraid of offending audience members in the front because she felt threatened by them. It's a special moment in the movie, especially for someone as arch and sarcastic as Silverman--nobody's going after her the way that we went after Andrew Dice Clay, in part because Dice Clay was a hack, and in part because Silverman goes so much farther and is so much someone we identify with that we can't go after her without going after ourselves. Andrew Dice Clay exposed a cliche about the dumb white guy, but cartooned him up to get away with it.
When Silverman discusses being intimidated by her own anxiety into changing the punchline, she tips her hand. It ain't just jokes--it's revelatory. Silverman dresses like us, talks like us, seduces us--she has an indelible wink in her delivery, but the reason we want to give her the benefit of the doubt is because we give ourselves the same benefit of the doubt with regards to the nastiness that lurks behind our eyes. And in being courageous enough to expose it, it gets exorcised, just a little. Because instead of being scary/psycho, it's funny.
Or, more accurately, in addition to being scary/psycho, it's funny.
Next Time: Crossroads (Compare and Contrast: Ralph Macchio vs. Britney Spears)
In the middle of all the bits about race and dead and raped grandmothers, Silverman does a small bit about the relationships between jokes and fear, and how she edited a punchline because she was afraid of offending audience members in the front because she felt threatened by them. It's a special moment in the movie, especially for someone as arch and sarcastic as Silverman--nobody's going after her the way that we went after Andrew Dice Clay, in part because Dice Clay was a hack, and in part because Silverman goes so much farther and is so much someone we identify with that we can't go after her without going after ourselves. Andrew Dice Clay exposed a cliche about the dumb white guy, but cartooned him up to get away with it.
When Silverman discusses being intimidated by her own anxiety into changing the punchline, she tips her hand. It ain't just jokes--it's revelatory. Silverman dresses like us, talks like us, seduces us--she has an indelible wink in her delivery, but the reason we want to give her the benefit of the doubt is because we give ourselves the same benefit of the doubt with regards to the nastiness that lurks behind our eyes. And in being courageous enough to expose it, it gets exorcised, just a little. Because instead of being scary/psycho, it's funny.
Or, more accurately, in addition to being scary/psycho, it's funny.
Next Time: Crossroads (Compare and Contrast: Ralph Macchio vs. Britney Spears)
posted by Jamie at 3:19 PM
1 Comments:
I am extremely disappointed by this blog. Knowing the talent behind it, I am upset that this is just a website about movies when the author's life is much more interesting than the subjects he writes about.
Also, the author ends every entry with a "next" tease that I am actually interested in hearing his thoughts on. This is bullshit.
Should this continue, I will be forced to stop visiting this site (however, I will return for the review of HAVOC)
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