One by one, the minority groups in society are being attacked. And we all find it hilarious, or do we? Homosexuals (Leather-clad Bacardi drinkers), Afro-Caribbean’s (“genuine chocolate faces”), Jews (with horns) and “fatties” have been the brunt of our jokes ever since programmes like ‘The Ali G Show’ and ‘Little Britain’ hit our screens.
But is it entertainment at other people’s expense? Fans would say the comedians aren’t really ridiculing the people they represent. In my opinion they’re doing exactly the opposite, they’re breaking down the racist taboos that we’ve lived with for so long.
For those of you that haven’t seen ‘Borat: Cultural Learning’s of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,’ you can see just from the title that it’s a complete send-up of a stereotyped Eastern European.
Sacha Baron Cohen, who created the Borat character and, of course, is famous for Ali G, is one of the worst offenders for making racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic jokes.
In fact, the whole idea behind his humour seems to be a showcase for these prejudices. But in exposing them in such a comic light, I think he’s actually pointing out the ridiculousness of the attitudes themselves.
We all know that Sacha Baron Cohen is himself Jewish, and that Matt Lucas of ‘Little Britain’ is openly gay. So, when Borat, as part of the ‘Ali G Show’, says he wants to “throw the Jews down the well”, is the joke at the expense of the Jews or at the people who actually think that down the well is where Jews belong?
The fact that the comedians portray the characters as such extreme stereotypes makes us laugh at the fact that anyone could think that real people would behave like that.
For example, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never met a gay person anything like Daffyd, “the only gay in the village”, who walks around in leather bondage gear on a Sunday afternoon or a Jew with horns.
What I love about programmes like ‘Little Britain’ and the ‘Ali G Show’ is that they make me feel really awful about laughing at racist and homophobic jokes.
Because they’re able to produce that reaction from me it gets me thinking more about the racists than the minority groups we’re ‘laughing’ at. It seems that, when it comes to breaking down prejudiced attitudes, comedy is the best policy.
About this team
This story was written by Ella Parry-Davies, 17. It was published on the Reach for the Sky website.
