That joke isn't funny anymore

[megwrites]

handyhunter has a must-read Special Guest post on Cultural Appropriation over at Dear Author.

If you need a sample of how true the post is:

It is not diversity to have white people running around in foreign lands without much thought to the people who are native to those lands. I can’t say I find it romantic when they’re in the middle of colonizing another country either; I’m not sure how I’m supposed to root for our heroes when they’re killing or enslaving other people, or condoning/profiting from it

I recommend that you get over there and read it (several times, even) immediately. Bookmark it for later reference. Everything she says is right and true and I couldn't agree more.


Et tu, Amy Poehler? What's so funny about desiring a big, black woman? written by What Tami Said over at Racialicious.

Poehler is about some sort of “girl power.” She launched the “Smart Girls at the Party” Web series to “help girls find confidence in their own aspirations and talents.” Perhaps this kind of empowerment is only for some girls–ones of the right color and size–because I can’t imagine how seeing themselves portrayed as undesireable might empower young, black girls or girls who are overweight. Always being the butt of the joke rarely inspires confidence.

It really concerns me how much feminism talks about empowerment of women, but seems to come with the unspoken caveat, "By women, we mean white, middle class, liberal, normal-sized women".

I'm disturbed that somehow these things are supposed to be acceptable because they're contained within comedies or humorous -- if you find that kind of thing funny. It's as though it's okay to be racist or sizist or both if enough people (or enough of the people that you pay attention to) laugh.

I find it interesting that Eddie Murphy was mentioned because there's a really good metaphor for this contained in "The Nutty Professor" (and hell yes there were some big problems with that move).

There's a scene where Professor Klump and his date, Carla, go to see a comedian on stage who is known for poking fun at audience members. Of course, the comedian immediately starts making digs at Professor Klump's size. The first few jokes, Klump and Carla take it well. He even says, good naturedly, "You got me, you got me".

Then the camera pulls away as the comedian keeps going on and on and on with fat joke after fat joke after fat joke. While the audience in the movie continues to howl riotously, you see the hurt on Klump's face and Carla's as their smiles fade and they sit there, just wondering when this comedian will finally leave them alone, take the spotlight off, move on.

That's what Poehler and the people who run Parks & Recreation were. They were that comedian who kept jabbing at someone long after things ceased to be funny and began to hurtful. That joke, the one where you daring to have confidence in yourself is considered so absurd as to be comedy gold, gets less funny every time you hear it. And it's been told enough. Ad nauseum is the phrase, I believe. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who are sick of it.

I think it takes away from Poehler's cred as a comedian and a supposed empower-er of women to be part of something like that. Because the delusionally confident big black woman has been done to death. Even if she didn't care about race, you think she'd care about originality. Or in how treating women who embrace and enjoy their sexuality as delusional is certainly not helping anything.

And on a catty and completely unrelated note, I'd like to say that I'm not surprised that this is coming from a show that's so obviously a ploy to clone the success of The Office without bothering to think for itself. If Poehler is going to peddle that kind of crap, she could at least pick a better show to do it on. At least Tina Fey didn't pick a copy of a copy to work her schtick.