This article is a nice (but shallow) reflection on how our sense of morality has changed. Apu is a blatantly racist stereotype, but we didn’t think of the character that way. It’s disconcerting to rewatch old episodes of sitcoms from as late as the 90s and seeing LGBT-phobia, racism, sexism, and domestic violence as comedic. It feels like watching performers in blackface from the 20s and 30s.
In comedy, there’s a difference between punching up and punching down. Punching down is when you have a character with a mental disorder have that disorder being the source of humor. Punching up is when you’re making fun of the powerful. George Carlin was a master of punching up.
This article is a nice (but shallow) reflection on how our sense of morality has changed. Apu is a blatantly racist stereotype, but we didn’t think of the character that way. It’s disconcerting to rewatch old episodes of sitcoms from as late as the 90s and seeing LGBT-phobia, racism, sexism, and domestic violence as comedic. It feels like watching performers in blackface from the 20s and 30s.
In comedy, there’s a difference between punching up and punching down. Punching down is when you have a character with a mental disorder have that disorder being the source of humor. Punching up is when you’re making fun of the powerful. George Carlin was a master of punching up.
Humor comes from subverting expectations, that’s why Bill Burr is so fucking funny for punching down all the time.
also sometimes you’ve got to punch down
Racial stereotype, not racist.