‘In general… we may assert that comedy tends to have some political significance. For rulers and ruling classes do not readily detect the weaknesses of systems which benefit them. It is the vanquished and not the victors, the fools and not the kings, who are apt to want to point out through comedy the shortcomings and contradictions in the prevailing social systems. But this is only another way of saying that there is a recognizable tendency for comedy to arise from the oppressed and also from those whose sympathies go out to the oppressed. Thus the comedian is a reformer who is often ignorant of the fact himself but whose message of serious import passes through gates which would not be thrown open were it not for the disguise of laughter and seeming triviality. Like pioneers in other fields, the comedian faces the choice of being ignored, misunderstood or suppressed altogether. But if he is a true comedian, and his comedy true comedy, the extent of his success is a measure of progress and civilization.’
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/russell_brand_read_some_fcking_orwell
http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/31/russell-brand-hits-back-after-robert-webb-told-him-to-read-some-f-orwell-4168266/
LikeLike
Brand (@rustyrockets) is pantomime, and comedians saying ‘revolution’ is only talk if there is no movement, but a movement in the offing must address the the security regime: http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/31/russell-brand-hits-back-after-robert-webb-told-him-to-read-some-f-orwell-4168266/
LikeLike
from Morgan:
‘In general… we may assert that comedy tends to have some political significance. For rulers and ruling classes do not readily detect the weaknesses of systems which benefit them. It is the vanquished and not the victors, the fools and not the kings, who are apt to want to point out through comedy the shortcomings and contradictions in the prevailing social systems. But this is only another way of saying that there is a recognizable tendency for comedy to arise from the oppressed and also from those whose sympathies go out to the oppressed. Thus the comedian is a reformer who is often ignorant of the fact himself but whose message of serious import passes through gates which would not be thrown open were it not for the disguise of laughter and seeming triviality. Like pioneers in other fields, the comedian faces the choice of being ignored, misunderstood or suppressed altogether. But if he is a true comedian, and his comedy true comedy, the extent of his success is a measure of progress and civilization.’
James Feibleman, In Praise of Comedy (1939)
LikeLike