Tragedy Plus Time : National Trauma and Television Comedy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Scepanski, Philip.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American wit and humor--Social aspects.

American wit and humor.

Americans--Psychology.

Americans.

Disasters--Humor--Social aspects--United States.

Disasters.

Psychic trauma--Humor--Social aspects--United States.

Psychic trauma.

Television comedies--Social aspects--United States.

Television comedies.

United States.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (254 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

National trauma and television comedy

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2021.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Following the most solemn moments in recent American history, comedians have tested the limits of how soon is "too soon" to joke about tragedy. Comics confront the horrifying events and shocking moments that capture national attention and probe the acceptable, or "sayable," boundaries of expression that shape our cultural memory. In Tragedy Plus Time, Philip Scepanski examines the role of humor, particularly televised comedy, in constructing and policing group identity and memory in the wake of large-scale events. Tragedy Plus Time is the first comprehensive work to investigate tragedy-driven comedy in the aftermaths of such traumas as the JFK assassination and 9/11, as well as during the administration of Donald Trump. Focusing on the mass publicization of television comedy, Scepanski considers issues of censorship and memory construction in the ways comedians negotiate emotions, politics, war, race, and Islamophobia. Amid the media frenzy and conflicting expressions of grief following a public tragedy, comedians provoke or risk controversy to grapple publicly with national traumas that all Americans are trying to understand for themselves.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Broadcast nationalism, national trauma, and television comedy

Chapter 1 The Kennedy assassination and the growth of sick humor on American television

Chapter 2 Censored comedies and comedies of censorship

Chapter 3 Emotional nonconformity in comedy

Chapter 4 Conspiracy theories and comedy

Chapter 5 African American comedies and the 1992 Los Angeles riots

Chapter 6 Television comedy and Islamophobia after 9/11

Chapter 7 Comedy and Trump as trauma in Narrowcast America

Conclusion

Afterword

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781477322567

1477322566

9781477322550

1477322558

OCLC:

1256446998