Carnivalesque as Theoretical Framework

Abstract

Given the rich layering of social-emotional-political meanings enmeshed in comedic performances, what appears currently lacking in scholarship is a robust theoretical framework that systematically teases out the fullness in the performativity of comedies. In this chapter, I propose a fresh theoretical framework in light of its attendant orientation toward comedic performances as resistive (or perhaps, more broadly, counter-narrative in today’s impression-obsessed social media space). In transforming the theory into a sharp empirical tool, I first break down the concept into its constituent attributes by reviewing relevant scholarship on its appropriation in four select cinematic productions. They are The Big Lebowski, Super Size Me, Chris Farley’s performances in Saturday Night Live, and the Girls Gone Wild’s franchise. In doing so, I differentiate performing features, or form, from its intended resistive quality, or function. Accordingly, I introduce the comparative studies, two Singapore-based comedic videos and map out the analytical approach to distinguish comedies that are potentially subpolitical from comedies that are hegemonic in nature. While this proposition may afford an inventive and systematic approach to examine comedic performances, it is acknowledged that critical acceptance within academic circles is contingent upon a necessary reframing of politics as not always rational and/or deliberative.