Not Just a Joke: Tina Fey, Amy Schumer, and the Weak Reflexivity of White Feminist Comedy

Abstract

This article explores the strategic functions of white feminist comedy to mask and dismiss racism through an analysis of two recent films: Tina Fey’s Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and Amy Schumer’s Snatched. Both comedians are revered for their feminist politics, but we argue that they mobilize these politics to absolve themselves of criticism regarding race. Drawing upon comedic traditions of pseudosatire and feminist calls for reflexivity, we engage the term weak reflexivity to map the process through which Fey and Schumer acknowledge their subjectivity as white women while simultaneously reproducing dominant racial ideologies through the racist content of their films. Ultimately, this strategically resecures the power of white privilege over the interests of multiply marginalized subjects. By examining how whiteness functions in comedy and in celebrity feminism writ large, we expose the strategies that allow whiteness to remain undefined and at the forefront of feminist organizing.