Parody is fine as long as it isn’t parody of oneself. Have you noticed how so many nationally known comedians can write clever parodies of those with whom they disagree politically, but cannot write similarly clever parodies of those with whom they agree?
In our world, where currently all things, even a pandemic, are viewed through the Lens of Politics, only those whose opinions are favored by the group in power seem to be the stuff of public comedy. It appears that we are little different from those who banned Molière's Tartuffe in seventeenth-century France. If you read the revised online Britannica article of the dramatist’s work by Amy Tikkanen, you will see this translation of a passage from Molière’s La Critique de L’École des femmes: “You haven’t achieved anything in comedy unless your portraits can be seen to be living types.…” *
In his “Preface to Tartuffe,” Molière writes, “If the purpose of comedy is to correct men’s vices, then I see no reason for any privileged class. Such a class would be in a position much more dangerous than any other….” He goes on to say, “Nothing reprimands most men better than painting their faults…We easily endure reprimands, but we cannot stand being laughed at. We do not mind being wicked, but no one wants to be ridiculed.” **
So, the apparently one-sided comedy of American TV’s late-night comics ignores a treasure of comic fodder lest they offend the “wrong side.” That current cultural “correct” side has many supporters in media and social media, and it underlies the work of many TV and film script writers. Censorship applies to those who would ridicule the “privileged class.”
Molière also writes, “I know there are certain delicate souls who cannot tolerate any comedy, who say that the most honest comedies are the most dangerous, that the passions which they depict are more stirring …and that people are too affected by such representations.”
So, back-and-forth audiences go, bouncing from generation to generation from one victim of ridicule to another with parodies dependent upon political views. For Molière, the politics of the time included those of the Church, so he found his play banned by a coalition of political and religious authorities. And even when he tried to assuage those censors, he found his rewrites unacceptable. Eventually, however, the tide of censorship ebbed with cultural shifts, and people could view his drama.
Recognize that his play centers on a tartuffe, a hypocrite. Certainly, hypocrites are worthy of parody, but not the hypocrites, it seems, of a privileged class who readily enjoy parodies of those outside that class.
*Britannica onliine: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Moliere-French-dramatist/Last-plays. Accessed February 15, 2022.
**Tartuffe. In various sources. This translation comes from Hogan, Robert and Sven Eric Molin, Eds. Drama: The Major Genres. New York. Dodd, Mead & Company, 1967, Passages here are from pp. 304-307.
In our world, where currently all things, even a pandemic, are viewed through the Lens of Politics, only those whose opinions are favored by the group in power seem to be the stuff of public comedy. It appears that we are little different from those who banned Molière's Tartuffe in seventeenth-century France. If you read the revised online Britannica article of the dramatist’s work by Amy Tikkanen, you will see this translation of a passage from Molière’s La Critique de L’École des femmes: “You haven’t achieved anything in comedy unless your portraits can be seen to be living types.…” *
In his “Preface to Tartuffe,” Molière writes, “If the purpose of comedy is to correct men’s vices, then I see no reason for any privileged class. Such a class would be in a position much more dangerous than any other….” He goes on to say, “Nothing reprimands most men better than painting their faults…We easily endure reprimands, but we cannot stand being laughed at. We do not mind being wicked, but no one wants to be ridiculed.” **
So, the apparently one-sided comedy of American TV’s late-night comics ignores a treasure of comic fodder lest they offend the “wrong side.” That current cultural “correct” side has many supporters in media and social media, and it underlies the work of many TV and film script writers. Censorship applies to those who would ridicule the “privileged class.”
Molière also writes, “I know there are certain delicate souls who cannot tolerate any comedy, who say that the most honest comedies are the most dangerous, that the passions which they depict are more stirring …and that people are too affected by such representations.”
So, back-and-forth audiences go, bouncing from generation to generation from one victim of ridicule to another with parodies dependent upon political views. For Molière, the politics of the time included those of the Church, so he found his play banned by a coalition of political and religious authorities. And even when he tried to assuage those censors, he found his rewrites unacceptable. Eventually, however, the tide of censorship ebbed with cultural shifts, and people could view his drama.
Recognize that his play centers on a tartuffe, a hypocrite. Certainly, hypocrites are worthy of parody, but not the hypocrites, it seems, of a privileged class who readily enjoy parodies of those outside that class.
*Britannica onliine: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Moliere-French-dramatist/Last-plays. Accessed February 15, 2022.
**Tartuffe. In various sources. This translation comes from Hogan, Robert and Sven Eric Molin, Eds. Drama: The Major Genres. New York. Dodd, Mead & Company, 1967, Passages here are from pp. 304-307.
RSS Feed