Fallon, Jokes and Democracy
Author
Ruder, Clive Vignola
Term
4. term
Publication year
2017
Submitted on
2017-07-30
Pages
114
Abstract
Denne afhandling undersøger, hvordan Jimmy Fallons monologvittigheder under en politisk krise – særligt i forbindelse med fyringen af FBI-direktør James Comey – afspejler publikums forhold til demokrati. Med afsæt i tidligere forskning, herunder Christie Davies’ arbejde, der peger på, at flere politiske vittigheder kan signalere utilfredshed med det politiske system, kombinerer studiet humorteori (overlegenhed, inkongruens og release), semantisk skript-teori til at afgrænse og analysere, hvad der udgør en joke, samt George Lakoffs framingteori og kritisk diskursanalyse til at fortolke meningsrammerne i materialet. Empirisk anvendes et casestudie af The Tonight Show med Jimmy Fallon med struktureret observation af udvalgte monologer omkring Comey-fyringen, understøttet af definerede indikatorer for systematisk analyse. Analysen peger på, at vittighederne ikke udtrykker et entydigt negativt syn på demokratiske institutioner som helhed, om end enkelte jokes kritiserer aspekter, der kan kræve forbedring. Samtidig fremstår Donald Trump som et eksempel på, hvordan en præsident ikke bør opføre sig.
This thesis examines how Jimmy Fallon’s monologue jokes during a political crisis—specifically around the firing of FBI Director James Comey—reflect the audience’s relationship with democracy. Building on prior work, including Christie Davies’ research suggesting that more political jokes can indicate dissatisfaction with the political system, the study combines humor theories (superiority, incongruity, and release), semantic script theory to define and analyze what counts as a joke, and George Lakoff’s framing theory alongside critical discourse analysis to interpret the frames activated by the jokes. Empirically, it uses a case study of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, applying structured observation of selected monologues around the Comey firing supported by defined indicators for systematic analysis. The findings suggest that the jokes do not present an overtly negative view of democratic institutions overall, although some lines critique aspects that may warrant improvement, and that Donald Trump is portrayed as an example of what a president should not be.
[This summary has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project (PDF)]
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