Authority figures in comedy

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A recurring theme in the literary, theatrical, and film tradition of

Canterbury Tales and Voltaire's Candide. This practice arises in part from the desire of those subject to the power of those in authority to use any available means of limiting this power by demonstrating that the authority figure is just as subject to mockery as those lacking power.[1] This represents "the attempt to use aggression to protect oneself from engulfment, impingement or humiliation by diminishing the perceived power and threat of the other", an effort which often takes the form of caricature of those in authority.[1]

This theme was commonly used by the British comedy troupe, Monty Python. In their sketches, a "common comedic device was for authority figures (such as military officers, police, judges, Conservative politicians, BBC news announcers and even God) to take their characters to extremes by suddenly spouting complete nonsense".[2]

Examples include:

Some television shows, such as

Reverend Timothy Lovejoy
in The Simpsons. The shows also include, with slightly different characteristics, the flawed exercise of authority by parents, teachers, school principals, mayors, and occasionally soldiers and politicians.

Examples can also be found in the art of the

Russian joke
.

References

  1. ^ a b John P. Muller, Jane G. Tillman, The Embodied Subject: Minding the Body in Psychoanalysis (2007), p. 78.
  2. ISBN 0-7190-5641-1
    (p. 80).
  3. ^ Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959)


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