Cynthia Willett and Julie Willett's "The Seriously Erotic Politics of Laughter"

I think The Seriously Erotic Politics of Laughter has to be, hands down, my favorite reading so far! In this piece, the Willetts discuss how feminist philosophy has been viewed as a lesser form of theory because of its lacks of universality and mainstream topics. Moreover, they explain that while men are seen as the humorists or comedians, it is feminist (or women in general) who are viewed as unfunny, told to maintain notions of Republican motherhood and chastity, and are merely reduced to “tits and ass.” In explaining the stereotypes and pressures of women, the Willetts flip the script and discuss the concept of “fumerist,” a term coined by writer Kate Clinton to describe a humor that is both “fuming” and “fun” and “captures the idea of being funny and wanting to burn the house down all at once” (19). Thus, it is comedians like Roseanne, Tina Fey, Margaret Cho and Wanda Sykes who understand the limitations of such stereotypes and discuss their problems in an open, clever way. The Willetts write, “…we argue that fumerist comedy can make visible the history of identity and the struggles for recognition and identification, but as a moment of dislocation and transformation. In other words, the moment of laughter may jolt one out of habitual habits and cognition, and open up fresh possibilities” (24).

Reflecting back on our previous readings, this piece reminded me not only of Butler and Athanasiou’s discussion of “biopolitics,” but also Young’s “Five Faces of Oppression” and the practice of “render[ing] the particular perspective of one’s own group invisible at the same time as they stereotype one’s group and mark it out as the Other” in cultural imperialism (Young, 59). I think, however, what drew me to this piece was its relevance to the phenomenon that is occurring in our television programs and movies today. Though we have had shows like Roseanne, more movies like Bridesmaids and television shows like The Mindy Project and Girls (a show that I have not seen, but have read much about) are now showing female comedians throwing these concepts of motherhood and female respectability out the window. There is a scene in Bridesmaids when Maya Rudolph’s character literally poops in a wedding dress in the middle of the street (after eating bad food for lunch). Though this scene could be viewed as vulgar, it is showing that women can be just as uncouth as the boys. Looking deeper into this scene, one could make the stretched argument that Maya Rudolph’s character is “shitting” on the ideas of proper decorum for women and marriage. Nevertheless, the age of “fumerists” are in full swing and I could not be happier!