Throughout much of Lysistrata there are the
obvious jokes and jabs at people. What is much more difficult to see are the
jokes hidden within names, and clever jabs that almost seem inconsequential.
What I find particularly funny about these jokes is that we still do this
today. We slip in insults that sound like compliments and make people replay
what we said in their heads so as to make sure they fully grasped the meaning.
There are many parts in the play that are
sneaky jabs or oxymorons really. When we first see the Chorus of Men they are
marching up the hill to Akropolis with their Koryphaios in the lead urging the
men to keep going. We expect the men that are called out by their leader to
have normal greek names, but no. The first two men that are called out are
called Swifty and Chipper. Neither man is either swift or chipper at the moment
as they groan in agony, which I find rather funny. (p.372-373) The Commissioner
and the Chorus of Women also spout many hidden jabs that can be accidentally be
passed over. “…typically wooly female logic,” (p 399) and “Let’s not be hasty,
fellow… hags.” (p.404) are just a few of the more sly jokes that are sprinkled
throughout the play.
Considering present day people and especially
high school to college aged people do this I wanted to bring up a couple of
examples. From the popular television show How I Met Your Mother, Barny
Stinson is the king of the backhanded compliment. “Chrissy, I love your
glasses. They totally pull focus up from that chin situation you got going on.”
Since this is just one of Barny’s “compliments” I think he would do quite well
in the play Lysistrata, that is if he actually liked plays…
Anyway, more examples
include something that I’ve heard before, “Why don’t you take that shirt? It’s
too small on me anyway.” And who can forget, “You look so much better than you
did the other day!” … I wasn’t wearing make up and you thought I looked
sick?
I LOVE How I Met Your Mother! I agree with much of your analysis about the sly comedy, but I do not think we can discount the way the jokes are delivered—such as tone of voice or gestures. Barney always insults everyone, so we expect it. This is akin to many southern people who insult others, and they always add the phrase, “Bless their heart”, with an endearing sigh, as if bashing a person is OK as long as you are sympathetic to their situation.
ReplyDeleteA person who feels fat might take the shirt comment as compliment, whereas a person who feels too skinny might take it as an insult. I think delivery is key many times. I try to no read too much into what people say, because what if they just really think you look good today?? Normally, tone and body language tells us the underlying meaning of comments, but I think we need to be careful, because we assume deeper meanings if we have a complex about certain things such as body image.
Delivery is very important, I agree. I was just going off of the backhanded compliment idea to help myself to understand the play some. I also think of the movie Mean Girls when it comes to sly insults and hushed quips.
DeleteYes, How I Met Your Mother is hilarious!
ReplyDeleteBut anyways, I agree with Carol on this. There is always two sides to what is being said in any given situation. People should be careful about what they say and hope the other person understands what they meant to really say. Have you ever had a conversation with someone where you thought the other person was on the same page with you, but clearly you both were talking about two different things? I have, and it's funny to think back and laugh about it.
This post highlights how unstable or incongruous language can be within a dramatic comedy, and while it is true that this still happens today, why does language in a comedy do this? We'll explore this tomorrow in class!
ReplyDelete