ok it's Iraq but it's interesting
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Here is a link to a blog put up by Morgan on a different Blog. There are a
number of entries that tie more to your topic than theirs. Enjoy.
15 years ago
Sunday, March 8, 2009
"Live from Gaza"
This you tube video is a sort of SNL type video about the Gaza Strip conflict. I think a lot of political humor like this seems normally brings light to a situation, humanizing it a bit, because you are laughing at something you know shouldn't, but at the time its okay because you feel helpless and that's all you can do, even though you know at the heart of it, its not funny at all. I would normally agree with that (because like many Macalester students, I enjoy programs such as teh Daily Show and the Colbert Report), but maybe its because we've spent the last two or three weeks talking about this conflict and all of its complications and there is so much at stake for everyone involved, or maybe it really was just crossing the line--but i just couldn't find this funny. maybe this is just one of those situations, that you should just avoid poking fun of, because there is just too much going on to simplify. instead of bringing light to the situation, it seemed to trivialize it, and generalize it into a bunch of stereotypes that don't need the reinforcing.
here is the youtube url if you want to read the comments and the long-winded author's description of the video
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Well, I think that the video is a response to the foreign media misrepresenting the situation in Gaza.
ReplyDeleteI did not find it to be too much, unlike the article that Morgan had posted earlier from an Israeli newspaper making fun of Palestinians.
This video is making fun of foreign media and their ignorance of the issues. True, it does emphasise some stereotypes of both Israelis and Palestinians, but that was done entirely to make the skit funny, plus to show what kind of stereotypes the 'West' and western media perceive of the people of the Middle East.
I did find it funny, but then again, it is a thin line between what is considered by one person funny and by another too much.
While there are some digs at the Palestinians this is a much more obvious critique of the media rather than those who are actually involved in the conflict. Although this could be applied to these people as well as shown by the example in "Promises" when the Palestinian girl visits her father in jail.
ReplyDeleteThis video brings to the forefront the problem that there can be with language and translation. I myself understand Spanish fairly well and whenever I watch a movie in English with Spanish subtitles or vice versa I always notice places where other words would have worked much better. I believe that this issue with translation and languages can be especially problematic with Western audiences, who oftentimes have little to no grasp of the local language (whether its Hebrew or Arabic) and may not be able to pick up on things that the translator or newsman missed or altered (due to bias or accident). I am not going to argue that Esperanto is the answer, but many of our problems would be solved with better and more comprehensive language education around the world.
Here's what I thought of each of the jokes, moreover I thought it was more acceptable when the Israeli's were making fun of themselves. However, I do think it's good how they are showing the misrepresentations in the media, but I'm not as comfortable with them implying that these misinterpretations mean that the honors being reported from Gaza are false.
ReplyDeleteWhen the women says "how can I live like this without heat and water?" it makes it seem like the situation attacks on Gaza are depriving people of conviences, rather than their lives.
When the reporter misinterprets what she is saying as that Israeli's raped her daughter, they seem to be implying that the these accusations are always made of by the media.
I didn't find the Army song as bad, simply because here the Israelis are making fun of themselves, instead of the people they are opressing. Same thing with making fun of the IDF.
Overall, I really liked this video post though. It really made me think and was interesting.