Comedy is docile.
Comedy is docile?
With regard to the culture industry in Britain, its association with the audiences that consumes it seem to be not of revolution or anger but one of humour. Consider mainstream comedians in television adverts. It has been given me in research and interviews that comedy is only entertaining from the point of the entertainer or the comedian.
"People are not only, as the saying goes,... 'falling for the swindle; if it guarantees them even the most fleeting gratification they desire a deception which is nonetheless transparent to them'. They force their eyes shut and voice approval, in a kind of self-loathing, for what is meted out to them, knowing fully the purpose for which it is manufactured.." (Adorno. 1991)
This ‘falling for the swindle’ relates to the example of Cawelti's analysis on the meanings and functions of genres. With the example of pornography he states that the escapism is short-lived and interrupts periods of intense frustration and boredom. The escape is only available within the texts seen or read by the consumer, from this fantasy world they import themselves into the feelings release anger and dissatisfaction. Cawelti describes these formulaic products as being created purely to stimulate and gratify the reader; they have been produced with a goal in mind.
The genres of porn and violence also seek to eliminate the readers/viewers own insecurities. Comedy aims to educate and inform through alternative ways and means, so from the view point of the comedian as opposed to that of the producer. The mode of address and content delivery are vital means of expression that the comedian or 'cultural producer' has to make vivid and unique in order to attract the audiences attentions. The escapism is that it releases frustration, in the same way pornography can but again it is only short lived.