WHITE MEN CANT JOKE

RACIAL HIERARCHY AND TRADITIONAL RACE NARRATIVES IN HUMOR AND COMEDY JOSEPH S. AMDITIS MAY 2013

Abstract Stereotypical depictions of race and ethnicity foster attitudes of white supremacy and reinforce the racial status quo. In this article, I examine the relationships between conceptions of race, whiteness, and humor to determine their effects on public discourse surrounding issues of race. I find that humorous and stereotypical depictions of race in the media, even those deemed to possess an oppositional framework, perpetuate hierarchical conceptions of race and traditional distortions of racial narratives. These narratives consistently value whites and white social norms over blacks and black social norms, thus preserving the historically privileged social status of whites in America. Most audience members only retain comedic messages that support current racial hierarchies and the status quo. Understanding the complex relationship between race and humor can help to provide a clearer picture of the state of race relations in the United States, allowing us to move forward in the struggle for racial and social justice. Introduction You know, people, I pride myself on saying real shit that people don't even notice I'm saying, but they feel it, cause when people come up to me, they say it, "I loved, I loved that," uh, they can feel it, but I don't think they really know.1 ~ Dave Chappelle (2006) Whites, especially white males, are generally considered to be the dominant group in American society,2 and, as such, whites wield the most power within the context of social relations. Due to the influential nature of whiteness and the virtual ubiquity of racial humor among whites, it is necessary to examine the ways in which humorous, hyperbolic and exaggerated portrayals of blacks in the media contribute to whites perceptions of blacks in society. I will discuss the effects of racial humor on the formation, conception, and preservation of whiteness and white privilege in America by examining depictions of African-Americans in the media. I will also discuss some of the different ways in which racial or race-related humor has been used throughout history, including the ways in which racial humor is used and understood by white males in todays society. Finally, I will examine the different ways in which

D. Chappelle, Dave Chappelle, Inside the Actors Studio, Season 12, Episode 10, BRAVO, originally aired February 12, 2006, available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84NjYRTHpfU. 2 J. Covington, Crime and Racial Constructions: Cultural Misinformation About African Americans in Media and Academia, Published by LEXINGTON BOOKS, (2010), at 1. PROFESSOR ALVIN B. TILLERY

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racial humor is perceived and internalized by whites in different social settings, and how this reinforces whites own understanding of and preference for their own privileged position within the American racial hierarchy.

Literature Review Research shows that Americans are constantly exposed to a wide variety of media sources, depictions, and presentations on a daily basis. Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, indicates that Americans over the age of 15 spend an average of about 2.8 hours watching television each day.3 Meanwhile, the advent of new forms (e.g. the Internet) and sources of media consumption (e.g. tablets and smartphones) have resulted in a higher frequency and variety of access, with longer viewing sessions and less interruption. Audience reactions to media presentations have been shown to vary according to the viewers age, race, sex, personal experience, education, and location of residence, among others.4 In the past decade, major media outlets have even begun to implement a number of strategies designed specifically to target young children like Comcasts 24-hour network for toddlers, for instance.5 The relevance and proximity of the depictions in media presentations in relation to the viewer (i.e. the likelihood of viewer exposure to real-world events or conditions similar to those depicted) has been associated with significant increases in viewer reactivity to media stimuli.6 The race of the viewer has also proved to be highly predictive of increases in punitive attitudes as a result of media consumption, with white respondents exhibiting the largest increases.7 Research has also shown that viewers with the least amount of direct experience with a particular theme or subject were influenced most by increased media consumption of that particular subject.8 Finally, the frequency at which viewers watched television and listened to radio news programs has shown to be strongly correlated with feelings of fear.9

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Summary: American Time Use Survey, U.S. DEPT. OF LABOR, (2011), available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm 4 K. Dowler, Media Consumption and Public Attitudes Toward Crime and Justice: The Relationship Between Fear and Crime, Punitive Attitudes, and Perceived Police Effectiveness, 10 Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture 2, 109-126, CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY AT BAKERSFIELD, (2003), at 110. 5 S. Kalar, The Impact of Child-Directed Media Consumption on Consumer Intelligence, Dissertation, UNIV. OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, (2004), at 10; see also D. Berman and P. Grant, et al., Comcast Plans to Create 24-Hour Network for Toddlers, WALL STREET JOURNAL, (New York: 2004), at B1. 6 See Dowler (2003), supra note 4, at 110-111. 7 Ibid. 8 A. Liska and W. Baccaglini, Feeling safe by Comparison: Crime in the Newspapers, Social Problems, Vol. 37, (1990), 360-374. 9 T. Chiricos et al., Fear, TV news, and the Reality of Crime, 38 Criminology 3, 755-785, (1997); see also G. Gerbner et al., The Mainstreaming of America: Violence Profile No. 11, Journal of Communication, 10-29, (1980), at 12; also Dowler (2003), supra note 4, at 110.

RACIAL HIERARCHY & TRADITIONAL NARRATIVES IN HUMOR & COMEDY

Depictions of African-Americans in Contemporary Media In general, representation of African-Americans in the media has been grossly disproportionate in comparison with their actual proportion in relation to the total population. This is true, not only in the scarcity of depiction, but also in the apparent character and social status of those who were depicted.10 To cite one example, a study of advertisements which included depictions of the poor in Time magazine from 1980 found that, although blacks were depicted in less than 8 per cent of images overall, blacks were featured in depictions of the poor at a rate of 10 per cent; poor whites, on the other hand, were not featured in the advertisements at all.11 On a macrosociological scale, media campaigns have proved to be effective in their ability to rally large sections of the white population around racially specific causes. One example of this phenomenon is the constant depiction of urban black males in the 1980s and 1990s as criminally dangerous or generally poor and uneducated. The effectiveness and influence of these campaigns is illustrated by the frequent correspondence of public misunderstandings and media misrepresentations12 found in census and survey data taken at the end of the decade.13 Although only 29 per cent of Americas poor were black in 1990, surveys indicated a majority of the public believed it was at least 50 per cent, and at least 55 per cent of respondents believed there were currently more poor blacks than poor whites in the United States.14 Under the Reagan administration, images of violent, drug-dealing black youth gangs were blamed for the spread of the crack menace.15 Despite the relatively low levels of crack use at the time especially with compared to the nationwide epidemic of cocaine use that had occurred amongst white youth in the previous years the public was bombarded with images of the dangerous black male as television, political campaigns and newspapers all piled on to make a media spectacle of violent crack-dealing youth gangs in the ghetto.16

10

M. Gilens, Race and Poverty in America: Public Misperceptions and the American News Media, The Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 60, No. 4, 515-541, (1996), at 517. 11 R. Humphrey and H. Schumann, The Portrayal of Blacks in Magazine Advertisements: 1950 1982, Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 48, (1984), 551-563. 12 See Gilens (1996), supra note 10, at 517. 13 Id., at 517-8. 14 Ibid. 15 See Covington (2010), supra note 2, at 13; see also C. Reinarman and H. G. Levine, eds., Crack in America: Demon Drugs and Social Justice, BERKELEY: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS, (1997); and J. Covington, The Social Construction of the Minority Drug Problem, Social Justice Vol. 24, No. 4, (1997), 117-147; and C. Maxson, Research in Brief: Street Gangs and Drug Sales in Two Urban Cities, in The Modern Gang Reader, M. Klein, C. Maxson, and J. Miller, eds., Los Angeles: Roxbury, (1995), 228-235. 16 See Covington (2010), supra note 2, at 13-14.

WHITE MEN CANT JOKE Brief History of Humor and Comedy

Humor has been used for a variety of different purposes, dating back at least to the days of Aristotle and Plato.17 Aristotelian-era humor was never to be used by the guardians of the Republic, the gentlemen, at least not in excess.18 The use of humor was permitted in some rare cases, but only if it was innocent in its purpose and free from anger.19 Humor that denigrated or ridiculed others unless of course it was clear that their misfortune was a direct and avoidable result of their own stupidity or vice was condemned as personal amusement at the expense of others, which lacks dignity and falls short of true nobility.20 Since then, however, racial and ethnic humor has been used as both a means of oppression21 and a means of uplifting the oppressed.22 The dialectic of comedy and tragedy found in much of African-American humor during the period of American slavery illustrates how the material of tragedy was converted into comedy, including the absurd.23 The ability to find levity in the face of such hateful, genocidal, and racially motivated oppression displays an attitude of defiance and the refusal of those who were enslaved to fully submit to their conditions of oppression. The solidarity that was cultivated, in what were essentially inside jokes between slaves, demonstrates a profound sense of bonding, which was be maintained, at least in part, as a result of a mutual understanding and a shared sense of humor. The desire to retreat from the indefinite torture of reality was an example of the turn toward humor, often tragedy turned funny, expressed in work songs and spirituals.24 Beneath the surface, however, lies the familiar irony of Twains grinning skull.25 The sobriety and horror of the day-to-day conditions under which they lived is a reminder that, beneath the humorous and laughable tales of slaves, or indeed of any oppressed group, lurks the specter of tragic reality.26 It is one thing to rely on the use of humor, wit, and collective optimism to combat the daily reality of terror and oppression within which these coping mechanisms were employed. Therefore, it should not be difficult to understand how, when the rage of the oppressed is spoken, humorous discourse may provide a vital rather than a merely convenient channel27 through which such rage can vent. It is another thing entirely, however, to justify the use of stereotypical hyperbole and condescension by appealing to an alleged comedic necessity, which demands messages of social justice and racial harmony be cloaked in racism and bigotry to
17

D. B. Gordon, Humor in African American Discourse: Speaking of Oppression, Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 29, No. 2, 254-276, (1998), 254-255. 18 Ibid. 19 Id., at 255. 20 Ibid. 21 JBHE Foundation, Brudder Bones: The New Acceptability of Ridiculing Black Folks, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Vol. 17 (1997), 91-93. 22 See Gordon (1998), supra note 17, at 256. 23 Ibid. 24 Id., at 257. 25 See J. M. Cox, Mark Twain: The Fate of Humor, UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI PRESS, (2002), at 49. 26 Id., at 256. 27 Id., at 255.

RACIAL HIERARCHY & TRADITIONAL NARRATIVES IN HUMOR & COMEDY

ensure they are received properly by viewers in an audience. This goes far beyond whatever measures of benignity can be extracted from the laughable humor of the aristocracy or the gentry.28 There are examples, however, of comedians and comediennes who do in fact exhibit a considerable level of metaphorical mastery, in which they are able to provide critiques of contemporary society in the form of comedy, specifically with regard to the state of race relations in the United States. Unfortunately, this is where the merits of this strategy conflicts with research on the subject. Despite carefully crafted routines, filled with well-intentioned attempts by comedians to inspire critical thought and instill a sense of racial reflection in their audiences, research suggests that most audiences are unlikely to pick up on underlying messages or themes. There are many reasons for this phenomenon, the majority of which have to do with the mental difficulty involved in simultaneous cognition of humor and symbolism or metaphor.

Critical Cognition and Message Comprehension in Comedy It has long been argued that the use of humor, specifically humor that invokes stereotypical imagery, can be an effective means of communicating and exchanging of social and cultural information, irrespective of the validity or sensitivity of that information.29 In fact, humor has actually been shown to increase the persuasive effects of media, in contrast with more serious material.30 Viewers are said to be more attentive and receptive when viewing humorous content.31 As such, media and advertising companies have often used humor and comedy in an attempt to capture the attention of viewers. The results of this and other research has led to frequent uses of humor across virtually every media platform.32 The problem arises from the introduction and use of stereotypical imagery to convey these messages. The difficulty involved in identifying, processing, interpreting, comprehending, and retaining the subtle and symbolic undertones when exposed to humor is the key to understanding the ultimate harm that is done by the use of stereotypical tropes and tactics in comedy. First, it must be noted that the success or failure of racial or otherwise controversial humor is largely contingent upon the context in which the material is presented and received.33 In general,

28 29

Id., at 267. J. H. Park et al., Naturalizing Racial Differences Through Comedy: Asian, Black, and White Views on Racial Stereotypes in Rush Hour 2, Journal of Communication, Vol. 56, 157-177, (2006), 158-160. 30 Ibid. 31 Ibid. 32 Y. Zhang and G. Zinkhan, Humor in Television Advertising: the Effects of Repetition and Social Setting, Advances in Consumer Research Vol. 18, ASSOCIATION FOR CONSUMER RESEARCH, (1991), 813-818. 33 M. Mulkay, On Humor: Its Nature and Its Place in Modern Society, New York: BASIL BLACKWELL, INC. (1988).

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the potential to induce genuine laughter depends on the identity of the person telling the joke.34 This is especially true of racial, ethnic, and other jokes about marginalized groups in society. These jokes are often considered offensive unless the person who tells them is a member of the marginal group in question.35 The extent to which viewers are persuaded by exposure to such content, however, is mitigated by repeated exposure to the content and also by the particular social setting in which it is viewed. Viewers, especially those exposed to certain content or comedy routines with higher frequency, often exhibit signs of decreased sensitization and message retention as their minds become increasingly distracted and disinterested over time.36 Second, even if a comedian is able to successfully induce genuine laughter from the audience in the performance of racial humor, research indicates that the presence of comedic and humorous elements in the joke causes decreased activity in brain functions typically associated with critical message comprehension, retention, and recall. Essentially, this means audience members ability to pierce through the outer layer of a joke is temporarily reduced or eliminated while they are exposed to stimuli that induce laughter or levity.37 When exposed to humorous and comedic material, cognition tends to become more narrowly focused on the superficial aspects of the joke. As a result, less cognitive attention is given to the deeper critical layers of metaphor and symbolism within the joke, thus rendering them less accessible to even the most intelligent viewers and almost completely inaccessible to the average viewer.38 Without resorting to futile speculation, these findings also seem to suggest, at least in part, why humor has been used so frequently throughout history to soften the emotional pain felt by those who subjected to traumatic experiences or extreme oppression, as mentioned above. Furthermore, this may help to explain why comedians with opposing styles, like those of Dave Chappelle and Carlos Mencia for example, receive largely similar responses from the population in general, despite the significant differences in the central comedic theses of each comedians work.39 Dave Chappelle, for instance, has openly stated that his comedy is meant to inspire critical thinking and self-reflection in his audience about the existence of systemic and institutional racism that still operates in the United States. He has frequently expressed this perspective in several interviews, such as the following:

34

O. H. Gandy, Jr., Communication in Race: A Structural Perspective, New York: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, (1998), at 90. 35 M. Billings, Comic Racism and Violence, in Beyond a Joke: The Limits of Humour, S. Lockyer and M. Pickering, eds., New York: Palgrave Macmillan, (2005), 25-44. 36 E. Belch, The Effects of Television Commercial Repetition on Cognitive Response and Message Acceptance, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 9, (1982), 56-65; see also Zhang and Zinkhan (1991), supra note 32, at 813-818. 37 G. M. Zinkhan and B. D. Gelb, "Humor, Repetition, and Advertising Effectiveness," Advances in Consumers Research, Vol. 17, (1990), 438-441. 38 R. Osterhouse and T. Brock, "Distraction Increases Yielding to Propaganda by Inhibiting Counterarguing," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 15, (1970), 344-358. 39 REGGS, Inside Jokes: Color-blind Racism and Racial Humor, Duke Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Gender in the Social Sciences (REGSS), SOCIAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, (2013), 11-13.

RACIAL HIERARCHY & TRADITIONAL NARRATIVES IN HUMOR & COMEDY Thing like racism are institutionalized and systemic. You might not know any bigots, and you feel like, Well, I dont hate black people, so Im not a racist, but you benefit from racism just by the merit of the color of your skin. Theres opportunities that you have, youre privileged in ways that you may not even realize because you havent been deprived in certain ways. We need to talk about these things in order for things to change.40

At the same time, comedians like Carlos Mencia have consistently expressed a completely different and largely individualistic view on the state of contemporary American racism. Mencia appears to believe the primary source of racial inequality and oppression in America is the individual, rather than the institutional and systemic nature of racism, as described by Chappelle. Instead, Mencia attributes the ongoing racial problems in the United States to the tendency of minorities to overreact upon encountering whites that use overtly racist elements in their routines, among other things. When asked about the tendency for controversy to arise in the event that a white comedian performed the same jokes Mencia performs, he responded: I attribute the fact that a lot of young white guys, right now, are joining groups like the KKK and the Aryan nation in bigger numbers than they ever did before, because I say its our faults as minorities for not letting these poor kids, you know, just being normal and have fun and say jokes like everybody else [...] I dont think its fair, and I dont like it. So Ive been out there defending the white man.41 The fundamental divide that separates Chappelle and Mencia lies in their opposing perspectives on the nature of racism. The critical discussion and reflection to which Chappelle hopes to inspire his audience, along with the focus he wishing to bring to the existence of institutional and systemic racism, stand in almost direct contradiction to the central tenets of individual racism and bigotry Mencia attempts to highlight in his work. Yet, herein lies one of the main problems with disseminating racial and ethnic humor that contains even suggestively negative overtones: the traditional narrative in American declared institutional racism to be dead with the decline of the Civil Rights Era. As the dominant social group in American society, whites have been able to shape and manipulate the construction of race in ways that reinforce their social dominance and ultimately benefit their group as a whole by looking to the official narrative that America has entered a post-racial era of colorblindness.

Racial Humor in the Era of Colorblindness Official narratives of colorblindness serve a variety of different functions all of which require additional critical discussion but the most important function of the concept for our purposes is their ability to allow whites to continue ignoring their own implicit, but virtually unacknowledged, understanding and appreciation of their privileged status and group position in

40 41

See Chappelle (2006), supra note 1. P. Sheridan, Patricia Sheridans Breakfast with Carlos Mencia, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 6, 2007.

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American society.42 This idea is inculcated and reinforced in the minds of the white majority by proclamations that racism has retreated into nonexistence in the wake of the Civil Rights movement (which certainly made outstanding progress as a movement but was unable, for various reasons, to achieve true social justice in America).43 Comedians like Carlos Mencia contribute overtly to this narrative and help to preserve the current system of racial hierarchy by claiming whites should be allowed to just be normal44 and tell racist jokes like everybody else.45 Such statements promote the exploitation of white privilege by assuming that it is normal for whites to use race to get a laugh. Moreover, Mencias interest in defending the white man46 is, in itself, an act of capitulation to the status quo, which lacks dignity and falls short of true nobility.47 Unfortunately, the same problem arises with almost all types and uses of racial humor. Even comedians like Dave Chappelle, who use race to inspire critical debate and reflection on the effects of institutional and systemic racism, unknowingly contribute to the preservation of traditional narratives about race that support the status quo of profit-based oppression, of which television in general has often been identified as a primary proponent.48 The source of this apparent contradiction is the result of the extreme difficulty in processing and comprehending humor, while simultaneously attempting to dissect and critically examine the symbols, values, and messages hidden beneath the surface of the joke.49 The audience, at least those in the audience who are white,50 is unlikely to retaining the vast majority of messages hidden beneath the layer of humor. The ones they do retain, however, are almost always the simplest and most accessible messages available. Which, in most cases, means the audience can only truly remember and internalize the concepts that reinforce previously held, traditional narratives.51 That is to say, despite the vast selection of metaphor, meaning, and insight contained within performances from comedians like Dave Chappelle, the majority of audience members will nonetheless subconsciously disregard the overwhelming majority of material except the those

42

T. Gitlin, Prime Time Ideology: The Hegemonic Process in Television Entertainment, Social Problems, 26:251-266, (1979), at 263. 43 E. Bonilla-Silva, Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States, New York: Rowan and Littlefield, (2005), 25-27. 44 See Sheridan (2007), supra note 41. 45 Ibid. 46 Ibid. 47 See Gordon (1998), supra note 17, at 255. 48 L. Artz and B. O. Murphy, Cultural Hegemony in the United States, London: SAGE PUBLICATIONS, (2000), 106-108. 49 C. P. Duncan and J. E. Nelson, "Effects of Humor in a Radio Advertising Experiment," Journal of Advertising, (1985), 14-64. 50 Lewis et al., White Responses: The Emergence of Enlightened Racism. in Channeling Blackness: Studies on Television and Race in America, D. Hunt, ed., New York: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, (2005), 74-88. 51 M. Schudson, How Culture Works: Perspectives from Media Studies on the Efficacy of Symbols, Theory and Society, Vol. 18, No. 2, (1989), 153-180.

RACIAL HIERARCHY & TRADITIONAL NARRATIVES IN HUMOR & COMEDY

narratives that fall in line with their own preconceived notions.52 Admittedly, some of the data suggests more educated viewers may be more receptive and sensitive to perceived comedic messages and satirical meaning embedded within humorous content.53 However, the underlying point remains: whether they attend a comedy show or watch television in their homes, the majority of audience members and viewers will walk away from the performance with a reinforced belief in the standard racial and ethnic narratives of the society at large, irrespective of the amount of critical or insightful content within the material.54

Conclusion As the dominant social group in American society, whites have been able to shape and manipulate their own constructions of race in ways that reinforce their social dominance and ultimately benefit their group as a whole. Understanding the complex relationship between race and humor can help to provide us with a clearer picture of the state and direction of race relations in the United States and allow us to move forward in the struggle for racial and social justice. In light of the results of contemporary research on the use of racial humor, and the apparent effects said humor is shown to have on the cognitive and perceptive functions of audience members, it can be argued that the use of racial stereotypes in humor can simultaneously challenge and reproduce systems of oppression, despite the best efforts of the comedian or comedienne. Therefore, those interested in the reformation of the current racial hierarchy will likely find reductions in the frequency and use of race and racially specific tactics in humor and comedy to be conducive in the achievement of their overall goals. The continued use of racial stereotypes and other race-specific humor will likely contribute to the preservation of the current racial hierarchy and will make the fight for a more equitable and egalitarian racial climate in the United States a much longer and more difficult struggle.

52 53

B. Hooks, Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies, New York: Routledge, (1996), 6-

8.

G. Brooker, A Comparison of the Persuasive Effects of Mild Humor and Mild Fear Appeals, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 10, (1981), at 2940. 54 J. B. Thompson, Ideology and Modern Culture: Critical Social Theory in the Era of Mass Communication, Stanford: STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, (1990).

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Bibliography: 1. A. Liska and W. Baccaglini, Feeling safe by Comparison: Crime in the Newspapers, Social Problems, Vol. 37, (1990). 2. B. Hooks, Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies, New York: Routledge, (1996). 3. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Summary: American Time Use Survey, U.S. DEPT. OF LABOR, (2011), available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm 4. C. Maxson, Research in Brief: Street Gangs and Drug Sales in Two Urban Cities, in The Modern Gang Reader, M. Klein, C. Maxson, and J. Miller, eds., Los Angeles: Roxbury, (1995). 5. C. P. Duncan and J. E. Nelson, "Effects of Humor in a Radio Advertising Experiment," Journal of Advertising, (1985). 6. C. Reinarman and H. G. Levine, eds., Crack in America: Demon Drugs and Social Justice, BERKELEY: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS, (1997). 7. D. B. Gordon, Humor in African American Discourse: Speaking of Oppression, Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 29, No. 2, 254-276, (1998). 8. D. Berman and P. Grant, et al., Comcast Plans to Create 24-Hour Network for Toddlers, WALL STREET JOURNAL, (New York: 2004), B1. 9. D. Chappelle, Dave Chappelle, Inside the Actors Studio, Season 12, Episode 10, BRAVO, originally aired February 12, 2006, available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84NjYRTHpfU. 10. E. Belch, The Effects of Television Commercial Repetition on Cognitive Response and Message Acceptance, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 9, (1982). 11. E. Bonilla-Silva, Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States, New York: Rowan and Littlefield, (2005). 12. G. Brooker, A Comparison of the Persuasive Effects of Mild Humor and Mild Fear Appeals, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 10, (1981). 13. G. Gerbner et al., The Mainstreaming of America: Violence Profile No. 11, Journal of Communication, 10-29, (1980). 14. G. M. Zinkhan and B. D. Gelb, "Humor, Repetition, and Advertising Effectiveness," Advances in Consumers Research, Vol. 17, (1990). 15. J. B. Thompson, Ideology and Modern Culture: Critical Social Theory in the Era of Mass Communication, Stanford: STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, (1990). 16. J. Covington, The Social Construction of the Minority Drug Problem, Social Justice Vol. 24, No. 4, (1997). 17. J. Covington, Crime and Racial Constructions: Cultural Misinformation About African Americans in Media and Academia, Published by LEXINGTON BOOKS, (2010).

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RACIAL HIERARCHY & TRADITIONAL NARRATIVES IN HUMOR & COMEDY 18. J. H. Park et al., Naturalizing Racial Differences Through Comedy: Asian, Black, and White Views on Racial Stereotypes in Rush Hour 2, Journal of Communication, Vol. 56, 157-177, (2006). 19. J. M. Cox, Mark Twain: The Fate of Humor, UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI PRESS, (2002). 20. J., S., and J., Lewis, White Responses: The Emergence of Enlightened Racism. in Channeling Blackness: Studies on Television and Race in America, D. Hunt, ed., New York: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, (2005). 21. JBHE Foundation, Brudder Bones: The New Acceptability of Ridiculing Black Folks, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Vol. 17 (1997). 22. K. Dowler, Media Consumption and Public Attitudes Toward Crime and Justice: The Relationship Between Fear and Crime, Punitive Attitudes, and Perceived Police Effectiveness, 10 Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture 2, 109-126, CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY AT BAKERSFIELD, (2003). 23. L. Artz and B. O. Murphy, Cultural Hegemony in the United States, London: SAGE PUBLICATIONS, (2000). 24. M. Billings, Comic Racism and Violence, in Beyond a Joke: The Limits of Humour, S. Lockyer and M. Pickering, eds., New York: Palgrave Macmillan, (2005). 25. M. Gilens, Race and Poverty in America: Public Misperceptions and the American News Media, The Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 60, No. 4, 515-541, (1996). 26. M. Mulkay, On Humor: Its Nature and Its Place in Modern Society, New York: BASIL BLACKWELL, INC. (1988). 27. M. Schudson, How Culture Works: Perspectives from Media Studies on the Efficacy of Symbols, Theory and Society, Vol. 18, No. 2, (1989). 28. O. H. Gandy, Jr., Communication in Race: A Structural Perspective, New York: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, (1998). 29. P. Sheridan, Patricia Sheridans Breakfast with Carlos Mencia, Pittsburgh PostGazette, August 6, 2007. 30. R. Humphrey and H. Schumann, The Portrayal of Blacks in Magazine Advertisements: 19501982, Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 48, (1984). 31. R. Osterhouse and T. Brock, "Distraction Increases Yielding to Propaganda by Inhibiting Counterarguing," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 15, (1970). 32. REGGS, Inside Jokes: Color-blind Racism and Racial Humor, Duke Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Gender in the Social Sciences (REGSS), SOCIAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, (2013). 33. S. Kalar, The Impact of Child-Directed Media Consumption on Consumer Intelligence, Dissertation, UNIV. OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, (2004). 34. T. Chiricos et al., Fear, TV news, and the Reality of Crime, 38 Criminology 3, 755785, (1997).

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35. T. Gitlin, Prime Time Ideology: The Hegemonic Process in Television Entertainment, Social Problems, 26:251-266, (1979). 36. Y. Zhang and G. Zinkhan, Humor in Television Advertising: the Effects of Repetition and Social Setting, Advances in Consumer Research Vol. 18, ASSOCIATION FOR CONSUMER RESEARCH, (1991).