http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/10/19/chai-boys-nipples-and-breaking-meta-humor-on-30-rock/ Responses to Media and Culture Fri, 12 Feb 2016 19:35:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/10/19/chai-boys-nipples-and-breaking-meta-humor-on-30-rock/comment-page-1/#comment-38896 Sun, 31 Oct 2010 02:43:55 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=6865#comment-38896 I have not done any audience studies, but I read several reviews of the live episode and mainstream critics do not acknowledge the racialized aspects of the live satire. I have many family members who love 30 Rock, and do not think it is political. This may be a reaction to the absurdity of its humor. A lot has been said in studies of satire about the function of hyperbolic racism in mocking bigotry, however, shows like 30 Rock are successful because they are intentionally polysemic and open themselves up to multiple readings. Its my observation that the formal elements privileges the perspective of Jack (Alec Baldwin), and encourages the audience to laughs along with him at Liz’s ugliness or Tracy’s juvenile blackness.

]]> http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/10/19/chai-boys-nipples-and-breaking-meta-humor-on-30-rock/comment-page-1/#comment-36926 Sun, 24 Oct 2010 01:57:14 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=6865#comment-36926 Thanks for this astute discussion of the live episode, and in particular for pointing to the many, often fascinating layers to 30 Rock’s deployment of race and ethnicity in its overall representational politics. I wonder what your thoughts are on how audiences actually may view these dynamics; do you think many or most are aware of all of these complicated references, and how might their reception play in?

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