Bruce Jenner Caitlyn Jenner Wheaties Funny
Why Is That Funny?
Mummers group from 2016 parade.
I've been seeing a lot of Facebook posts and articles since New Year's about the Philadelphia, Pa. Mummers Parade and the transphobic "humor" that focused on Caitlyn Jenner. There are more than a few things that I don't understand about people, especially members of the LGBT community that dismiss this incident as simply humor and tell me I should "lighten up." Little do they know who they are talking too as I'm someone known for my humor and sharp quips. I may be getting ahead of myself here because if you grew up out of the range of Philadelphia TV stations, you may not even know what the Mummers were.
When I was a kid we had only two New Year's Day traditions. The first of course, was the New Year's Day dinner which always featured a ham with pineapple and maraschino cherries baked on it that us kids would covet and, the second, was watching the Mummers Parade in the morning. Looking back on it now, I don't understand why we, or anyone, watched any parade with maybe the exception of the Macy's parade which had giant balloons of cartoon characters. Even then, for the most part, I found them pretty boring and none more so than the Mummers which didn't even have a single giant balloon. Still, I was there every New Year's Day morning glued to the TV set.
The Mummers, from what I remember were mostly men in costume's more garish than anything even Liberace would have worn for any of his concerts. They would march, or strut as it was called, while playing instruments. You would see guys riding little carts or bikes, lots of clowns (which were creepy to me and still are) and some dancing or choreographed numbers. There were also groups that were called "comics" that would put on little skits that were intended to amuse, but I can't recall them being very funny. This may be because they were often topical or political in nature which would have gone over my young head.
Until this year I'd not thought about or even watched part of a Mummers Parade in at least twenty five years. This year though it was once again brought to my attention because of the already mentioned skit a "comic" group did about Caitlyn Jenner.
The skit starts with the Olympic theme and a man dressed as Jenner as she was pre- transition at the 1976 Olympics. Behind him is a large sign of the famous Wheaties box that featured Jenner. After a little hamming it up I'm Coming Out by Diana Ross starts playing while several clowns that are dressed as doctors and nurses appear with a wheelchair to whisk the man dressed as Olympian Jenner into the crowd. Fifteen seconds later Dude Looks Like a Lady by Aerosmith starts blasting as he reappears now dressed as Caitlyn in a white outfit meant to look like the one she wore on the Vanity Fair cover. The entire time this is going on a couple of hundred men, along with a few kids, in clown dresses move around like they are drunk (I suspect more than a few actually are). It certainly was not choreographed in any way as they are constantly bumping into each other. A lot of the people in the crowd were holding up signs of the meme that shows the classic Jenner Wheaties box on one side and a Fruit Loops box on the other side featuring a badly photoshopped picture of Caitlyn.
By now, I'm sure you are in tears laughing at the really clever and hilarious skit these guys put on, no? Well it is sad to say that many people claim this sloppy reenactment of a stupid, old meme from 2014 is the height of humor and that may be my biggest complaint, it's just not funny.
Anytime I've raised the issue that the skit was not appropriate or that it was transphobic or just plain offensive I've been greeted with comments such as "It's just humor, lighten up" or "Stop being so PC, it's a joke." When someone responds with that line of defense, I always ask what exactly about it was funny and to date, I've not gotten an actual reason why. Sure, people try to weakly defend their position typically saying that it's okay for comedians to make fun of Caitlyn Jenner, but this defense shows a lack of understanding of comedy. To be sure, there are funny situations that arise surrounding people that are trans, but the funny ones of these are not punching down or dehumanizing.
What does punching down mean? Humor can be found in almost anything, even the worst of things. It was George Carlin who pointed out that even rape jokes can be funny as long as they are making fun of the rapist and not the victim. That's an important distinction. Making fun of politicians, organizations or others in power in general is punching up. Making fun of minorities, the disenfranchised, the powerless is punching down — and not funny, ever.
If you are a friend, ally or member of the LGBT community and found this horrible Mummers Parade skit humorous ask yourself why you found it funny and if you figure it out, please let me know.
Category: Transgender Opinion
About the Author (Author Profile)
Diane was born and raised in New Jersey. She has two fully grown sons and a husband of thirteen years. Diane runs a two small businesses and in her spare time enjoys strategy board gaming.
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Source: https://tgforum.com/why-is-that-funny/
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