Anthony Hale
Biographic Data
| ID | 640156 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Anthony Hale |
| GIVEN NAMES | Anthony |
| FAMILY NAME | Hale |
| SIGNATURE | HALE A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Western Sydney University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7700-6804 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 20 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
‘Cunk on everything’: Is Philomena Cunk’s humour safe, or subversive
The trope of the stupid, and/or disingenuous, media ‘interviewer’ character invented and performed by comedians, from This is Spinal Tap, to Ali G, to Parks and Recreation, has been enormously popular. It also serves a more serious social commentary-satirical role, in ‘setting up,’ humiliating or generally undermining dominant social norms and ‘establishment’ experts. Employing both harmless self-deprecation and biting political mockery, these ch…
“Muskets” and Mormons: The violent metaphor which “backfired”
This paper uses Speech Act Theory (SAT) to analyze a senior Mormon [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is more commonly known by the names: Mormons, the LDS, the Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church. For brevity, this paper will alternate between these more familiar names.] leader’s sermon in which the metaphor of “muskets” appeared prominently. The metaphor targeted the Church’s LGBTQ+ community, triggering a “firestorm” of responses…
Power x prejudice: Risk-based assessment on the vulnerability of female Chinese international students in Australia
Racism and sexism are discriminatory behaviours that are prevalent throughout society, and both have a negative impact on individuals. Further, the intersectionality of racism and sexism has a profoundly damaging effect on its victims. A vulnerable cohort illustrative of this intersectionality impact is female Chinese international students studying in Australia. This study will examine the case studies of four of these students studying at one A…
Put Wanderers fans back in their place: The Western Sydney Wanderers, racism, and classism in Australian Soccer
I was pissed off at her ignorance”: When an International Student Protests Against Racist Humour in a University Tutorial
This paper will discursively examine the complex power structures involved in the university setting, as exposed by a student’s verbalised objection to a tutor’s racist humour which targeted Asian international students. By speaking out, this student then became the target of censure from another student who defended the tutor’s use of humour. Such an incident illustrates the dilemmas presented by the (inappropriate) uses of humour in the educati…
Ent(air)tainment: How the Jonesy and Amanda Radio Program Converts Distance into Connection
This paper analyses an interview with two very successful Australian radio comedians, in order to discover the “secrets” of how they connect with an audience they cannot see. Unlike much of the existing literature, this paper prioritizes the comedians’ responses as primary evidence, from which conclusions are drawn, and this data is then analyzed through a synthesized frame of Discourse Analysis. It is expected that important insights into the op…
Joking, prophetically: The use of humour in Mormon leaders’ sermons
The use of humour in sermons may seem incongruous, or distracting, since the traditional sermon's function is seriously didactic. Nevertheless, and unusually perhaps for a 'new' minority Christian denomination whose members have a reputation for being 'rather dour and pious', there exists a strong tradition in the MormonFootnote1 Church for sermonic humour. Indeed, this tradition is officially sanctioned and modelled by Church leaders, who - rega…
Still not scraping the bottom of the barrel’: ‘Rich points’, feedback, disadvantaged students, and solutions
This article builds on research, previously published in this journal, which tracked student outcomes in a first year core course in an Australian university over the space of 6 years. That research found that a fundamental shift in educator attitude - away from problematising student disadvantage, to seeing student disadvantage as an opportunity - was essential in activating student motivation and autonomy. Success was measured by student retent…
What makes Mormons laugh
As a minority in the USA and globally, Mormons ( The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is also known as the ‘Mormon Church’, and its members are typically called ‘Mormons’, ‘Latter Day Saints’ or ‘LDS’. This paper uses its preferred abbreviations – ‘the Church’ and ‘Latter-day Saints’) and their distinctive religious doctrines/practices have for 190+ years been publicly ridiculed. Typically, they have responded to mockery with tolerance…
Muskets and Rainbows: Why a Mormon Leader's BYU Speech Failed, Metaphorically
The use of metaphors in religious rhetoric can be persuasive, inclusive, and edifying. They can also be belligerent, harmful, and divisive. This paper investigates the backlash against the use of a "muskets" metaphor in a recent speech by a prominent Mormon leader which targeted LGBTQ+ members, in the wider context of a traditionally fraught relationship between the Church and its LGBTQ+ membership. This paper argues that the speech represents an…
Dame Edna and ‘the help’: Australian bilingual Latin American migrants respond to 'that' joke
‘Dame Edna Everage’, a persona originally created by the Australian comedian Barry Humphries in 1955, is a character designed to simultaneously shock and amuse. Dame Edna voices (and satirizes) the discourse of ‘average’, older, politically conservative Anglo-Australians who feel compelled to ‘tell it like it is’ – no matter how offensive their opinions might be. In the Anglosphere, Edna’s humour is well understood and sustained international suc…
She is like a Yakshini’: Character construction via aggressive humour in Chinese sitcom discourse
This paper looks at the importance of aggressive humour in the discursive construction of a ‘Yakshini’ character in a popular Chinese sitcom, Ipartment. The exaggerated, aggressive nature of such a stereotypical character undermines traditional cultural norms of Chinese femininity. Such characterisation of a heroine through aggressive humour in a popular sitcom reflects the fact that empowering women has become (or is becoming) more acceptable in…
Mormon reactions to The Book of Mormon ’
The sustained success of the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon posed a major dilemma for the Mormon Church1 and for many individual Mormons who revere the scripture from which the musical comedy takes its name. As a minority religion in the USA, the Mormon Church has endured over 190 years of persecution, public ridicule and marginalisation, much of which has been prompted by media and religious opposition to the Church’s distinctive doctrines …
That simply cannot be allowed to happen”. The Western Sydney Wanderers and the paradox of Australian soccer
The game of soccer in Australia is a paradox for many reasons. While soccer enjoys an enormous following as one of Australia’s largest amateur participation sports at the junior levels, the professional version of the game struggles for media attention in an otherwise very sports-oriented nation. In addition, while it could be described as pan-ethnic in that it has a popular participation rate across most communities, and while it has strong link…
Do Mormons think The Book of Mormon is funny?’
Public ridicule of a minority typically predicts a defensive response from the target of that humor. This is because public ridicule provides a polarizing spectacle, where the majority enjoys a humorous face reward, and solidarity, at the expense of that minority. Logically, we could expect a faith-based minority to be especially sensitive to public ridicule, since their face investment is greater, in inverse proportion to their social position a…
Not scraping the bottom of the barrel: Disadvantage, diversity and deficit as rich points
First-year students’ literacy deficits are not the problem. They are emblematic of an overall skill set which can be scaffolded from the first year of university study. If we treat literacy deficits as contingent upon other items of motivation, and as an element of Academic Motivational Literacy, we can usually also see these deficits as ‘rich points’ ( Agar (2000) Border lessons: linguistic “rich points” and evaluative understanding. New Directi…
I get it, but it’s just not funny”: Why humour fails, after all is said and done
Failed humour can be explained by communicative gaps, at either the semantic or pragmatic levels, but sometimes, after all is ‘said and done’, people resist humour for purely discursive reasons. Some may recognise the divisive nature of a humorous text, and experience conflicting feelings. Others may welcome humour purely because of its appeal to ideology, while the text itself may not be considered as being very funny. Then there are people who …
There is an after-life (for jokes, anyway): The potential for, and appeal of, ‘immortality’ in humor
While the appeal of humor lies, typically, in its very spontaneity and original contextual incongruity, there is also the chance of an ‘afterlife’ for the humorous text. In most cases, the humorist seeks an immediate response for what is an ephemeral, fleeting, linguistic transaction. A permanent place in humor culture is probably the least of the humorist’s goals- after all, the immediate, positive response is prioritized as an evidence of skill…
Gender bender agenda: Dame Edna, k. d. lang and Ivana Trump
This paper asserts that we accept or reject humorous texts discursively on the basis of what we perceive as authorial agendas. This “authorial agenda spotting” is activated by discursive “triggers”, which identify, filter, reject, endorse, or otherwise subjectively interpret the discourse of a textual author. This study was prompted by observing the negative reception of a humorous text by a predominantly Muslim postgraduate student cohort who si…
Nanny/Mammy: Comparing Lady Gregory and Jessie Fauset
The article constructs a framework for future inquiry about the role of the servant class in the works of Lady Augusta Gregory and Jessie Redmon Fauset. Irish writer Lady Gregory, like her African American counterpart, regarded the working classes with marked ambivalence. The elite of their respective societies, both artists patronized those of lesser social stature to varying degrees. At the same time, however, they both faced powerful adversari…
There is an after-life (for jokes, anyway): The potential for, and appeal of, ‘immortality’ in humor
While the appeal of humor lies, typically, in its very spontaneity and original contextual incongruity, there is also the chance of an ‘afterlife’ for the humorous text. In most cases, the humorist seeks an immediate response for what is an ephemeral, fleeting, linguistic transaction. A permanent place in humor culture is probably the least of the humorist’s goals- after all, the immediate, positive response is prioritized as an evidence of skill…
I get it, but it’s just not funny”: Why humour fails, after all is said and done
Failed humour can be explained by communicative gaps, at either the semantic or pragmatic levels, but sometimes, after all is ‘said and done’, people resist humour for purely discursive reasons. Some may recognise the divisive nature of a humorous text, and experience conflicting feelings. Others may welcome humour purely because of its appeal to ideology, while the text itself may not be considered as being very funny. Then there are people who …
Do Mormons think The Book of Mormon is funny?’
Public ridicule of a minority typically predicts a defensive response from the target of that humor. This is because public ridicule provides a polarizing spectacle, where the majority enjoys a humorous face reward, and solidarity, at the expense of that minority. Logically, we could expect a faith-based minority to be especially sensitive to public ridicule, since their face investment is greater, in inverse proportion to their social position a…
Gender bender agenda: Dame Edna, k. d. lang and Ivana Trump
This paper asserts that we accept or reject humorous texts discursively on the basis of what we perceive as authorial agendas. This “authorial agenda spotting” is activated by discursive “triggers”, which identify, filter, reject, endorse, or otherwise subjectively interpret the discourse of a textual author. This study was prompted by observing the negative reception of a humorous text by a predominantly Muslim postgraduate student cohort who si…
What makes Mormons laugh
As a minority in the USA and globally, Mormons ( The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is also known as the ‘Mormon Church’, and its members are typically called ‘Mormons’, ‘Latter Day Saints’ or ‘LDS’. This paper uses its preferred abbreviations – ‘the Church’ and ‘Latter-day Saints’) and their distinctive religious doctrines/practices have for 190+ years been publicly ridiculed. Typically, they have responded to mockery with tolerance…
Mormon reactions to The Book of Mormon ’
The sustained success of the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon posed a major dilemma for the Mormon Church1 and for many individual Mormons who revere the scripture from which the musical comedy takes its name. As a minority religion in the USA, the Mormon Church has endured over 190 years of persecution, public ridicule and marginalisation, much of which has been prompted by media and religious opposition to the Church’s distinctive doctrines …
Nanny/Mammy: Comparing Lady Gregory and Jessie Fauset
The article constructs a framework for future inquiry about the role of the servant class in the works of Lady Augusta Gregory and Jessie Redmon Fauset. Irish writer Lady Gregory, like her African American counterpart, regarded the working classes with marked ambivalence. The elite of their respective societies, both artists patronized those of lesser social stature to varying degrees. At the same time, however, they both faced powerful adversari…
Gender bender agenda: Dame Edna, k. d. lang and Ivana Trump
This paper asserts that we accept or reject humorous texts discursively on the basis of what we perceive as authorial agendas. This “authorial agenda spotting” is activated by discursive “triggers”, which identify, filter, reject, endorse, or otherwise subjectively interpret the discourse of a textual author. This study was prompted by observing the negative reception of a humorous text by a predominantly Muslim postgraduate student cohort who si…
I get it, but it’s just not funny”: Why humour fails, after all is said and done
Failed humour can be explained by communicative gaps, at either the semantic or pragmatic levels, but sometimes, after all is ‘said and done’, people resist humour for purely discursive reasons. Some may recognise the divisive nature of a humorous text, and experience conflicting feelings. Others may welcome humour purely because of its appeal to ideology, while the text itself may not be considered as being very funny. Then there are people who …
There is an after-life (for jokes, anyway): The potential for, and appeal of, ‘immortality’ in humor
While the appeal of humor lies, typically, in its very spontaneity and original contextual incongruity, there is also the chance of an ‘afterlife’ for the humorous text. In most cases, the humorist seeks an immediate response for what is an ephemeral, fleeting, linguistic transaction. A permanent place in humor culture is probably the least of the humorist’s goals- after all, the immediate, positive response is prioritized as an evidence of skill…
Not scraping the bottom of the barrel: Disadvantage, diversity and deficit as rich points
First-year students’ literacy deficits are not the problem. They are emblematic of an overall skill set which can be scaffolded from the first year of university study. If we treat literacy deficits as contingent upon other items of motivation, and as an element of Academic Motivational Literacy, we can usually also see these deficits as ‘rich points’ ( Agar (2000) Border lessons: linguistic “rich points” and evaluative understanding. New Directi…
Dame Edna and ‘the help’: Australian bilingual Latin American migrants respond to 'that' joke
‘Dame Edna Everage’, a persona originally created by the Australian comedian Barry Humphries in 1955, is a character designed to simultaneously shock and amuse. Dame Edna voices (and satirizes) the discourse of ‘average’, older, politically conservative Anglo-Australians who feel compelled to ‘tell it like it is’ – no matter how offensive their opinions might be. In the Anglosphere, Edna’s humour is well understood and sustained international suc…
She is like a Yakshini’: Character construction via aggressive humour in Chinese sitcom discourse
This paper looks at the importance of aggressive humour in the discursive construction of a ‘Yakshini’ character in a popular Chinese sitcom, Ipartment. The exaggerated, aggressive nature of such a stereotypical character undermines traditional cultural norms of Chinese femininity. Such characterisation of a heroine through aggressive humour in a popular sitcom reflects the fact that empowering women has become (or is becoming) more acceptable in…
Mormon reactions to The Book of Mormon ’
The sustained success of the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon posed a major dilemma for the Mormon Church1 and for many individual Mormons who revere the scripture from which the musical comedy takes its name. As a minority religion in the USA, the Mormon Church has endured over 190 years of persecution, public ridicule and marginalisation, much of which has been prompted by media and religious opposition to the Church’s distinctive doctrines …
That simply cannot be allowed to happen”. The Western Sydney Wanderers and the paradox of Australian soccer
The game of soccer in Australia is a paradox for many reasons. While soccer enjoys an enormous following as one of Australia’s largest amateur participation sports at the junior levels, the professional version of the game struggles for media attention in an otherwise very sports-oriented nation. In addition, while it could be described as pan-ethnic in that it has a popular participation rate across most communities, and while it has strong link…
Do Mormons think The Book of Mormon is funny?’
Public ridicule of a minority typically predicts a defensive response from the target of that humor. This is because public ridicule provides a polarizing spectacle, where the majority enjoys a humorous face reward, and solidarity, at the expense of that minority. Logically, we could expect a faith-based minority to be especially sensitive to public ridicule, since their face investment is greater, in inverse proportion to their social position a…
Ent(air)tainment: How the Jonesy and Amanda Radio Program Converts Distance into Connection
This paper analyses an interview with two very successful Australian radio comedians, in order to discover the “secrets” of how they connect with an audience they cannot see. Unlike much of the existing literature, this paper prioritizes the comedians’ responses as primary evidence, from which conclusions are drawn, and this data is then analyzed through a synthesized frame of Discourse Analysis. It is expected that important insights into the op…
Joking, prophetically: The use of humour in Mormon leaders’ sermons
The use of humour in sermons may seem incongruous, or distracting, since the traditional sermon's function is seriously didactic. Nevertheless, and unusually perhaps for a 'new' minority Christian denomination whose members have a reputation for being 'rather dour and pious', there exists a strong tradition in the MormonFootnote1 Church for sermonic humour. Indeed, this tradition is officially sanctioned and modelled by Church leaders, who - rega…
Still not scraping the bottom of the barrel’: ‘Rich points’, feedback, disadvantaged students, and solutions
This article builds on research, previously published in this journal, which tracked student outcomes in a first year core course in an Australian university over the space of 6 years. That research found that a fundamental shift in educator attitude - away from problematising student disadvantage, to seeing student disadvantage as an opportunity - was essential in activating student motivation and autonomy. Success was measured by student retent…
What makes Mormons laugh
As a minority in the USA and globally, Mormons ( The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is also known as the ‘Mormon Church’, and its members are typically called ‘Mormons’, ‘Latter Day Saints’ or ‘LDS’. This paper uses its preferred abbreviations – ‘the Church’ and ‘Latter-day Saints’) and their distinctive religious doctrines/practices have for 190+ years been publicly ridiculed. Typically, they have responded to mockery with tolerance…
Muskets and Rainbows: Why a Mormon Leader's BYU Speech Failed, Metaphorically
The use of metaphors in religious rhetoric can be persuasive, inclusive, and edifying. They can also be belligerent, harmful, and divisive. This paper investigates the backlash against the use of a "muskets" metaphor in a recent speech by a prominent Mormon leader which targeted LGBTQ+ members, in the wider context of a traditionally fraught relationship between the Church and its LGBTQ+ membership. This paper argues that the speech represents an…
I was pissed off at her ignorance”: When an International Student Protests Against Racist Humour in a University Tutorial
This paper will discursively examine the complex power structures involved in the university setting, as exposed by a student’s verbalised objection to a tutor’s racist humour which targeted Asian international students. By speaking out, this student then became the target of censure from another student who defended the tutor’s use of humour. Such an incident illustrates the dilemmas presented by the (inappropriate) uses of humour in the educati…
Put Wanderers fans back in their place: The Western Sydney Wanderers, racism, and classism in Australian Soccer
‘Cunk on everything’: Is Philomena Cunk’s humour safe, or subversive
The trope of the stupid, and/or disingenuous, media ‘interviewer’ character invented and performed by comedians, from This is Spinal Tap, to Ali G, to Parks and Recreation, has been enormously popular. It also serves a more serious social commentary-satirical role, in ‘setting up,’ humiliating or generally undermining dominant social norms and ‘establishment’ experts. Employing both harmless self-deprecation and biting political mockery, these ch…
“Muskets” and Mormons: The violent metaphor which “backfired”
This paper uses Speech Act Theory (SAT) to analyze a senior Mormon [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is more commonly known by the names: Mormons, the LDS, the Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church. For brevity, this paper will alternate between these more familiar names.] leader’s sermon in which the metaphor of “muskets” appeared prominently. The metaphor targeted the Church’s LGBTQ+ community, triggering a “firestorm” of responses…
Power x prejudice: Risk-based assessment on the vulnerability of female Chinese international students in Australia
Racism and sexism are discriminatory behaviours that are prevalent throughout society, and both have a negative impact on individuals. Further, the intersectionality of racism and sexism has a profoundly damaging effect on its victims. A vulnerable cohort illustrative of this intersectionality impact is female Chinese international students studying in Australia. This study will examine the case studies of four of these students studying at one A…
Sociology (14 works) · Political science (13 works) · Art (11 works) · Law (11 works) · Humor Studies and Applications (10 works) · Law (10 works) · Aesthetics (9 works) · Literature (9 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Psychology (9 works)