Laughing Matters

Economies of Hyper-Irony and Manic-Satire in South Park & Family Guy

Bibliographic Data

ID11230481
AuthorsM W Hughey (0000-0002-6456-5663, Mississippi State University, corresponding author), Sahara Muradi (Capgemini LLC)
Year2009
Volume33
Issue3
Pages206-237
Publication date2009-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHumanity & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0160-5976 • E-ISSN: 2372-9708
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/016059760903300304
OpenAlexW2100950250
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited59

The so called “Arab,” “Middle Eastern,” and “South Asian” (hereinafter “AMESA”) worlds are oft-described as barbaric, untrustworthy, anti-democratic, violent, and filled with religious militants. Many claim that animated cartoons propagate this bigoted point of view, and that engagement with progressive and antiracist systems of representation are rarely combined in mainstream media formats. Using episodes from the animated series Family Guy and South Park culled from 2001 through 2007, we highlight the presence of a new cultural moment in post-9/11 culture that we call the “economy of hyper-irony and manic-satire.” Through this framework, we find that animated cartoons simultaneously reproduce and confound racist and essentialist representations of AMESA people

Art · Democracy · Irony · Literature · Mainstream · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics · Sociology · Comics and Graphic Narratives · Gender Studies · History · Humor Studies and Applications · Law · Media, Gender, and Advertising

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