Humornow

  Tiffany Midge offers the unique intersectional perspective of a Lakota woman living in the present-day United States. As such she is familiar with the injustices that have been perpetrated against her people historically and are still perpetrated against American Indians today. As a result of this injustice she understandably does not retain much respect for institutions of the United States government and aspects of American culture promulgated by those of white-European descent. This is evident in the essay “Hey America, I’m Taking Back Thanksgiving” where Midge imitates the role of a woman breaking up with her boyfriend “America” and enumerating the list of items she would like to receive back from the relationship. The most prominent of these items is Thanksgiving, of which she says “you were just appropriating it to satisfy your need for some happy-go-lucky fairy tale in the midst of crimes against humanity” in reference to the injustices omitted against native Americans. I ...

Jeremy Ahearn                                                          The Comedy of Double-Theft            Throughout this work, emphasized especially in chapters such as “Red like Me,” “A List of Alternative Identities to Try for Fun and Profit,” and “Hey America, I’m Taking Back Thanksgiving,” Midge creates humor in pointing out an incongruity in U.S.-Native relations. The comical contradiction is thus: although white settlers colonized this country with the intent to dominate native cultures, their descendants have now coopted native symbols and practices to use as their own. In this way, there is a sort of “double-theft.” First, the land; then, the identity. We can see this battle of double domination play out every year in the third week of November. As Midge says, “The Redskins are set to face the Cowboys a...

  Joshua Singh Dr. Ellis EN 346D 27 February Bury My Heart At Chuck E. Cheese’s Response Tiffany Midge shows her humorous outlook on life by giving the reader a chance to see life as a woman of her culture. A lot of her humor is seen alongside her memories of her mother and her relationship with her mother as it relates to a collective, unique-to-her culture narrative. This is expressed through her essays such as “Conversations with My Lakota Mom” and “Eight Types of Native Moms.” Her humor centers around her experiences that she believes are common among those who share her culture but would not be as common among those who are outside it. For example, in her essay “Conversations with My Lakota Mom,” Midge is having a conversation with her mother when Midge explains to her that an actor they saw on the television was “Kevin Costner…He’s not Indian,” and her mother replied with, “Well he played one on T.V.” (Midge 112). Midge was taken aback by her mother’s playful joke on a somewh...

While reading this collection I was struck by how different it was from the other two works we have read this semester. Both Sedaris and Irby focused their humor on their own personal experiences. Their humor leaned more self-deprecating, and they at least in part made themselves the butt of the joke. Especially in the case of Irby’s work, using this type of humor made the criticisms more approachable and relatable to readers who don’t share her identity. Tiffany Midge’s pointed satire does not hold anyone’s hand or soften the blow as she points out all the ways that the white dominant culture is cruel to Native people. Which, to clarify, I don’t think she should have to do—but I do think that it shows a difference in the writer’s intent when these books were written (if that makes sense).   While I was researching the first half of this book for my own presentation, I was interested (and a little confused) to find how many people (both professional reviewers and just casual reader...

            In contrast to the other authors we have read thus far, rather than focusing on her own personal experiences, Tiffany Midge chooses to instead take a broader look at Indigenous American culture in her book “Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s,” with the majority of her jokes focusing on experiences unique to this community. She does share stories from her own life, speaking of her relationship with her mother on multiple occasions, but for the most part her actual humor centered around either in-jokes for other indigenous people reading her writing, or giving non-indigenous readers a look into her cultural experience. Her overall message is one of representation, acknowledgement, and respect, which she accomplishes through her countless illustrations of how Indigenous Americans are not represented, acknowledged, or respected currently in this country. The chapter “Red Like Me” illustrates a common manifestation of thes...

  The chapter I loved the most was, “A List of Alternative Identities to Try for Fun and Profit. “The angle of a cliche advertisement has multiple layers: 1) colonialism, 2) commercialism, 3) capitalism; all the aspects that have defined America. While reading this chapter, all I heard was that infomercial voiceover used in medical commercials. Yet, the one thing she doesn’t use is the list of side-effects that worsen as the commercial progresses. She doesn’t need that list because the whole book  is  the list. This is another way that the structure of the book is amazing. She’s commenting on people’s need to force others to assimilate to American culture while fetishizing that  same  culture (is there an American culture?). A prime example of this is Amonute or Pocahontas. People dress up as Pocahontas for Halloween, a figure that is based on the perception of colonists instead of the tribe. She was described as a leverage, child ambassador, an advertisement, a...

  Laura Latham EN 446D 01 February 26, 2023 Midge’s Humor Theory It is a common practice for indigenous people to use comedy as relief from tragedy. Midge utilizes a dry sense of humor to poke at the irony in American society and its treatment of indigenous people in the U.S. Her sense of humor serves the same purpose as Irby’s, however hers is more narrowly targeted at indigenous people, meanwhile, Irby points at a slew of social issues. Even the comedy that is autobiographical in Midge’s work serves the purpose of being an example for society.  Midge shows how her and her mother have utilized comedy in times of tragedy such as death. For instance, Midge’s mom tells a waitress that complements her earrings that she can have them because she is dying, and instead of having a serious conversation with her daughter about what is to be done with her remains, Midge’s mom instructs her to bury her heart at Chuck E Cheese and at SeaWorld. This implies irony in that these are ext...

           Tiffany Midge has a very dry, sarcastic humor. She does not overshare and invite the reader into  parts of her life which would not be deemed socially acceptable. She does not center her humor around  herself, but around white society at large. I feel like I compare everything to Samantha Irby, but only  because Irby writes so flawlessly. Midge's humor differs immensely from Irby's. I see the value in  Midge's humor, and her essays provide great representation for Indigenous Americans, but her comedy is  not entirely inviting. It does not need to be! But in the articles about comedy having the ability to change  the world, the caveat is that a wide audience needs to feel connected to the comedy in order to listen to  the message. In my opinion, Midge's work does not do that.           Midge's goal does not seem to be to save the world with her comedy; it seems to just be  repre...

Caroline Kunz Dr. Ellis EN 446 27 February 2023 The Power of Humor in Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese's     Over the course of Tiffany Midge's collection of essays and insights, I was continuously struck by the ways in which she uses humor to shed light upon the instances of discrimination, prejudice, and cultural appropriation that she, and other Native men and women across the United States have experienced. Midge truly embodies the ideas we have previously studied that prove comedy's power in bringing awareness to serious issues. In speaking of her experiences as a Native woman with a humorous tone, she opens our eyes to issues of injustice, making them easier to understand and easier to talk about. She calls to question the ignorance of those who have appropriated the Indigenous culture, prompting us to check ourselves and our behavior, and make corrective change where necessary.     I found the chapters "Red like Me" and "A List of Alternative Identitie...

       Reading about the physiology of laughter and how scientists and theorist try to understand it was at  times uneventful. I thought the most interesting aspect of this reading was Freud's understanding of  laughter and humor. One thing I noticed about Freud's theories on humor is that it makes humans sound  interesting and quite wondrous.      Freud believes that humor can be freeing, but this ultimately leads to a sort of smugness. He says that  humor has a "liberating element" but also something "fine and elevating" (Freud 113). The fineness  of  humor comes from "the ego's victorious assertion of its own invulnerability" (Freud 113). While humor  is liberating, Freud believes it is only liberating because of the impenetrable walls that we constantly put  up to avoid telling others the truth. This is one of the occasions that is "affording" of pleasure and laughter  (113). I would say this can be true...

Descartes, Spencer, and Freud each put forward their own physiological theories of humor in these excerpts, that is to say that each theorizes of the human functioning of laughter as a purely bodily process, which finds it origin primarily in the ecosystem of the body. For Descartes, this process begins with the lungs, which are inflated by blood from the heart at a sense of wonder, and the gushes of which causes laughter. Descartes thinks that a certain kind of joy, when mixed with evil, produces these gushes of blood which become laughter. However, in Article 125 he writes that laughter does not accompany the greatest joy because in the cases of the greatest joys of human experience the lungs are already so filled with blood that “it cannot be inflated by further gushes.” (Descartes 125). Spencer and Freud both subscribed to the “hydraulic” theory of humor and saw laughter as an explosion of energy, specifically nervous energy, that was previously stored within the body and is releas...

  Joshua Singh Dr. Ellis EN 340D 13 February, 2023 Spencer and Descartes It is interesting to note how Descartes knew about the intricate workings of the human body that produced a laugh. The sound that is emitted as a response to an external stimulus produces an “explosive voice” that is more of a sound than a word (Descartes 22). He notes that laughter accompanies feelings of joy but it is not a response to the greatest of joys. He says that there are other causes to laughter other than just joy or rather a different form of joy. He says that hatred and mockery also add to the sense of joy one experiences that results in laughter (Descartes 24). This is a new way of thinking about the causes of laughter that I had not yet explored. It seems Descartes argues that joy must be mixed with small amounts of certain other emotions such as scorn or hate for someone or something. According to him, it is not impossible to experience a sense of joy when someone is being ridiculed that you...

Compared to the other theories we read, Descartes, Spencer, and Freud are all far more interested in the physiological explanation for laughter. Laughter is a release of pressure (in one way or another) for each of them. This obsession with figuring out why laughter bubbles up in ones body is interesting given our knowledge of laughter through modern science now. Laughter and laughing increases our bonds with others because it release endorphins. Although Descartes states that laugher does not accompany the greatest joy—laughter actually releases joy and pleasure hormones. On that point, I wonder if children are included in his rationalization of laughter as not coming from joy. Would children laughing as they play on swings not count or (to bring it back to adulthood) I know plenty of people who laugh at the rush of joy and excitement that riding a roller coaster brings (even after they get past the wonder of riding it for the first time). I think for these theories to really work, yo...

            In contrast to Plato and Hobbes, I found that the readings for today—selections from Descartes, Spenser, and Freud—took a distinctly more scientific and even psychological approach in their discussions of the underlying reasons we find different subjects humorous, or not. Both Descartes and Spenser went so far as to examine humor through laughter specifically, a physical reaction that they attempt to explain through biological terms. Freud, meanwhile, in his usual manner, discussed humor in relation to his own theory of the ego, speaking in terms of suppressed desires and feelings, often centered on sex and violence.             I can’t say I found that any of these discussions of humor particularly aligned with my own feelings on the subject. Descartes, for one, continues Hobbes’s tradition of maliciously intended laughter, graciously expanding his definition to...