Elia B. and Krystal-lynn brought my attention to the game Ghettopoly, a game obviously based on Monopoly (but totally unrelated to the Hasbro company); it was sold at Urban Outfitters in 2003. The game brings up some questions about humor, particularly humor based on stereotypes.
Found at MonopolyCollector.com.
The game includes the following pieces (list found here):
Here’s a screenshot of some of the things on the list:
According to this CNN story, the creator of the game had this response to critics of the game:
“It draws on stereotypes not as a means to degrade, but as a medium to bring together in laughter,” Chang maintains, adding, “If we can’t laugh at ourselves … we’ll continue to live in blame and bitterness.”
Chang also created Redneckopoly:
The game includes:
Images from the game (found here):
Ok, I’m from Oklahoma, and specifically from a family that most of you would probably define as “redneck,” but I’m not sure I understand the “piece of crap” token. Is it because rednecks presumably say things are a “piece of crap” a lot? My family uses the phrase a lot, but I wasn’t aware of this being a stereotypical redneck thing. Or is it just a symbol of the fact that everything rednecks own is a piece of crap? I’m confused!
Both versions of the game were pulled from the shelves after Hasbro sued for copyright infringement. And while there was a lot of criticism of the Ghettopoly game, there doesn’t seem to have been nearly as much concern about Redneckopoly (I did find some links to articles criticizing it, but there were way more for Ghettopoly).
Chang argues that he is not spreading stereotypes, he’s making fun of them, and that it’s not his problem if there are people who can’t tell the difference.
What do you think?
For other posts about racial humor, see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Thanks, Elia and Krystal-lynn!
