{"id":4404,"date":"2011-10-26T10:02:03","date_gmt":"2011-10-26T14:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/?p=4404"},"modified":"2011-10-26T15:40:13","modified_gmt":"2011-10-26T19:40:13","slug":"laughing-at-disability-on-%e2%80%9cit%e2%80%99s-always-sunny-in-philadelphia%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/2011\/10\/26\/laughing-at-disability-on-%e2%80%9cit%e2%80%99s-always-sunny-in-philadelphia%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"Laughing at Disability on \u201cIt\u2019s Always Sunny in Philadelphia\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crossposted at Sociological Images<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am a huge fan of the television series \u201cIt\u2019s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,\u201d<\/a> but I want to problematize some of the humor we often take for granted in the show. In a recent interview with Conan O\u2019Brien, Charlie Day discusses some of the changes introduced into the current season of the show. Specifically, about 1:30 in, they discuss the weight gain that Rob McElhenney (\u201cFat Mac\u201d) accomplished in pursuit of a \u201cfunnier\u201d character. Notice how Charlie Day and Conan laugh\u2014freely and unapologetically\u2014at the prospect of Mac contracting diabetes (especially Conan\u2019s mocking \u201cGo America!\u201d response to the image of \u201cFat Mac\u201d):<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

Continue watching the interview to the 4:45 mark; Conan broaches the topic of mental retardation contained in an earlier episode (Season 3 Episode 9: \u201cSweet Dee\u2019s Dating a Retarded Person\u201d). You will notice that Charlie Day seems more hesitant and calculated in discussing the topic of mental disability. For one, he uses the word \u201cmental disability\u201d rather than the more pejorative \u201cretarded.\u201d You will also notice less of an audience response, a less raucous reaction to the prospect of someone being mentally disabled than to them being fat.<\/p>\n

Mental disability, as a largely ascribed status<\/a>, serves as a less-viable source of humor. That is, laughing at someone who is born <\/em>a particular way, or gains that status for reasons beyond their control, violates our precepts of political correctness. However, being overweight is often interpreted as caused by a personal character flaw (laziness, gluttony, etc.) and therefore an achieved status<\/a>. Laughing at fat people, then, is not only socially acceptable, but often encouraged <\/em>in American comedy. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

This highlights the centrality of individualism and personal responsibility in American society. We hold the obese and the overweight accountable for their corporeal deviations. We tend to believe that those who are overweight (and those who contract Type 2 Diabetes) are responsible for their conditions. It then becomes socially acceptable to mock them. On the flipside, mental disability, as an ascribed status, is more likely to be defined as \u201coff limits\u201d as a source of humor. When it becomes a source of humor, as in this case, comedians must save face by saying things like \u201cNothing against the mentally disabled, but\u2026\u201d as Charlie does at the 5:25 mark\u2014a form of hedging he didn\u2019t feel obliged to include when laughing at someone\u2019s weight.<\/p>\n

Who we can laugh at, and whether we have to apologize for doing so, reveals larger cultural discourses, and analyzing humor allows us to understand some of the prevailing moral assumptions we take for granted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crossposted at Sociological Images I am a huge fan of the television series \u201cIt\u2019s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,\u201d but I want to problematize some of the humor we often take for granted in the show. In a recent interview with Conan O\u2019Brien, Charlie Day discusses some of the changes introduced into the current season of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1771,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9967,10290,308],"tags":[12632,354,12631,15,345,93,10295,256,523,12629],"class_list":["post-4404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-repost","category-video","tag-charlie-day","tag-comedy","tag-conan-obrien","tag-culture","tag-disability","tag-discourse","tag-expression","tag-humor","tag-popular-culture","tag-sizism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1771"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4404"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5092,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4404\/revisions\/5092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/cyborgology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}