Criticism Through Humor

Once again, Sociology gives me a chance to look at our society and culture from a different perspective. However, this time I will base my sociological analysis on Maz Jobrani’s comedy show that took place at the W hotel this Saturday.
In class, we discussed cultural criminology as a way to explore the ways in which “otherness” is socially constructed in films. We also learnt that the presence of outgroups create solidarity amongst ingroups such as Middle Easterners. This is where the main stereotype of Arabs and Muslims are introduced. They have been stereotyped as the “other” throughput history and still are by today. By doing so, the stereotypes of Middle Easterners have played a huge role on forming the public sense of whom and what is the “other” to the West.



Cinematic stereotype images of Arabs are a response to political and social events. However, it is also present within the notion of humor and comics. Throughout history, comics have been a reflection of social, political and cultural attitudes we have within our communities. Through humor, the viewing audience gets to accept racial stereotypes. This is because humor rarely offends the audience, as it is addressed in an informal, inoffensive, funny and harmless way.

Maz Jobrani is an Iranian-American stand-up comedian, whom bases most of his racial and satirical comics on the Arabs, Asians and Persians in the Middle East. For instance, at one point, on the behalf of all Iranians, he thanked one of the Pakistani audiences for how Pakistan’s problems have taken over the news industry and changed the focus of the news from Iran to Pakistan. At another point of the show, Jobrani criticized England’s colonial power in the Middle East. This was when he said, “you can’t let them in, and they’ll take over. They did it to India. Hello, we own it now.” Again, we get to see how Jobrani tackles political and social stereotypes by using humor. By doing so, he allows the audience to acknowledge the situations and stereotypes of the certain group of race, and laugh at the way they are understood by the majority. This could possibly be where the concept of counter culture comes in. By counter culture, I mean the group of people whose values and norms are at odds with the social mainstream.




Most stereotypes are a direct reflection to political events, such as 9/11 and the political state the Middle East is in at the moment. We could possibly say that stereotypes in the entertainment sector are all part of cultural fear. By cultural fear, I mean the exaggerated threats made through the media and the public’s mind that are designed to achieve political goals. I feel like nearly everything in sociology goes back to Karl Marx’s famous quote, “the ruling ideas of any epoch are the ideas of the ruling class because they control the mental means of production.” In other words, the elite use mass media and social events to maintain this social stratification. In this case, white people have been the elite amongst other races.

Fantasy Made Reality

I am a huge fan of “The Lord of the Rings” books and movies, so when I would see and hear of people who dress up as elves or hobbits and speak “Elvish,” I used to think that they were just hard-core fans. However Sociology taught me about sub-cultures and how some people really believe in these fantasy worlds and actually make it their reality.

Literature and Film are popular media cultures today. They both influence the creation of sub-cultures, such as “Witches and Wizards,” “Goths,” and “Vampires.” J.R.R Tolkien’s creation, however, of “The Lord of the Rings” transformed sub-culture and created a new fictional world, fully equipped with a dictionary, maps, languages, appendices, family trees, and histories of each people (elves, men, hobbits, etc.).




“The Lord of the Rings” sub-culture contains various aspects that people adapt into their lives. Whether it is on a daily basis or occasionally, these people enjoy dressing up in costume and partaking in Live Action Role Play, where they reenact scenes from the book or movie and actually take the time to learn “Elvish” to converse with each other.


People who form sub-cultures share common interests, values, symbols and material culture. Some examples of material culture within “The Lord of the Rings” include props from the movies, the books, as references to the dictionary, appendices and various scenes, and costumes. These material components symbolize what this sub-culture values. Being able to relate to other people in a fun, creative way is not only way of life, but also a means of escaping from reality.




Within “The Lord of the Rings” there are different cultures, languages and values. There is also an aspect of socialization within the books. The way in which different races of people interact with each other and the idea of diversity through intermarriage can potentially influence followers of the sub-culture to behave in a similar way.


Apart from fan-clubs, Live Action Role-playing and gatherings for the followers of "The Lord of the Rings" sub-culture, there are many websites that have been dedicated to J.R.R Tolkien and the books and movies. These websites have many activities, events, and forums for followers of J.R.R Tolkien's works. This shows how the Internet plays an active role as an agent of socialization in bringing sub-cultures together, where they can interact and express their views and beliefs quite openly.

“The Lord of the Rings” sub-culture is also viewed as a counter-culture, as it opposes and deviates from the norms of a larger culture. Many religions reject the idea of sub-cultures as it goes against their beliefs and values. The idea of magic, sorcery and a different world is firmly rejected by various religions, such as Christianity.

I like the idea and concept of a sub-culture, particularly because it’s what a group of people who share similar interests enjoy doing. Sub-cultures are very distinct. The ones that are based on fiction and fantasy are very interesting because many people wonder how a group of people can adapt to these imaginative worlds and actually make it a part of their reality.

The Punk Movement

With the appearance of a shaved porcupine and the attitude of a badly behaving Rottweiler, the punk had a major impact on the vanilla attitudes of the British population. It developed as a counter-culture, completely going against the values and norms of the general public; they were the bad boys and girls of the day. Mothers probably made up nasty stories about punks just to keep their children in line.

The punk movement came up as a way to show the world that there were those who simply would not succumb to the folkways and the mainstream scene, be it fashion or music. A typical punk wore torn or recycled clothes that no decent Brit would look at twice, held together crudely with safety pins. Body piercings too were very common.

The punk movement also brought about a genre of music known as punk rock. The music is very aggressive, played with distorted guitars and loud drums. The singer practically screams at the audience. Mostly, punk rockers sing about their ideologies and their views of the world. Some famous punk rock bands are “Sex Pistols”, “Minor Threat” and the American sell-out band “Green Day.”

The punk movement gave rise to various other factions, sort of like a culture within a sub-culture. Goth and Emo are both off-shoots of the punk rock movement. As are “hardcore punk,” and “anarchy punk.”

Punk rock isn’t only isolated to Europe and the Americas. There are punk rockers in the Middle-East as well. Musicians like Rachid Taha are heavily influenced by punk rock. Bands like Mazhott (Damascus), Creative Waste (Saudi Arabia) and Slumpark Correctional (Syria) are also quiet popular in the region.