I want to know what people think about this video. I used it in my essay. I think it's particularly interesting that George Lopez, a comedian, uses immigration which is a very important political issue right now as one of his subjects for his stand-up routine. My take is that he uses the stereotypes associated with immigration, within the routine, and uses them to exert power over the stereotypes by saying that Latino's aren't going anywhere. I also think it relates to what we were talking about in class on how Latinos have been around longer than the rest of the population, so to say that they are now flooding America and immigration should be regulated doesn't really hold any weight because the Latino culture has been around longer than the rest of the population.
I like how George Lopez uses immigration in a non-threatening environment to take a stance on the issue and explain that he thinks it's absurd to start regulating immigration because he and his culture have been around for way too long, it is not a new phenomenon.
*NOTE* I didn't now how to put the video into the post so that you guys can watch it right on the blog, so I only posted the link. If anyone knows how to do it so you can see it in the blog, let me know and I'll repost it.
It always interested me how comedians can get away with saying so much that would otherwise be offensive. I've watched many comedians make harsh jokes about their ethnicities, but also others. It brings about the question of whether or not it's true that someone who is Latino can make stereotypical jokes about Latinos and someone who is Asian can do so with Asian jokes.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion comedians like George Lopez can get away with making jokes about Latinos that may be deemed offensive by some, because he is a Latino. It seems like if they're making jokes about their own people it's more of retelling a personal experience as opposed to just being racist, and as you can see the first is more acceptable than the latter. (But it's not really personal experiences for Lopez since he was born in Mission Hills and has never had to run down a mountain as he claims he has in some jokes. Sometimes it feels like he's just feeding into the stereotypes. Hey but that's just my opinion, if it works for the guy then good for HIM.)
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think that some comedians say these types of jokes because they aren't very good comedians. My favorite comedians are those that make me laugh about every-day things like driving, going out with friends, etc. It seems to me that comedians like George Lopez who focus on kinda racist jokes is because he doesn't have other material.