Humour and resistance in security studies An analysis of the Israeli TV show “Eretz Nehederet”
- November 28, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS Team
- Categories: IJRSI, Social Science
International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VII, Issue XI, November 2020 | ISSN 2321–2705
Humour and resistance in security studies
An analysis of the Israeli TV show “Eretz Nehederet”
Chloé Bernadaux
Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES)
“There is nothing [that] disarms us like laughter.”
Henri Bergson
Abstract: Humor in the form of satirical popular TV shows has proliferated in the Anglo-Saxon culture as well as other parts of the world. Undertaking a discourse analysis approach, this piece engages with the political narratives put forward by the Israeli satirical TV show “Eretz Nehederet”, consisting of parodies on contemporary international, regional and internal affairs. The political motivation of the show is central to the show’s creators who define themselves openly as beleaguered left-wing activists denouncing the occupation and the dominance of the right-wing party, the Likud. As such, can the popular Israeli show Eretz Nehederet be identified as a form of resistance? This research investigates the subversive potential of humor in framing an understanding of security in terms of emotion, rather than “political change”. By drawing on the concept of transformative resistance framed by James C. Scott, I argue that satire is a form of non-transformative resistance with the potential to contest or re-negotiate dominant conceptions of security and the Other. Finally, this study exposes the way in which “security” permeates society as a form of life and observes a range of affective dimensions embedded within discourses and practises in contemporary Israeli society.
Humor in the form of satirical popular TV shows has proliferated in the Anglo-Saxon culture, with the emergence of TV shows such as the Colbert’s Report in the US, the Nightly show in the UK, Tonightly with Tom Ballard in Australia; as well as in other parts of the world such as in Egypt with Bassem Youssef’s show.
Analysing the role of Satire during the rise of Republicanism in France, Forbes underlines the capability of satirical humor to exercise public opinion, “drawing audiences into new practices of representative government” (Forbes 2010: 15), pointing at the potential democratizing force of satire. In an interview, prominent Canadian journalist Malcolm Gladwell identifies the power of satire as its capacity to “go to places where serious discourses cannot” (Gladwell 2016), a conception which unveils the participatory and inclusive force of satire within contemporary democracies. Satire can hence be summarized as the humorous and critical observation of
