Humour as on of our tools for understanding, reconciliation and change

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Richard Gill on March 11, 2010 at 2:13pm

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/f8bfa628b5/islam-vs-christianity-f...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO2NqMeOSuo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQNs6nkX9mA

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Richard Gill on March 11, 2010 at 2:14pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMI2y2tgYHw

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Richard Gill on March 11, 2010 at 2:19pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3yFeYrIzT4

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Richard Gill on March 11, 2010 at 2:25pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAFq6v2DftU

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tanya Kasim on March 11, 2010 at 3:41pm

I like that people are using humor for the better. The Axis of Evil comedy tour is an example of the use of humor to dispel stereotypes and defuse tensions. Where does it say in our religion that we shouldn't use humor or laugh at the stupidest things?

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ohad Bracha on March 11, 2010 at 5:28pm

you should watch some "Eretz nehedert" and other Israeli satire shows there are a Palestinian shows like "Watan ala Watar". as well . its not new and some of the funniest shows on both sides are coming in time of war,

about the first part of what you wrot both side have a very good case for their fight, and yes we also have a lot in common, does not mean that there are no issues that need to be solved

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tanya Kasim on March 11, 2010 at 5:56pm

There are a lot issues that need solving, that's true.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tanya Kasim on March 13, 2010 at 2:50pm

I don't know if you remember Mat3am Abu Rami, but I used to watch it when I was in the seventh grade. It brings a smile to my face whenever I remember it.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Richard Gill on April 5, 2010 at 3:00pm

This is beautiful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGkz6gDLciA

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Clara Singer on April 9, 2010 at 6:19am

I loved the way this skit fearlessly dives into all the taboo areas. Gorgeous, and very reminiscent of the type of humour with which I grew up. Having said that, I always approach humour with caution: what flies well in one culture can bomb (metaphorically speaking, of course) in another. Thanks for the levity.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ohad Bracha on April 10, 2010 at 12:19am

this movie was snubbed by film distributors in Israel for lack of interests by audience.
it showed a lot of interest in Iran thou ... its interesting .
I think that while the Muslim world see the conflict from a religious side the Israelis see it as a national conflict more , that is what I though as an Israeli when I watched the trailer "oh no anther one that does not understand what it is all about"

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Clara Singer on April 13, 2010 at 9:14am

I think the response to the film is probably going to be fairly complex and may well differ, depending upon who is seeing it and in which country it is playing.
My first point is:
This is a diasporic film, both in terms of the circumstances surrounding its production as well as the situation it depicts. I think members of diaspora communities are often acutely conscious of how they may resemble or differ from members of other diasporic cultural communities, particularly when there is a majority discourse and culture that tend to override their cultural distinctiveness. Interestingly, I sent the trailer posted by Richard to my children, whose identities are as jumbled as those on the screen, and both immediately wanted to see the film. So clearly, despite the generational difference between them and me, something is resonating, although it is quite possible that our cumulative responses are being conditioned by a series of different factors. BUT--whatever those reasons, the subject of the film does not leave us indifferent.
Second:
I think the film will also be of interest to a significant number of viewers in Canada at least because of the way members of diaspora communities have to negotiate the complexities of events in the old country with the exigency of cooperation in their new society. This issue, also thematized in Richard's posting, poses the question of how much to "forget". I understand forgetting in this context as an active and often constructive process which enables the individual to participate in community-building processes in the new country. It goes on all the time. Then again, one may need to "remember" “forgotten” facts in order to build common ground on which to erect relationships.
Tonight, for example, I was reading about growing Jewish-Ukrainian collaboration in the observance of the Holodomor--an event which divided the communities in the past. A second example comes from my local Yom Hashoah committee, where a few years back members opted to change a poem referring to the "Germans invading Poland" to the "Nazis invading Poland". Or, to cite a third example: despite the conflict in the Middle East, I have recently heard members of both the local Jewish and Arab communities refer to members of the "opposite" group as "cousins"--a trend I find encouraging since it points socioculturally and traditionally not just to the potential for strife but also to the potential for reconciliation, alliance and marriage.
Now, I'm not going to argue the historical merits of these examples. I merely want to point out how they serve to lubricate social relations in a context where all are expected to be able to interact civilly and constructively with all.
Shared recognition and shared laughter when viewing Djalili's film might certainly contribute to achieving this goal.

▶ Reply to This