Bro'town

Critical Response

Does the humour in Bro'town work as a form of subversion, or does it perpetuate racial stereotypes?

Ethnic jokes have always been a way of 'owning' your cultural stereotypes. Being able to laugh at ourselves is an important developmental process and can be empowering. However there is a fine line between humor and bad taste and it became clear in the discussion in class that many people see bro'town as crossing that line.

Knightly said that "brown academics" (the people most vocally offended by the show) "are the enemies of fun". I thought that this was a cop out response to very real concerns academics may be raising about the place that humour has in perpetuating stereotypes. I often feel offended at racial jokes if they do not come from a person of that race. In my eyes the Bro'town stereotypes and humour is often believed by people outside of the culture as somewhat true. The fact that it may be laughing at these stereotypes is easily missed. Although I do not think extreme racism is prominent in NZ society, there is often a notion of superiority displayed by majorities. Bro'town displayed racial humour on a public stage and in my experience was then mimicked by many of my Pakeha friends thinking it was okay for them to make these kind of jokes too.

I think the Pacific Island representation in prime time television was a positive experience for New Zealand, but it would have been more empowering had the characters moved away from stereotypes. I also think there are aspects other than racial depiction which lead to its very split audience opinion. Some people not finding it funny because the jokes are repetitive or relying to much on toilet humour and slapstick comedy.