"Substitute Teacher" and "Continental Breakfast" are two Key and Peele skits I could watch on repeat for the rest of my life, and never grow board or tired of the content. I agree with Ryan that the skits produced by the two comedians on comedy-central appeals to audiences predominantly through the use of superiority theory. A theme that can be found within the vast majority of Key and Peele skits is their use of exaggeration and stereotyping the characters and roles they take on. Typically the characters presented can be found in everyday life but their persona is amplified, enabling audience members to identify individuals within their daily lives. The adaptation of these hyperbolic characters increases the humor that is typically found within the type of individual being depicted and portrayed. For example, the skit "Fraternity Branding" is embellishing stereotypical "frat bros"that are obnoxiously obsessed with their fraternity and go to extreme lengths to prove such enthusiasm and loyalty. It is common to hear about college students pushing their bodies too far in order to prove something to a fraternity or during hazing. While stories of fraternity hazing gone wrong usually disturb, watching Key and Peele portray young college students that permanently mark their bodies with their greek symbols is exceedingly entertaining because it capitalizes on the stupidity we often hear about. This stupidity that audience members find humor in is the superiority theory, as the majority of people find the ignorance within branding one's body with greek letters. However, the joke is made even more entertaining as this branding practice goes wrong and one fraternity brother's brand looks more like a penis, a mark that will be permanently on his chest. This foolishness is what entertains audience members as they laugh at the depiction of ignorant college students, attempting to demonstrate loyalty to their fraternity. Through exaggerations like this, Key and Peele appeals to the audience through superiority theory, as their characters often act in ridiculous manners and make regretful decisions.
The amount of memes that I saw during the time of Hurricane Florence was wild. What shocked me even more and added to the humor of many of the posts, tweets, or memes was the fact that those who were being directly affected by Florence were the people making light of the situation. Like the individual who was forced to close their store that Madelyn refers to, many individuals, though suffering great losses, made these jokes and memes about the great destruction that was caused. These example of the people who were suffering the most but making the most jokes about the destruction, are perfect examples of relief theory. While most the country was terrified and worried about the effects of Hurricane Florence, some individuals were able to relieve this tension and worry through their nonchalant posts that found humor within the situation. While many of the posts I witnessed usually depicted once instance of the hurricane's devastation, the account that an individual made from the per...
I think you are right that there is an element of superiority since they so often play characters that are just so easy to find idiotic. Peele seems in particular to be the one that is usually being the idiotic one. You also mentioned the exaggeration though and I wonder if that shows incongruity is more important.
ReplyDeleteI found the idea of Key and Peele taking ordinary people and circumstances happening all the time to another degree very interesting, as I had not thought about the skits in this context.
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