Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Killjoy and the Politics of Laughter. Russian Television Humour about Alyaksandr Lukashenka and its Reception in Belarusian Online Media

Minchenia, Alena LU (2016) In LIR journal p.34-55
Abstract
Drawing upon the perspective of the cultural studies of emotions, this article examines the reception of political satire and the re-contextualization of humour. More precisely, it investigates the multiplicity of tensions that come into play in the production, erasure, rediscovery, and reception in Belarusian
Internet media of politically oriented Russian television humour mocking the Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka. The very phenomenon of comical representation aims at triggering a particular type of viewer response: laughter.
But what if there is no laughter? To study this phenomenon, the concept of unlaughter, coined by Michael Billig, is drawn upon. Resonating with Sara Ahmed’s term killjoy, it helps to uncover... (More)
Drawing upon the perspective of the cultural studies of emotions, this article examines the reception of political satire and the re-contextualization of humour. More precisely, it investigates the multiplicity of tensions that come into play in the production, erasure, rediscovery, and reception in Belarusian
Internet media of politically oriented Russian television humour mocking the Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka. The very phenomenon of comical representation aims at triggering a particular type of viewer response: laughter.
But what if there is no laughter? To study this phenomenon, the concept of unlaughter, coined by Michael Billig, is drawn upon. Resonating with Sara Ahmed’s term killjoy, it helps to uncover inequalities reproduced in the circulation of humour. Who laughs and who is laughed at? The article looks at the construction of subjects and objects of laughter, as well as the emotions helping to shape the two. The extent to which the particular case discussed in this article might be illustrative of a broader function of political humour and unlaughter in creating and challenging power differentials is considered. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
politics of humour, killjoy, politics of emotion, Belarus
in
LIR journal
issue
7
pages
34 - 55
publisher
Department of Literature, the History of Ideas, and Religion, University of Gothenburg
ISSN
2001-2489
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a8fac8ba-cf4e-439a-ba52-23a766eab2d6
date added to LUP
2018-01-16 12:33:21
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:37:23
@article{a8fac8ba-cf4e-439a-ba52-23a766eab2d6,
  abstract     = {{Drawing upon the perspective of the cultural studies of emotions, this article examines the reception of political satire and the re-contextualization of humour. More precisely, it investigates the multiplicity of tensions that come into play in the production, erasure, rediscovery, and reception in Belarusian<br/>Internet media of politically oriented Russian television humour mocking the Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka. The very phenomenon of comical representation aims at triggering a particular type of viewer response: laughter.<br/>But what if there is no laughter? To study this phenomenon, the concept of unlaughter, coined by Michael Billig, is drawn upon. Resonating with Sara Ahmed’s term killjoy, it helps to uncover inequalities reproduced in the circulation of humour. Who laughs and who is laughed at? The article looks at the construction of subjects and objects of laughter, as well as the emotions helping to shape the two. The extent to which the particular case discussed in this article might be illustrative of a broader function of political humour and unlaughter in creating and challenging power differentials is considered.}},
  author       = {{Minchenia, Alena}},
  issn         = {{2001-2489}},
  keywords     = {{politics of humour; killjoy; politics of emotion; Belarus}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{34--55}},
  publisher    = {{Department of Literature, the History of Ideas, and Religion, University of Gothenburg}},
  series       = {{LIR journal}},
  title        = {{Killjoy and the Politics of Laughter. Russian Television Humour about Alyaksandr Lukashenka and its Reception in Belarusian Online Media}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/37189260/Minchenia_LIR.pdf}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}