DOROTA BRZOZOWSKA ( Opole )
The purposeofthepaper is to highlight the connection between jokes, media andgossipin order to describeandcompare their characteristicfeatures in Bri tish andPolishculturalcontexts.Celebrityjokes werechosen because they focus onpeople who appear frequently in media and, what is more,these jokes tend to beindividualized and different for eachsociety. They are mainly jokes ofstrong referential character- situational knowledgeisnecessary to appreciate themful ly.Jokes could be perceived as a special type of gossip because oftheir simpli stic, ridiculing and unmasking way ofshowing the characters (Thiele-Dohrmann 1980). They carry the unofficial information about certain facts or people, they spread wildly and are meant to entertain.
The world of media and visual culture is to alargeextentthe world of the new type ofcelebrities - mass celebrities- and a newtype ofgossip -mass media gossip. Our traditional art and literature have beenforagesproof that it is part of human nature to seek heroes. It could be claimed it isakind ofinstinctwe have kept from tribal times when small groups of peopleused to have a leader who was well known to everyone, responsiblefor group safety andwell-being(BBC 2001). Thispersonwas supposed betrusted and followed. When peoplestarted tolive in bigger communities,the personal relationswith the leader were main tained in various ways: e.g., the face of ruler has been placed on coins, sculptures andportraits. The revolutions in print, photography, film,television and finally Internet have allowed us to be closer totheleaders’ imagesonceagain. Rapid di stributionofinformationmakes it possible to havea “piece of a hero” easily and cheaplyavailable. Thatmade thenumber of celebritiesgrowrapidly. New stars glitter usually onlya whilebefore they are forgotten and the newones are crea ted.Quantity does influence quality,sothestatus of theleader has changeddra matically from someone being special, unique and exceptional - having wis
dom, talents or power - to someone more ordinary, one of‘us’. In extreme cases, it is someone who just agrees to be watched all day long, as in different ‘reality show’ programs.
Celebrities have a special positionnot only in the media but in jokes aswell, but not all events ‘deserve’ to have their moment of fame:
- Whydidn’t the capsizedHaitian boat that drowned 300 people make big news for morethan a day?
- It was discovered that none of them on board was a princess. OCMarklll@aol.com Jokesare told only about the mostloved or most hated ones- the ones whocould evoke emotions. Sometimes there is only averythin line between those twoextreme feelings. We can observe it especially in British jokes. The British are said to be emotionally verycold, but if we look at the type of jokesthey create something quite opposite could be seen. The phenomenon is possible because thosewholike black humor aresaidto be people with an abilityto separate the fiction of jokesfrom the reality to which it refers (Herzog, Bush 1994).
British society differsfrom Polish society inmany ways. One of them is ha ving the royalty, afeature ofnational lifethat has been absent from Poland for several centuries. The royal family is an importantpart ofBritish identity and their members are in a naturalposition of media attention. Theirimages arethe focus of public interest andare sources fordeveloping curiosityanda means of peeping into someone’s life. The membersof the royalfamily are perfect charac ters for the everyday chapters of newspapers’ “soap opera”.
Agood example of both features-aroyal subject and black humor - are sick disaster jokes about Diana, Princess of Wales. Her popularity was proved by the number of jokes created after her death. Shewas loved by the nation, admired and talked about constantly inthe media. After her death, thousandsof jokesap peared. Although she was considered almost a saint during her life, the jokes proved to be tasteless and cruel. They pointed out many of the painful details from her biography, covering subjects as her eating disorders, her husband’s unfaithfulness, her own lovers, the divorce, and bad relationswith other royal fa mily members. Even previously admiredfeatures, suchas her good taste inclot hes and her charity work, were ridiculed mercilessly:
- How did The Royal Family stop the paparazzi fromvisiting Diana’s grave? - By placing Land mines around it. OCMarkl 1 l@,aol.com
As paparazzi were blamedfor the accident,thepresswithdrew from chasing Diana’s sons - for which they were thanked by William, theheir to thethrone. Time has passed, and there was not much to add about Diana aftermonthsof pu
blishing books, tributes, and photos showing her ‘true’ or ‘unknown’ story. It started to be clear that:
Princess Diana was once a kindergarten teacher. Nowshe’s history.OCMarkl 11@aol.com
Soonit seemed that aproper person to be talked aboutis lacking at the court, as Charles and Camilla’s affair had its moment beforeDiana’s death, and that subjectisnotoften discussed, once again, forthe sake ofthe youngsons. Thepu blic ‘appetite’ for royal gossip hasn’t ceased. Therefore new celebrities have to appear.
David and Victoria Beckham have recently gained the dubious honor of fame and mediaattention. They don’t belong to the Royal family but are perceived like they almostwould. He is a footballer and the captain of ManchesterUnited team, and she is a singer - one of Spice Girlsgroup. Thecouple has a penthouse apartmentnear Manchester and a mansion at Sawbridgeworth, Herts - called “Beckingham Palace”. They are certainly rich and famous. Victoria is called ‘Posh’ andhas posed forthe camera wearing acrown onherhead - which hasn’t been seen as being in very good taste.
In English society, being rich is not enough to deserve public favor. If you wantto betreatedas amember ofthe upper class,you have to behavelike one. Todo so, you have to know how to spend yourmoney. The Beckhams seem to spend their fortunein a not very distinctive way.Buying leatherbeds,expensive jewelry ortons of presents forthe childis seen asridiculous - and it is exactly what they do to theirson, Brooklin, on birthday orChristmasoccasions, making people roar with laughter.
Not only is their life commented on in daily newspapers, butalsohundreds of jokescirculate. They show David as beingextremely stupid and dependent on his wife - phoning her even when he has to choose something from the menu only:
David Beckham: “Victoria, why is this baconcold?”
Posh: ’’Because it is ham David!” www.euphoria.co.uk/celebrity/iokebeck.htm
Manyjokes relate totheir sexual life, and in most the aggression isonce again pointed more strongly towards David:
- Whydoes PoshSpice always go on top when she and Beckham are having sex? - Beckam can only fuck up. www.euphoria.co.uk/celebrity/iokebeck.htm
- DavidBeckham walks into the pub. The barman says ’’Pint Dave?”
Football fans can’t forgive David forbeing ordered offinthe World Cup fi nals in 1998. England lost thematch, and afterwards he became the “victim of probably the most sustainedcampaign of vilification ever witnessed in English football”. The articles “piled up cheap pointsabout everythingfrom Beckham’s hairstyle tothe tattooof his son’s name, therewas an unavoidablesensethatwe were meant to regard the rotten treatment the lad hasreceived as no more than he deserves”. Effigies of Beckham were hanged and burned, and he was hounded with a cruel intensity that would have brokenother players. Peoplepurporting to be England supporters showered onhim tauntslike “your wife is a whore”, “we hopeyourkid diesofcancer” and “we’regoing to kill your baby”(“TheSunday Times” 22.06.2000).
Severalyears later, even when heproved his footballskills manytimes, after a very successful match hewould hear the comments on his haircut from someone in managerial position: “hisnew look is grotesque”, “he looksmore likea con vict or an Americanwrestler”. The new image was blamed onhis wife- mentio ning her in a rather offending manner:“maybeit was that misuse ofhis,the one who tries to sing”(“The Mirror” 26. 05. 2001).
The Polish type ofpersonal joke is slightly different. For many years during communism, politics was the major interest- so the life ofpoliticianswas oneof the popular subjects.Those whogoverned the country were most oftentreated in jokes like the state representatives - seen in the context of political situation.
Their private lives were rarely discussed. After the fall of communism, Lech Wałęsa became the last of the political celebrities evoking large numbers ofjo kes. Afterwards, the American seriesstarted to rule, soPoleswere tellingmore jokes about blondes, Bill Gates or Bill Clinton than about their own presidentor
any other celebrity.
Recently Poland hashad its own bigcelebrity jokeboom after severalyears of decline in Polish humor as ‘małyszomania’ started.
Adam Małysz is a young ski jumper who won the annual FourHill Tour, 5 co mpetitions of World Cup, and was second in the World Championship in 2001. Poles are very proud of him, television kept showinghis successes, thepresswas writing about him and immediately a lot of jokes appeared:
A stork is flying near Adam and says:
- Hey, wehave been flying together for two hours and youhaven’t introducedyourself yet. “Dobry Humor”, Dowcipy o Małyszu, 4/2001
- What is thedifferencebetween Małysz and aglider? - The glider lands faster, www.skrypty98.hg.pl/kawalv.htm
After taking part in adverts, Adam Matysz’s wife alsobecame celebrity, alt hough still only as a source of information about her husband. ‘Women press’ printed an interviewswithher,asking about theirhome routines andhis favorite food.
- Why did Mafysztake his wife to the ski-jump immediately after the wedding? - He had to carry her overthethreshold, www.skryptv98.hg.pl/kawalv.htm - The wife, Iza, asks Mafysz:
- Adam, darling,jump to the shop for butter.
— I can’t — it is too close. “Dobry Humor”, Dowcipy o Malyszu, 4/2001
The stories of Beckam’s and Matysz’s sportscareers areparallel. Both had a not veryimpressivepast,but now they are the champions in their disciplines. It is, however, interesting to observe that Poles concentrate on present successes while British are notso eager to forget their old disappointments. Although the jokes about Beckhams are very rude, vulgar and aggressive with their use of SEXand STUPIDITY scripts (Raskin 1985), thejokes aboutMatyszare much in favorof their hero.They underscorehisabilityto jump veryfar - and theskill is perceived as his only ‘weak’ point. The scripts do not mention his sexlife or physical appearance. They are by no means aggressive. Thereis no sender’s jea lousy in them - quite the contrary'. There is evident pride in present achieve ments.Their main aimis toemphasizethehero’svirtue, making a best-everspo rtsman out of him.
Not onlyjokes but also Polish and English newspapers are culturally diffe rent. The Polish press is notused to presenting thesame titles day by day and de scribing the same people’s daily stories continuously. “Their English voracious appetite for printed news, gossip andscandal is unequalled(...) Nobody really understands why" (Miall 1993: 42). Maybe it is connected withthe fact that all kindsofgossip was told bymembersof the upper class,thisrelatively smallso cial stratum thatneeded entertainment and was constantly looking fornew and exciting subjects (Thiele - Dohrmann 1980: 42). Nowadaysnewspapers withthe obligatory social column have their roots in England. The British press, apparen tly without any scruples,disseminates gossip of all kinds to a broad range ofrea ders. Television is not better - e.g., the gossipabout a famous actress’s (Nicole Kidman’s) newboyfriendwas told on theChannel 5national news, alongside re ports on the foot and mouth disease crisis andthe debateon the currentpolitical elections campaign.
There are severalBritishcelebrity magazines, and oneofthe editors says this: ’’That the editor of a celebrity title has been made the editor of a national ne wspaper shows how important and all-consuming the entertainment world is
now. In a year’s time, Ithink thenumberof celebrity magazines out there will have doubled”. Headds: “Ourreaders are intelligent people who (...)enjoyindu lging in reading a little gossip, the same way we all do” (“Evening Standard” 30.05.2001).
The British assume theyhave the right toknow what othersare up to, and the thought that people should not be ashamed of what they are doingcould be tra ced back to the Puritan tradition. The reluctance to cover windows could be a symbol of it.Even today, whenwe walkthrough the streets of British citieswe caneasily observewhat is going on inside theoldVictorian houses. In Poland, windows without laces are perceived as shameless- especially in small commu nitieswhere gossipis present andvery popular butofficially denied asimproper. This situation is an exampleof typical ‘sane morality’, like the sayingthat we should keep dirty things to ourselves. “Itiswhywehave four walls andthe cei ling- to wash own dirtathome, make no one know about it. Dragging them aro und the world is neither moralnor honest” (Zapolska 1972:36). In Britain, quite theoppositeseems to be true -if someone ismoral,he or she shouldn’t be asha med -and even literally a lot of peoplestill hang their laundry incommonrooms outside their own homes, seeing nothing improper in it.
In Poland, gossip is perceived as afemaledomain - which in a patriarchalso ciety meansthat it has a lesser value- so if men gossip theywould not liketo ad mit it. If the creationof jokeshasmainly male characters, itisnot surprising that Polish jokes are notthat strongly gossiping type. They are usually moregeneral - laughing at some Kowalski or Fqfara - the character withouta realface - some one who could be everyone or no one, buttheyveryrarely point the fingerinto real name and tell awful stories about that person.
One couldwonderifthis type of personal jokehas its roots in the Anglo-Sa xon tradition that encouraged men to talk about detailsfrom other people’slives. The British always had special institutions to support thatcustom - what else have the men-only clubs been for? Talkativeness was perceived as something good and belonging to male sphere in English culture.Itis verystrange to obser ve that even today there are usually no femalespeakersonHyde ParkComer. Thereusedto be no women in pubs - the perfect place for male gossiping -as well. Taking these reasons into account, we shouldn’t be surprised that news about life of knownpeople appears on the frontpages of Britishnewspapers so often.
In Polish newspapers celebrities’ lives are discussed only in so- called ‘women’s magazines’. It is shamefulfora manto admit thathe readsit.Thereis usually no placefor thestory of an individual heroin the ‘real’ bloody news.The
new typeof programs - ‘realityshows’- have many male and female viewers. Will there be atimewhenthe report from ‘Big Brother’s’house istreated as the most importantnews of the day? Will the new ‘reality’ heroes’ famebestrong enough to producecelebrity jokes?How would therelations between media and jokes evolve? The answer should be known very soon.
Literature
Attardo S, 1994, Linguistic Theories of Humor, New York - Berlin, Mouton de Gruyter. BBC 2 “The Middle Classes: Their Rise and Sprawl” 21.03.2001.
Brzozowska D, 2000, O dowcipach polskich i angielskich. Analiza językowo-kulturowa, Opole.
ChiaroD, 1992, The Language of Jokes. Analysing verbal play, London -New York, Routle dge.
Chłopicki W, 1995, O humorze poważnie, Kraków.
Davies C, 1990, Ethnic Humor Around the World. A Comparative Analysis, Indiana Univer sity Press.
Herzog T, B. Bush, 1994, The prediction of preference for sick humor,“Humor” 7-4, 323-340.
Kmiecik S, 1998, Wolne żarty! Humor i polityka czyli rzecz o polskim dowcipie politycznym, Warszawa, Czytelnik.
Lipniacka E, 1997, Xenophobe’s Guide to the Poles, London, Ravette Books Ltd. Miall A, 1993, Xenophobe's Guide to the English, London, Ravette Books Ltd.
Nilsen A Pace, D. Nilsen, 2000, Encyclopedia of 20th-Century American Humor, Phoenix, Oryx Press.
Paton G, C. Powell, S. Wagg, 1996, The Social Faces of Humour. Practices and Issues, Are na Ashgate Publishing Limited England.
Raskin V, 1985, Semantic Mechanisms of Humor, Dordrecht, Reidel Publishing Company. Thiele-Dohrmann K, 1980, Psychologia plotki, trans. A. Krzemiński, Warszawa, PIW. Zapolska G, 1972, Moralność pani Dulskiej, Wroclaw-Warszawa-Kraków-Gdańsk, Ossoli
neum.
Brytyjskie
i
polskie dowcipy
o
znanych
osobach
Celem artykułu jest porównawcza analiza brytyjskich i polskich dowcipów o popu larnych w mediach osobach, które są obiektem licznych dowcipów. Można te dowcipy traktować jako rodzaj plotki, gdyż rozpowszechniają nie zawsze sprawdzone infor macje.
Da się zauważyć znaczne różnice w tonie dowcipów brytyjskich i polskich. Wśród dowcipów brytyjskich przeważają dowcipy agresywne, obraźliwe i wulgarne (por. dow cipy o D. Beckhamie), natomiast dowcipy polskie są znacznie łagodniejsze, swoje “ofia ry” traktują z życzliwością (np. dowcipy o A. Małyszu kreujągo na bohatera, którego je dyną “wadą” jest umiejętność wykonywania dalekich skoków).
Przyczyn tej różnicy autorka doszukuje się w odmiennych narodowych mental- nościach. To one odpowiadają za różny charakter mediów i za sposób plotkowania.
