Comedy Against Work: Utopian Longing in Dystopian Times
Work is a joke. Laughing at it is political. Humor, Groucho Marx asserted, is "reason gone mad. " For Walter Benjamin, laughter was "the most revolutionary emotion. " In a moment when great numbers of people are reevaluating their commitment to the hellscape we call "work," what does it mean to take comedy seriously--and to turn it against work.
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| List Price | $20.00 | |
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Book Information
| Publisher: | Common Notions |
|---|---|
| Publish Date: | 11/22/2022 |
| Pages: | 256 |
| ISBN-13: | 9781942173700 |
| ISBN-10: | 1942173709 |
| Language: | English |
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Full Description
Work is a joke. Laughing at it is political.Humor, Groucho Marx asserted, is "reason gone mad." For Walter Benjamin, laughter was "the most revolutionary emotion." In a moment when great numbers of people are reevaluating their commitment to the hellscape we call "work," what does it mean to take comedy seriously--and to turn it against work?Both philosophically brilliant and deeply personal, Comedy Against Work demonstrates how laughing about work can puncture the pretensions of tyrannical bosses while uniting us around a commitment to radically new ways of making the world together. At the same time, Lane-McKinley exposes a war at the heart of contemporary comedy between those who see comedy as a weapon for punching down and those whose laughter points to social transformation. From stand-up to sitcoms, podcasts to late night, comedy reveals our longing to subvert power, escape the prison of work, and envision the joys of a liberated world.