Engendering Charisma: k.d. lang and the Comic Frame

Abstract This article uses narrative criticism and a study of the word neaniskos in Greek culture to argue that the Gethsemanic young man and the young man in Jesus’ open tomb are linked by comedy. It demonstrates that the naked young man pericope utilizes comic imitation and the word neaniskos to connote comic behavior. With the naked young man as a model, the article proceeds to show that the speech of the messenger in the open tomb is comedy vis-à-vis the narrative of the context. This interpretation has the advantages of explaining the ill-fitting interruption of the naked young man scene in Gethsemane, of making sense of the abrupt ending of the Gospel of Mark, and of fitting the use of the word neaniskos in the Gospel of Mark to a connotation used in classical and Hellenistic Greek culture.

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“An Open Door”: Responsibility and the Comic Frame in Obama’s Foreign Policy Rhetoric on Iran

Rhetoric and Public Affairs ◽

10.14321/rhetpublaffa.20.1.0069 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 69

Author(s):

Cram

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Open Door ◽

Comic Frame

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British irony, global justice: a pragmatic reading of Chris Brown, Banksy and Ricky Gervais

Review of International Studies ◽

10.1017/s0260210509008390 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 219-245 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

JAMES BRASSETT

Keyword(s):

Critical Analysis ◽

Global Justice ◽

Richard Rorty ◽

Global Ethics ◽

The Subject ◽

Definition Of ◽

Comic Frame

AbstractThe article provides a critical analysis of the concept of irony and how it relates to global justice. Taking Richard Rorty as a lead, it is suggested that irony can foreground a sense of doubt over our own most heartfelt beliefs regarding justice. This provides at least one ideal sense in which irony can impact the discussion of global ethics by pitching less as a discourse of grand universals and more as a set of hopeful narratives about how to reduce suffering. The article then extends this notion via the particular – and particularly – ethnocentric case of British Irony. Accepting certain difficulties with any definition of British Irony the article reads the interventions of three protagonists on the subject of global justice – Chris Brown, Banksy and Ricky Gervais. It is argued that their considerations bring to light important nuances in irony relating to the importance of playfulness, tragedy, pain, self-criticism and paradox. The position is then qualified against the (opposing) critiques that irony is either too radical, or, too conservative a quality to make a meaningful impact on the discussion of global justice. Ultimately, irony is defended as a critical and imaginative form, which can (but does not necessarily) foster a greater awareness of the possibilities and limits for thinking/doing global justice.%‘‘The comic frame, in making a man the student of himself, makes it possible for him to ‘transcend’ occasions when he has been tricked or cheated, since he can readily put such discouragements into his ‘assets’ column, under the heading of ‘experience’. . . . In sum, the comic frame should enable people to be observers of themselves, while acting.Blackadder: Baldrick, have you no idea what irony is?Baldrick: Yes, it’s like goldy and bronzy only it’s made out of iron.’’

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