Look At Me, I’m Chinese So I Must Be Chang And Shop At Longs! Haha, So Funny!
Lee Cataluna’s Da Mayah captures Hawaii political culture with honest proficiency. The local tradition of “who you know is more important then what you know.” No one in Hawaii attains a job solely based on her or his skill; it is all a matter of what sort of connection you have with “friends” and family.
I was having a conversation with a mate about recent Honolulu Police Department dust-ups. Recent news has reported on police officers in criminal activities, many of which were driven my money. According to my buddy, his father told him that Hawaii is notorious for insider crime.
Apparently crime in Hawaii is so rampant that it is accepted by face value. Supposedly each branch of authority has some involvement with unlawful activities. And as long as everything is kept in order, some crime is generally accepted. If there were a serious crackdown in Hawaii crime, too many ties would be severed and government would fall apart.
As far-fetched as this sounded initially, I considered how authority works in Honolulu. For example, in Tuesday’s lecture we listened to Hawaiian Ryan’s comedy sketch “eh-bonics.” Rough reconciliation:
Proper: “I am sorry for speeding officer, it will never happen again. Please do not write me a ticket.”
Eh-bonics: “Eh, you know my uncle?”
Although I am sure small town communities in Idaho also work in this fashion, these small towns also do not have big city dreams complete with superferrys and monorails. This is why I suspect Honolulu will never emerge as the metropolis it strives to be. It is far too grounded in its “everybody knows everybody” roots.
At the conclusion of Tuesday’s “lecture” we were asked to blog about the “five principles of local humor.” After class Joanna peeked over my notebook,
“So what are the five principles of local humor?” she asked.
“No clue.”
“What? You were taking notes!”
Oh yes, I was taking notes. Here are my notes:
Rap: Everything is a racial stereotype (minus robot skit, then it’s a 80s robot stereotype). And it may seem funny to local people, but its buffoon caricatures of different ethnicities became tiresome after repeated sessions.
Frank: Being Caucasian and a Bishop Estate Trustee are the pinnacles of authority in Hawaii. Well, duh.
The point is that I see no humor in local humor. It may make me grin for when I recognize what the heck the comedian is trying to imply, but laugh-out loud funny? I reckon not.
Comedy in Hawaii is just a continuous blend of ethnic stereotypes. And the audience of Hawaii encourages this type of blatant assault. Whereas non-Hawaii based comedians talk about the issues plighting their ethnicity, Hawaii “comedians” just chuckle at their own mediocracy.
It is fascinating that this is what humor is in this culture.
The reason why Cataluna’s play Da Mayah is funny is because it addresses the stereotypes and the issues surrounding local life. It is written with seriousness for the corrupt politicians of Hawaii and yet still manages to laugh at itself for its absurdity.
Da Mayah was written to talk about the corrupt way of government in Hawaii. It is meant to be a funny play, and it is funny. But the play’s underlying tone is a critique on how things are actually run in this town.
I was having a conversation with a mate about recent Honolulu Police Department dust-ups. Recent news has reported on police officers in criminal activities, many of which were driven my money. According to my buddy, his father told him that Hawaii is notorious for insider crime.
Apparently crime in Hawaii is so rampant that it is accepted by face value. Supposedly each branch of authority has some involvement with unlawful activities. And as long as everything is kept in order, some crime is generally accepted. If there were a serious crackdown in Hawaii crime, too many ties would be severed and government would fall apart.
As far-fetched as this sounded initially, I considered how authority works in Honolulu. For example, in Tuesday’s lecture we listened to Hawaiian Ryan’s comedy sketch “eh-bonics.” Rough reconciliation:
Proper: “I am sorry for speeding officer, it will never happen again. Please do not write me a ticket.”
Eh-bonics: “Eh, you know my uncle?”
Although I am sure small town communities in Idaho also work in this fashion, these small towns also do not have big city dreams complete with superferrys and monorails. This is why I suspect Honolulu will never emerge as the metropolis it strives to be. It is far too grounded in its “everybody knows everybody” roots.
At the conclusion of Tuesday’s “lecture” we were asked to blog about the “five principles of local humor.” After class Joanna peeked over my notebook,
“So what are the five principles of local humor?” she asked.
“No clue.”
“What? You were taking notes!”
Oh yes, I was taking notes. Here are my notes:
Rap: Everything is a racial stereotype (minus robot skit, then it’s a 80s robot stereotype). And it may seem funny to local people, but its buffoon caricatures of different ethnicities became tiresome after repeated sessions.
Frank: Being Caucasian and a Bishop Estate Trustee are the pinnacles of authority in Hawaii. Well, duh.
The point is that I see no humor in local humor. It may make me grin for when I recognize what the heck the comedian is trying to imply, but laugh-out loud funny? I reckon not.
Comedy in Hawaii is just a continuous blend of ethnic stereotypes. And the audience of Hawaii encourages this type of blatant assault. Whereas non-Hawaii based comedians talk about the issues plighting their ethnicity, Hawaii “comedians” just chuckle at their own mediocracy.
It is fascinating that this is what humor is in this culture.
The reason why Cataluna’s play Da Mayah is funny is because it addresses the stereotypes and the issues surrounding local life. It is written with seriousness for the corrupt politicians of Hawaii and yet still manages to laugh at itself for its absurdity.
Da Mayah was written to talk about the corrupt way of government in Hawaii. It is meant to be a funny play, and it is funny. But the play’s underlying tone is a critique on how things are actually run in this town.
posted by sau at 11:31 AM
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