Can HCC Take a Joke?
On Monday May 9 in Beacon Hall, Housatonic offered a viewing of the documentary, “Can We Take a Joke?,” a film analyzing and pinpointing the idea and question of whether or not people can really take a joke.
We have seen many instances where a comedian stomps on sensitive territory. Anything from race, to sexuality, to rape, to obesity, to pedophilia, nothing is off limits.
The film established what the set formula is when it comes to comedy outraging the public.
First is when said comedian makes an offensive joke. Then, someone is offended by said joke and, this being the age of modern technology and social media, leads the offended party to calling the comedian out. Outrage ensues very soon after.
While there was a conversation about the film after its showing, it is ironic how said movie was played at a community college, seeing as how one of the main ideas and themes in the documentary was the fact that comedians didn’t want to play at colleges anymore as many “politically correct” millennials take offense to the jokes.
The idea of treading on eggshells while doing college shows makes them not want to do it anymore. One idea that was discussed in the movie and discussion was the idea of comedians having to make half-hearted apologies for their jokes, their ideas, their freedom of speech.
For HCC, one of the ways that could really see how much the student body and faculty could really handle a controversial comedian is to have one perform here for us.
While this may be a bit of a stretch, it would have a bit more possibility to it seeing as how the student body isn’t just the twenty-something straight out of high school but also middle-aged adults in their 30s, 40s and even 50s who know about how a joke works. They can take it!