engleski

'Uncivilized' Comedy and its Reception.

This research sets out to explore the social reception of the television comedy Da Ali G Show - a text that raised controversy due to its politically incorrect discourse. It was carried out in two different socio-cultural settings: London/United Kingdom and Zagreb/Croatia. The results are based on eighteen interviews with these interpretive communities (Fish, 1980) built on shared preference for the show and the type of humour it promotes. There were obvious differences in the position the text itself had in these respective communities: While it was very popular in the UK, especially among young people, it had a marginal position the in Croatia, viewed by a small niche that considered themselves to be alternative to the Croatian mainstream. The decoding of the text showed profound differences: in the UK interpretive community mechanisms were found that enabled appreciation of the show while still remaining within a politically correct discourse. In the Croatian interpretive community, however, these mechanisms were absent, since there was no sense of violation of a norm if one engaged in a politically incorrect discourse. The findings suggest that the broader social context determined the position the text itself had in these respective interpretive communities, and was important in shaping the way it was decoded by the readers.

television comedy; Da Ali G Show; civilized; political correctness; reception; interpretive community; United Kingdom; Croatia

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