Comedy Comes to Campus
East Carolina University held its first ever “HumorFest” that included many keynote speakers such as Andrei Codrescu, Kinky Friedman, and Jill McCorkle.
HumorFest was a weekend long event that had entertainment from an old-fashioned pie toss with students to sessions that included professors from all over the country. Each professor had something interesting and humorous to talk about.
Nonetheless, one panel that should receive a lot of recognition was the very first panel of this entertaining event.
Playing in the Dark in Visual Culture: Racial Whiteness and Satire in Mark Twain, Toni Morrison and Contemporary American and Asian Film Culture was the cover name given to this panel. The panel was highly diverse and very informative.
Dr. Joyce Irene Middleton, a professor at East Carolina University who is in the middle of writing her first book “ Shifting the Gays”, focused most of her attention on the late, great novel of Huckleberry Finn. Dr. Middleton had thorough knowledge of her topic and helped her audience to understand her main points by reading a paper she wrought about white and black discrimination.
Dr. Middleton uses convergence journalism and plays film clips from two videos to emphasize her point. Huckleberry Finn and Beloved are two very different movies but in conclusion have the same meaning.
This is the point Dr. Middleton tries to show her audience. In comparing Mark Twain and Toni Morrison, she purveys two completely different authors to have many uncanny comparisons all the way down to their initials being MT and TM.
Christine Russell, a professor in the technology information department is a student in one of Dr. Middleton’s graduate degree classes. Russell was also a panelist and covered a very interesting topic.
Russell talks about “Racial Whiteness” in society by using film clips from the hit movie Legally Blonde. She uses Legally Blonde to compare stereotypes in the movie to modern day stereotypes.
“ Whiteness is a racial identity in itself,” says Russell in her presentation. Russell was very informative and she added some spice to her presentation by adding many humorous video clips and personal stories.
Su-Ching Huang, also a student of Dr. Middleton’s talked about the Americanization of Jackie Chan. Su- Ching Huang uses an American film to help compare Asian film culture to the Americanization of an Asian Actor.
Huang shows various video clips from the movie Shanghai Noon, a popular American film, to compare Owen Wilson, a white American to Jackie Chan, an Asian trying to survive in a new society.
Both of these Actors are thoroughly examined by Huang in her presentation. Huang, being of Asian decent had no struggle in comparing these two seemingly different actors.
All three panelists had excellent points about stereotypes and satirical films. Each panelist knew their information and was able to effectively present it.
HumorFest was a big hit for many students on campus and hopefully next year it will be just as
interesting and comedic.
Filed under: HumorFest Reports