‘Holiday in Cambodia’ – Punk’s Acerbic Comedy
- Submitting institution
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University of the Arts, London
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 195
- Type
- C - Chapter in book
- DOI
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- Book title
- Comedy and Critical Thought: Laughter as Resistance
- Publisher
- Rowman and Littlefield International Limited
- ISBN
- 978-1-7866-0406-4
- Open access status
- -
- Month of publication
- -
- Year of publication
- 2018
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- Yes
- Additional information
- This edited volume arose from the ‘Comedy And Critical Thought: Laughter As Resistance’ conference at the University of Kent (3–4 May 2016). It forms part of a series of books reflecting on how interdisciplinary and/or practice-led thought can create the conditions for experimental thinking about politics and the political, motivated by the desire for political theory to become a genuinely creative discipline, open to collaborative interdisciplinary efforts in innovation.
‘Holiday in Cambodia’ — Punk’s Acerbic Comedy reflects on a particularly acerbic, critical model of humour that was embraced by a number of participants within the early punk scenes in the United Kingdom and United States. Definitions of punk inevitably revolve around stereotypes and generalisations, many stemming from received conventions reflecting the provocative, political or subversive positions taken by some of punk’s leading figures. The use of humour in punk, in performance, lyrics and visual communication, is often overlooked. The ability to mock, to question and to undermine through satire, wit and innuendo helped to develop new forms of punk critique and dialogue, with a lasting impact both within and outside the subculture — in the cathartic release brought about by breaking taboos, and in the use of irony and invective as strategies to question positions of authority and power. Focusing on a range of key examples of acerbic punk performance, from the Sex Pistols and the Stranglers to Crass, Dead Kennedys and Killing Joke, this chapter explores the ways in which punk employed humour as an ideological weapon, as well as a source of amusement and entertainment. As punk matured and evolved, an internal dialogue developed that embraced humour as one weapon within a sophisticated armoury that could be drawn upon to tease, mock, question or insult rival groups and individuals within the subculture as well as wider, external targets.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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