Nailing it à la Saudi: Satire and the Subject in Times of Crisis
The present study first explores the phenomenon of Saudi satire on YouTube since 2010, and then focuses on the popular Masāmīr (Nails), an extensive series of cartoons posted on YouTube. Along with other comedy shows, Masāmīr not only exemplifies the uses of satire by those who practice and consume...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Centre Français d’Archéologie et de Sciences Sociales de Sanaa
2021-02-01
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| Series: | Arabian Humanities |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/arabianhumanities/6292 |
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| Summary: | The present study first explores the phenomenon of Saudi satire on YouTube since 2010, and then focuses on the popular Masāmīr (Nails), an extensive series of cartoons posted on YouTube. Along with other comedy shows, Masāmīr not only exemplifies the uses of satire by those who practice and consume it, but also unravels what Janet Roitman and Achille Mbembe describe as the subject in times of crisis (1995). Namely, laughter is read as a means of expressing unbearable experiences in the nexus of Saudi society and a larger virtual community, all embedded in an autocratic context, including an internalized authoritarian epistemology. Satirical videos stage a society in crisis: forces of lethargy, connivance, and violence are entangled with aspirations for agency and change. Thus, the artists’ work allows us a glimpse into an ambivalent subjectivity. They are critically looking into themselves and their society, at times confessing their helplessness and at other times colluding with the existing power structure, a move that redeems the state and reinscribes it within the national narrative of the ultimate savior. |
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| ISSN: | 2308-6122 |