Post by Bozur on Oct 28, 2008 23:39:59 GMT -5
Everybody Laughs in the Same Language … Or Do They?
27 October 2008 Jokes, plays and films provide a keen insight into what tickles the average Serb – and it’s not always what you might expect.
By Pat Andjelkovic
The world’s in financial crisis, local politics are a mess, but Serbs love to laugh even in the darkest times, even during the NATO bombing, when jokes exploded just as frequently as, but with a lot less harm, than cruise missiles. Even the tennis star Novak Djokovic, (dubbed Joke-ovic by the press), impersonated fellow tennis players during the US Open, much to the audience’s delight. As Goethe once said, “nothing shows a man’s character more than what he laughs at.”
We all have an inborn capacity to laugh, which has evolved over 15 million years of respective community-living among apes and humans. Tickle one of the great apes, if you dare, and they’ll grin and pant rapidly: ape laughter. Chimps even laugh in anticipation of a tickle, and often when observing another’s discomfort. Now there’s a shared trait. But they don’t tell jokes…or at least we don’t think they do, but perhaps they’ll have the last laugh.
What’s so funny?
For the most part, Serbs laugh at what they perceive as stereotypical behavior of other peoples. These jokes are often offensive, and perpetrate existing prejudices. However, jokes about religion (at least about their own Orthodox religion) and sick jokes involving grotesque, violent, or exceptionally cruel “humour” aren’t appreciated. The following jokes about what Serbs perceive as stereotypical inhabitants of Serbia or the former Yugoslavia give you a pretty good idea:
• Pirocanci (from the town of Pirot, reputedly stingy): Why do Pirocanci have two peepholes in their doors, one high and one low? - To see who’s come and what he’s brought.
• Montenegrins (supposedly lazy): A Bosnian and a Montenegrin had a ten-metre race. Who won? - No one. The Montenegrin gave up, and the Bosnian got lost.
• Lala from Vojvodina (Naive and submissive): “My wife is a tramp,” Lale complains. “How come?” asks his friend. “I sent her a telegram I was coming home, and I found her in bed with some guy!” Then he adds, “Or maybe she’s not. Maybe she didn’t get the telegram.”
• Slovenians (about their country’s size): Why do Slovenians use only three speeds on their cars? – If they used the fourth, they’d be across the border.
• Croatians (who are perceived by Serbs as creating complex expressions to distinguish Croatian from Serbian): How do you say “cow” in Croatian? A four-legged, milk-giving, grass eater.
• Serbs happily make fun of themselves, too: Little Pera depicts a young, cheeky, but clever Serb: Pera’s teacher asks, “How far is Pluto from the sun?” - “As far as Partizan is from the Champions’ League,” Pera said.
People from surrounding nations have jokes too! In these jokes Serbs are often perceived as aggressive, violent and ready to be bribed. One Bosniak aphorism, runs:
• “Do not eat in a Croat’s house - he is going to cheat you - and do not sleep in a Serb’s house - you can not be sure that you‘re goimg to be alive in the morning.
Humour all around
There’s humour in Serbian literature, theatre, films, and television. Serbs who can afford tickets flock to see Branislav Nusic’s (1864-1938) play The Cabinet Minister’s Wife. This is a story of a simple but strong woman in pre-Second World War Yugoslavia, whose life changes when her husband becomes a minister. Aware of her lack of manners and education, she blindly follows protocol, and in the process creates chaos for herself and her family.
Dusan Kovacevic’s play Radovan III is a tragic-comedy that tells of lost identity caused by Socialist “progress”. Radovan has moved from his native village to the suburbs where he lives with his family. His first daughter was raised as a son and is now a truck driver. His other daughter has been pregnant for five years since the father fled to America, and Radovan won’t let her to give birth until she marries.
Zdravko Sotra’s film Ivko’s Feast, makes fun of social mores. Traditionally, no one should be turned away from a saint’s day celebration, but three long-staying guests turn the principal actor’s saint’s day into nightmare when they refuse to leave.
A very popular television social identity satire was Mile Against Transition. Mile, represents Serbia’s everyman. He witnessed the disintegration of Yugoslavia, wars in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo, economic collapse, endured Milosevic’s international isolation, entrenched corruption and downfall, the assassination of the prime minister, and the failure of Serbian politicians.
Mile yearns to preserve authentic Serbian life and rebels against transition, from having to wear seatbelts to adopting a new work ethic. He feels powerless, and, in the face of frustration, disappointment, and uncertainty, he yells at his TV. Mile was created to be taken ironically. Instead, Mile has become a popular hero whose anti-modern, anti-European tendencies are widely accepted, and has emerged as a hero, a symbol of Serbia’s current predicaments.
That in itself is kind of funny.
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