A Response to Drunk History-Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks

Katharine Tomancik

Professor Darius Frasure

English 1301

17 September 2015          

A Response to Drunk History-Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks,

Drunk History-John Adams vs. Thomas Jefferson, and

Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere

In this world of the entertainment industry, society has become obsessed with having their hours filled with senseless media in an endeavor to escape the responsibilities of everyday life. The Drunk History videos by Comedy Central as well as the video: Bullshit Happening Somewhere by The Onion, are perfect examples of this need for entertainment. The authors of these videos exemplify this concept through their rhetorical strategies and use of satire.

In the Drunk History video: Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks, the writers at Comedy Central have created a humorous way of recounting historical events, geared toward providing hours of mindless entertainment via YouTube, and other video streaming websites. Comedy Central starts off the video with getting the narrator slightly inebriated and having her tell the story of how Rosa Parks became the face of NAACP’s bus boycott, and the Anti-segregation movement. Right from the beginning, as the narrator tells the story, she has trouble with saying the words “bespectacled teenager,” this sets the comedic tone of the entire video. The purpose of getting the narrator drunk is to appeal to the sense of humor of this generation of young people. The creators of the video, translate the narrator’s story into scenes of what she is describing, the actors lip-syncing everything the narrator says, including what she says off-topic, this enhances the comedic effect of the video. Because the creators of Drunk History understand the humor of this generation, it allows them to make many more of these hysterical, yet educational, videos.

Another Drunk History video: John Adams vs. Thomas Jefferson, by Comedy Central, is much like the previous video; the purpose is to provide a comic recounting of famous historical events. This particular video focuses on the election of 1800, between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, in which the best friends turn against each other in a dirty, mud-slinging election. The Drunk History writers employ the same strategies as they did in the “Rosa Parks” video. They begin by inebriating the narrator however, instead of flubbing his words, the narrator uses certain curse words that are then bleeped out, and this provides the intended comedic effect the creators were looking for. The actors in the videos, contribute to the humorous tone of the setting by outrageously overacting, embodying the overall attitude of the narrator. The narrator focuses mostly on the slandering aspect of the election, because that is really what the audience wants to hear about, his choices in vernacular are the main reason this video is funny. In this day and age, inappropriate language is the new “thing,” it is what all the kids are doing these days, which is one way the next video by The Onion is so popular.

The Onion is notorious for its harsh, satirical criticisms of news casters and reporters. In their video, Bullshit Happening Somewhere, they utilize satire in their representation of the local news channels and what they report on. The fake newscaster begins by introducing the “bullshit happening somewhere today” (bullshit happening) where they include footage of the “bullshit.” The story uses actual footage from a news report on bears and other wildlife roaming free in suburban neighborhoods, only they substitute in their own newscaster, reporter and “bullshit” expert. The fake newscaster goes on to report that the “resident in this neighborhood were shocked to see this fairly common thing happening” (bullshit happening) satirizing how some can get overly incensed by perfectly normal things just to get attention. The same goes for the news’ leading experts, who “[attended] the…most prestigious schools [just] to talk about bullshit like this” (bullshit happening) when really they are “just happy to be on TV”(bullshit happening). The Onion is pointing out how the news is becoming less and less about real news, and instead is just spending lots of money on resources to report on trivial stories.