Should comedy be guided by rules?

No! And Yes! It goes both ways.

‘No’ because comedy is a form of art. And one of the core foundations of art is the freedom of expression, thought and speech. ‘Yes’ because there should be lengths to which those thoughts and speech can travel to avoid belittling any group or community more than necessary in the name of cracking an audience.

If we should be realistic, considering the time and age humanity and pop culture have arrived, social rules can not guide jokes. Not because jokes are far too pious and simple, but because a notable portion of the standards by which comedy and general entertainment are being ruled by today is flawed and all too ridiculous to the extent logic and fact are being substituted by false illusions and invalid pretense.

Seeing the power that comedy, alongside music and film, has on the cultural trends of the masses, the rules that should govern them must contain 101% of equality and truth! Each complementing the other. But what is the truth? What is equality?

Wikipedia will tell you, “Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality”,; but let us go deeper. ‘Truth’ is that which is consistent with the mind, will, character, glory and being of God. The definition of truth flows from God whether you believe in his existence or not. But because the truth is so blunt against feelings and worldly desires, as a society, we’ve dismissed the ‘truth’ (God) and created a false version of the precision popularly termed ‘your truth’ hence making ourselves ‘gods’. This move does not invalidate ‘the truth’(God) as It(He) can never be invalidated. However, it creates a cultural conundrum wherein there is no definitive guide for us humans regarding the issue of identity, be it racial or gender.

In the actual concept of truth, feelings and emotions are of no relevance, and rightly so. But hey! It’s 2021. We have abandoned the truth(objective, logic, fact) and clung to the lies and deceit we’ve rebranded as ‘your truth’ (flexible, adjustable).

As though that is not enough, we base rules on them. But we seem to ignore that such dictates based on lies and deceit will never be positively effective or even practical, to say the least. On the contrary, it will continue to stir society into a continuous state of dilemma that only the absolute truth, the way and life(God) can reset. If only we allow it.

Comedy alongside music, film and even corporate industries should be guided not by dynamic rules that change every season or two but rules based on the eternal truth that leaves no line blurred.

The eternal truth that every individual and community in 2021 seems to be avoiding—For obvious reasons, I'll mention one, ‘Cancel culture’.

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Israel Olorunnisola is a freelance creative. When he is not writing about Film, Music, TV or Pop culture he is telling stories on Wattpad.

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