In the wake of the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, everyone’s talking as if Stephen Colbert is going to wind up like Stephen Fry’s character Dietrich in V for Vendetta. I hate to state the obvious, but while I enjoyed Colbert’s somewhat longwinded routine, it’s always useful to remember why Vendetta’s Dietrich (despite the incredulity of many who’ve seen the film) even thought it was possible to get away with his lampooning of England’s dictator: the jester’s insults are usually tolerated because they act as an affective valve in the sovereign’s court. In the world of the court, comically speaking “truthiness” to power is given an institutionalised function. But beyond helpfully managing the flow of humours, that truth itself is recuperated: the fool is often appreciated because his dialogue with the sovereign makes the latter wiser, allowing them to perfect their rule. And if that’s is the extent of everyone’s enthusiasm about speaking truth to power, we’re in fucking trouble.
The first thing that came to mind after watching Colbert’s press corp gig was a scene in that Jim Carrey movie, Liar Liar, in which he is forced to speak to his boss while only being able to speak the truth:
Colleague: Why don’t you tell Mr. Allan, well, what do you think of him?
Reede: He’s a pedantic, pontificating, pretentious bastard. A belligerent old fart. A worthless, steaming pile of cow dung. Figuratively speaking.
Silence. Allan suddenly bursts out laughing. Everyone else laughs.
Allan: That’s the funniest damn thing l’ve ever heard! You’re a real card, Reede! l love a good roast!
…
Allan: l like your style, Reede. That’s what this stuffy company needs — a little irreverence!
Reede: Good! l’ll see you later, dickhead!
Allan: Dickhead! Priceless!
Of course, Carrey’s character eventually accomplishes the cheesy ethical goal of the film — getting his son to trust him again — but he has to work a lot harder than just “telling the truth”. This isn’t an attempt to diminish Colbert’s achievement, but a warning against its uncritical, liberal and ultimately recuperable celebration. And while we’re on the subject of Mr Carrey, doesn’t anyone else think that the first half of Fun with Dick and Jane, with its spiral into racialised and criminalised poverty — witness the scene where Carrey’s lack of ID and bruised-jaw speech impediment gets him deported with a truckload of paperless hispanic immigrants — is one of the best things ever?
Update: sure, you can’t stretch the metaphor of the medieval court infinitely, but hey, I think civil society and the public sphere in general are effectively hazy extensions of the sovereign’s court, anyway, so there…
[ tags: comedy, jesters, jim-carrey, medieval, speaking-truth-to-power, stephen-colbert, truth ]
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