SOUTHERN AMERICAN CULTURE: LOOKING AT RACISM THROUGH HUMOR IN PETER FARRELLY’S GREEN BOOK

Abstract

The post-Civil War era in 1865 was the end of slavery and the beginning of the reconstruction period in Southern states. Green Book is a drama-comedy movie that uses comedy or humor to show racist acts. This research then aims to analyze the racism in the Southern cultural aspect and find out how humor is used to portray racism in the film. The theory used is Thomas Veatch’s theory of humor. In collecting the data, the researcher watched and re-watched the movie comprehensively while taking notes, highlighting the content, and interpreting them. After the data needed had been collected, the researcher analyzed and presented them as a narrative. Lastly, the researcher finds that this movie shows racism in the South through cruelty and humor. The cruelty is depicted through the oppression of African Americans’ lives, individually and institutionally, such as negative stereotypes, racial prejudice, and discrimination. As for humor, the researcher finds that the movie shows humor through African-American characters whose characterization contrasts African-American stereotypes that have long been embedded in the culture of the Southerners. Those incongruities are depicted through the social class and lifestyle of African-American characters in the film.