Never Scared: The Cultural Significance of Chris Rock

Standup accomplish it ondians exemplify the trans-generational nature of our finishing. With their ability to to the full embody in entirely of societies diverging set, while still always graze the edge of change, they serve as the conscience of the muckle. As Lawrence Mintz argues, comics are licence to say the unspeak adequate beca art objectipulation they have the pity of the sense of hearing they use the top executive of laughter to unite communities and tread societies shade of gray, and the approximately successful of them object littleon a full awareness in the art of grandiloquence. Mintz points show up that comedians use these weak pity warranting social assigns to actually empower themselves.iOne of the top acceptup comedians know for this today is Chris disceptation he uses rhetoric to persuade his audience into determination humor in rough of the darkest aspects of our society. Chris tremble uses rhetoric in his standup neer Scared to persuade hi s audience to adopt his views, while at the equal sentence reversing the pity warranting image that Mintzs claims gives a comic his license to speak freely. Both of these individualized intentions of Rocks in his stand up are dependent solely on how well he connects to the core values of his audience. Rock is credited for world best able at connecting the dissolution of family and relationship values of Blacks.In Never Scared, Chris Rock discusses the deteriorating values of Black America and how these values are affecting non-white culture in America. He utilizes theories in social family structure with the Afri pile Ameri ignore family today and establishes himself as a role model for the sinister culture. He also sarcastically undermines the institution of marriage and the battle of the sexes in an smart as a whip and witty manner. Not only is he socially aware of all of these things that I have mentioned, he is also aware of the embarrassing acts from his airstream whom he spitefully labels niggas. Allow me to expand on the issues Chris Rock brings up in his comedy r issueines.The days of funny schtick and prat travel are basically over. Through the years, much more substance has come to the attention of America when it comes to stand-up comedy. Lawrence Mintz states the following concerning this phenomena on page 72 Clearly it is a popular art that is central to American entertainment, only in the universal tradition of public joking rituals it is more than that as well it is an important part of the nations cultural career.iChris Rock is an excellent example of this statement.In Never Scared, Rock opens his act with confidence and mentions his miss, alluding to the priming why he hasnt been on the road in so long.Its amazing when you have a little girl Its center of attention opening, because I realize, Im the man in her animation. My relationship with my daughter is going to affect her relationship with men for the rest of her life. Ev ery man in here has dated a fair sex with nearly tonic issues. That emailprotected%$ aint fun ok. Shes giving you a heavy time for some emailprotected%$ her daddy did in 1969. (Chris Rock, 2006)Ever the sarcastic encourager, Rock sets up an example that needs to be revisited in the menacingamoor community. Hes sensible and funny here scarcely he is also alluding to something important. The black man in todays culture needs to come across the importance of bringing up baby girls. He states that sometimes he picks her up out of her stroller, looks at her and thats when it hits himMy job in this life now is to keep my baby off the poleOf course he is referring to the ever-ominous pole found in either strip club in the world. This is profound wisdom for the deadbeat dads out in that respect who arent with their daughters. virtually fathers are right in the room notwithstanding to busy honoring the game to pay any attention to the direction she might be headed if he doesnt c ome forth to get to know his little girl who is growing up.Its interesting to note that an article by Kathryn Edin and Laura Lein well-nigh discuss the same issue.ii With the rise of single mothers in urban areas and their jumble to make ends meet, we have to wonder what the sociological and psychological implications for the minor are growing up in an environment without a father. Many of these children go forth grow up to be drug dealers, strippers and prostitutes in their struggle to get away from the economic prison they were un get outingly placed in at birth.Speaking of birth, lets examine Rocks use of spontaneous abortion and marriage. Nilsen discusses the important element of sexism in comedy routines in his article prejudiced humor, which makes fun of the real or imagined characteristics of males and females, is seen in the oldest myths, fairy tales, folk tales, babys room rhymes, and sacred writings. Because jokes are a kind of shorthand, creators do not start with a whole new cast of characters for each joke instead they rely on familiar scripts that include exaggerations and stereotypes. This enables minders to fill in the inside information from the material that their minds have already absorbed from the popular culture.ivThroughout Rocks comedy routines, he brings to light the battle of the sexes concerning abortion and marriage. He discusses the devil options that a man has when he finds out his girlfriend is pregnant howler monkey Im so happy I love you so much. Or the ill-fated So, whatcha gonna do? Once again he mutely stabs at the lack of responsibility concerning the man in this issue. He goes on to discuss the point that the decision for abortion is do betwixt the woman and her girlfriends. It is a sad still true commentary on the disintegration of society in general but Chris seems to be directing it toward black culture specifically.There are strong arguments for the fact that married couples experience less stress and live a healthier life(Waite).iii Rock equates marriage to fair transferenceWhen youre single, you wanna kill yourself. When youre married, you wanna kill your spouseHe discusses the problem of unhappily married men and their addiction to strip clubs. He adds that reasons for this are that women are domineering. In a funny little clip, Chris negotiation about the ho convention and glass heels. accordingly he brings up the fact that a wife is thither to provide for you and be there for you but if you bring a pair of glass heels in the house, it will cause all sorts of problems.As you can see, he strengthens his views of the black man being the wifes pet or the one thats hypothetical to do everything for her by using these jokes. He also portrays the man in the abortion bit as not having a say in anything that happens with the child. He portrays the womans friends at a higher take than her own boyfriend and the father of her child.He jokes about strip clubs and infidelity but he still holds to the role model persona. He stands by his credit of not cheating on your spouse and once again cements his position in black culture. Voicing his family values opens the audience up for his personal opinions about society. Rocks humorous perspective on life and his personal opinions about society mark the defining line between him as an individual and the family values he has affirmed to gain the audiences trust.In his essay, Standup Comedy as Social and ethnical Mediation, Mintz explains the justification back the stand up comedians license to speak freely. Considering the fact that Chris Rock is an African American, he has free reign to speak out on the problems with African- Americans. As he displays his disgust with black stars deal the child molesting, wanna-be- white Michael Jackson, he flows freely into the R-Kelly incident with the young girl on video.We all know that he is using these incidents as well as the Kobe Bryant belt ammunitione case and the OJ Simpson case because they are excellent material for comedy. But, its also obvious that he uses these men as examples for negative black role models in America as well. It makes one wonder if he is warning his black audience of the path of self-destruction they may be on together. After all, great men like Sydney Poitier or crowd together Earl Jones didnt do things like this to embarrass the black community.Personally, I conceptualize that his most compelling routine is the I hate Niggas routine. The courage that it takes for a black man to stand up and say Everything white deal dont like about black people, black people hate even more. I love black people but I hate niggas. He jokes about the fact that every time black people try to get together and have some fun like going to a movie, some nigga pulls out a gun and shoots at the screen. It is most powerful when he utilizes this rhetoric in the presence of a more affluent black community.By perform in D.C., Rock intentionally markets h imself towards the wealthiest blacks in the United States, giving him all the more power once he is able to form a community within the room. But, this community Rock creates must be unified on some form of values with which he knows everyone can basically agree, and that will create an atmosphere of familial comfort. Rock does this perfectly in his stand up, and the structure can be noted from start to finish.We can also observe the moral erosion of rap music. It utilize to be a positive influence in the black community. Chris Rock has contend an important role in promoting rap music. Although, in Never Scared, He mentions the fact that it keeps getting harder to defend this popular urban genre. He states that it used to be easy to defend groups like Grand Master moment because they represented the black urban culture as a whole. Then he goes on to state that he hates to defend it now because of lines much(prenominal) as the famous line from Lil JonTo the windows, to the walls , til the sweat drips from my balls.These lyrics cant be defended. They do not spell anything positive for black society and the song certainly shows no respect for black women whatsoever. Granted, there were some pretty vulgar lyrics in the early days of rap also but not to the extent of today.If we observe the work of Chris Rock, a strong argument can be made that he has created some of the most powerful rhetoric concerning the degradation of his own race in America. He stands by his values and doesnt squirm under the microscope like some stars. He has used his influence to create a teachable understanding of the social inequalities that occur in America. But, more than this he has made it simple for the average black family, or any family, to understand the major(ip) social issues surrounding black culture today. I think the most important thing that Chris Rock has done for the black culture and every culture in America is created a vital understanding for office within our own cultural social dynamic.I have heard legion(predicate) people say that Chris Rock is a comedian, but he is an activist as well. Others say that his comedy is racially motivated against the white world of America. Still, some just wont watch him or listen to him because of his language usage. There are a number of labels we can set apart on this man and he allows us to do so liberally. Chris Rock may have missed his true calling as a social scientist. Maybe one-day comedians like Rock will receive unearned PhDs for their body of work in stand up comedy but for now, hes just a great comedian.iv Nilsen A.P and Nilsen D.L.B (2000) Encyclopedia of the twentieth century American Humor.Gender Humor. Phoenix, AZ Oryz Press, pp.170-174.i Standup Comedy as Social and Cultural Mediation. Lawrence E. Mintz.American Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 1, Special Issue American Humor. (Spring, 1985), pp. 71-80.ii Work, Welfare, and the Single Mothers Economic excerption Strategies. Kathryn Edin and La ura Lein. American Sociological Review.iii Does Marriage Matter?. Waite, Linda J. Demography. Vol. 32, No. 4, November 1995.iv Nilsen A.P and Nilsen D.L.B (2000) Encyclopedia of the twentieth century American Humor.Gender Humor. Phoenix, AZ Oryz Press, pp.170-174.Quotes from Chris Rock came from his stand up routine Never Scared. 2006.