Friday, April 24, 2009

The Victory of Laughter and the Fair: Ben Johnson and Bakhtin

Carnival time has not vanished since the times of the Middle Ages. Remnants of the tradition may still be found frequently in certain parts of contemporary society. March Madness, the NCAA basketball championship tournament, for example, has many carnivalesque aspects. Little 500, a college party that lasts a whole week, is reminiscent of the fairs and feasts of the Middle Ages. During the week of Little 500 it is not uncommon to see people at the carnival dressed outrageously as clowns or fools, or to see people urinating on the side of a house, eating and drinking together. The same question can be asked for both the practice of the Carnival and the continued existence Little 500 at a place like a university, What is the benefit or the reason? The reason is that carnival culture is based upon more than mere merriment, but stems from deep philosophical origans and human condition. “The feast (every feast) is an important primary form of human culture. It cannot be explained merely by the practical conditions of the community’s work, and it would be even more superficial to attribute it to the phsysiological demand for periodic rest. The fest had always an essential, meaningful philosophical content…They [festivals] must be sanctioned not by the world of practical conditions but by the highest aims of human existence, that is, by the world of ideals” (Bakhtin, 198). Just what is so special about festivals, that is, what the value of the carnival exactly is, is what I will explain in the body of this essay. Furthermore, Ben Johnson’s Bartholomew Fair will be used as a lens with which to examine how a festival functions as a medium for social commentary and revolution. By studying the play we will see the carnival culture in action.

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