COMEDY

118 POLITICS(Ezrahi, 2001:307). Ruth Ben-Ghiat argues that Benigni’s film also triesto deflect some of the attention away from the Holocaust as aspecifically Jewish tragedy through ‘the inclusion of a self-sacrificingChristian wife [who] affirms that Jews have no monopoly in Italy on thestate of victimhood, even as they remain the most acceptable publicsymbols of fascism’s inhumanity’ (Ben-Ghiat, 2001:263). In responseto these criticisms, however, several writers have argued that the way inwhich Holocaust history has come to be policed results in any treatmentof it being instantly condemned as facile, with the effect that a numberof valid narratives are dismissed out of hand. Hilene Flanzbaum, forexample, points to a contradiction amongst those who reject Benigni’sfilm, because they occupy ‘a paradoxical and infinite regress in whichcritics feel obliged to repeat that the Holocaust cannot ever be trulyrepresented, while at the same time, these very same critics vigorouslycomplain each time an individual representation insufficiently portraysthe event’ (Flanzbaum, 2001:284). For her, Life Is Beautiful‘acknowledges at the start that it is a myth, and in so doing, it clearly—and I believe, more honestly than films that claim historical veracity—accepts its limitations as a work of art’ (Flanzbaum, 2001:283). As longas we understand that the film is a fictional construct, Benigni’streatment is justified exactly because it does not claim to be an authentichistory, but does other work by placing the issues in an entirely new andunusual context that has the virtue of reaching an enormous audience.While not satisfied that the film is entirely innocent of all theaccusations levelled at it, Flanzbaum concludes that, ‘Benigniaccomplishes a great deal when he defamiliarizes the Holocaust enoughto make such viewers feel it all over again’ (Flanzbaum, 2001:283).Perhaps the question of comedy and politics might be reduced toquestions of this kind, questions of efficacy. When laughter is directedaggressively, it can be an extremely powerful tool, victimizing itstargets in purely negative terms and reinforcing prejudice. Comedy thatseeks to do the same to tyrannical or prejudicial ideologies, however,often has to relinquish a reasonable base for its arguments before itenters the arena. Parody and satire are good for demolishing dogma butnot for constructively offering alternatives to it. Alternative comedyfound itself censoring guilty form to the extent that it struggled to findmaterial and had to replace blacks and women with red-haired peopleand Margaret Thatcher. Holocaust comedies exist within such acomplicated terrain of history, representation, politics, and prejudice thatthey become instantly suspect, with the result that both comedy andpolitics lose their immediacy and productions become debatable at best