The Bibi Sitter and the Hipster: the new comical political discourse

Abstract

The article focuses on the emergence of a new comical political discourse in the 2015 Knesset elections, in which humour was adopted as a major campaign strategy and senior Israeli politicians took upon themselves the role of comedians in ad clips. The development of such discourse is presented as the culmination of an ongoing process of transformation of the political discourse in Israel since 1977. The process was inspired by the American political and media scenes, as well as by changes in Israel’s media map. Social media played a central role in the new comical discourse, as it was heavily used both for the viral dissemination of the clips and for creating engagement. But even as the affectivity of the videos was apparent in terms of the creation on ‘media buzz’, exposure and web engagement, there is still no proof to its influence on the elections outcome. Furthermore, it raises questions about the ability of the Israeli citizenry to rationally discus crucial issues and to form opinion on them.

Keywords:

• Elections
• Netanyahu
• Bennett
• comic political discourse
• social media
• video clip ads

Notes

1. Bartov, “Clowns’ Discourse,” Maariv, June 29, 1984, 24.

2. Benoit, “A Functional Analysis.”

3. Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, 141.

4. See, among others: Avidar, “How a Politician Can”; Balmas, “When Fake News”; Shifman, “Satire in the Holy Wonderland”;‏ Tsfati et al., “Exposure to News”.‏

5. According to Google Scholar, Stewart and Colbert are mentioned in more than 3500 books and articles, as of November 2015.

6. Speier, “Wit and Politics,” 1354.

7. Basu, “Dialogic Ethics,” 391.

8. Dagnes, A Conservative Walks Into a Bar, 9.

9. Meyer, “Humour as a Double‐edged Sword,” 319.

10. Ibid., 311.

11. Schultz, Political Humour, 24.

12. Muller, Adlai Stevenson, quoted by Schultz, Political Humour, 23.

13. Tully, “Mo Udall’s Humour,” 26.

14. Jones et al., Satire TV, xiii.

15. Waisanen, “Comedian‐in‐Chief,” 336.

16. Ibid., 341, 352.

17. Baym, “The Daily Show,” 259; Baym, “Breaking Boundaries,” 19.‏

18. Tsur, The Rhetoric of Israeli Leaders, 166.

19. Gelblum, A. “Election without humour,” Maariv, July 25, 1955, 2.

20. Nevo, “Jewish Humour.” Nevo’s father, Levy Eshkol, frequently used humour in political debates, unlike most of his colleagues.

21. Alexander, “Political Satire in Israeli Theater,” 165.

22. Almog, Farewell to “Srulik,” 67–69.

23. Mann, The Leader and the Media, 99.

24. Zartal, I. “Today for the sake of tomorrow,” Dvar Hashavua, November 28, 1975, 4–6.

25. Ansky, The Selling of the Likud, 50–54.

26. Likud’s ad, Davar, April 15, 1977, 7

27. Tavor, E. “On whom the TV parties’ commercials are working?” Yediot Acharonot, Musaf LeSahabat, June 12, 1981, 11.

28. Schnitzer, S. “The Entertainers’ War,” Maariv, June 29, 1984, 23.

29. Bitzur, Y. “An Expensive and Dubious Show,” Maariv, June 28, 1984, 14.

30. Boshes, H. “The Price of Entertainment,” Haaretz, June 29, 1984, 20.

31. Guterman, R. “Peres: The Public Doesn’t Want,” Maariv, July 1, 1984, 3.

32. Bitzur, Y. “Judge Bach: People are Detest by the Violence,” Maariv, July 20, 1984, 24.

33. 1996 elections’ TV ads. http://elections.walla.co.il/item/2581900.

34. Rom and Benjamin, Feminism, Family, and Identity, xv.

35. Tsfati et al., “Exposure to News,” 405.‏

36. The journal Popular Communication devoted a special issue in 2012 to this phenomenon around the world: “Not Necessarily the News? Global Approaches to News Parody and Political Satire”. www.tandfonline.com/toc/hppc20/10/1-2

37. Balmas, “When Fake News,” 446.

38. Heller, A. “With Ruthless Satire, Israeli TV Show Sets Election Tone,” Haaretz, February 7, 2015. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/1.641278

39. Ghert-Zand, R. “Bibi, Shalit and the ‘Forrest Gump’ Effect,” Forward, October 19, 2011, forward.com/the-assimilator/144631/bibi-shalit-and-the-forrest-gump-effect/

40. Avidar, “How a Politician Can,” 81–96.‏

41. Galili, Tele-Politicians, 18.

42. The Creation of the Likud site,” KCS Technologies site. goo.gl/SAuMo8

43. “Lapid Attacking Netanyahu: Mr. Prime Minister, You Are Disconnected, Living in an Aquarium.” Globes, December 2, 2014, www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000990963.

44. Interview with Rami Yehudicha, August 19, 2015.

45. Sternthal and Craig, “Humour in Advertising,” 12; Weinberger and Gulas, “The Impact of Humour,” 56–57.‏

46. Altman, Y. “Facebook and YouTube all but wiped out the mass demonstrations in the squares,” Walla!, March 7, 2015, http://elections.walla.co.il/item/2835690

47. Interview with Yehudicha.

48. “Life in the Digital Age”.

49. Harkov, L. “Likud video featuring kids portraying political rivals,” JPost, January 17, 2015, http://goo.gl/QoMb9X

50. The Daily Show. 2015. February 5. www.cc.com/video-clips/j3u83r/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-hebrew-international

51. Tal, “The Big Screen vs The Small.”

52. www.cc.com/video-clips/j3u83r/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-hebrew-international

53. Noonan, P. “Bibi, Sitter,” The Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2015, blogs.wsj.com/peggynoonan/2015/02/04/bibi-sitter/

54. Kershner, I. “Uproar over Netanyahu’s Ice Cream Is Welcome in One Parlor,” New York Times, February 18, 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/world/middleeast/benjamin-netanyahus-ice-cream-budget-causes-political-stir.html

55. “New document said to reveal PM’s concessions to Palestinians,” The Time of Israel, March 6, 2015, www.timesofisrael.com/new-document-said-to-reveal-pms-concessions-to-palestinians/

56. Harkov, L. “Bennett Channels Tel Aviv Hipster for ‘No Apologies’ Campaign Video,” JPost, December 17, 2014, www.jpost.com/Not-Just-News/Bennett-channels-Tel-Aviv-hipster-for-no-apologies-campaign-video-384939

57. Indig, A. “Alu Al Sirton” (“Ran Aground”), Motzsh 201, February 20, 2015, 28–34

58. Chan, “Selling Through Entertaining,” 321.

59. Sternthal and Craig, “Humour in Advertising,” 17.

60. Interview with Muli Segev, September 29, 2015.