The Power of Voice

From the documentary Joan Rivers, A Piece of Work (IFC Films):

Oh, you stupid ass, let me tell you what comedy is about… Comedy is to make everybody laugh at everything, and deal with things, you idiot!

          ~ Joan Rivers

                    Joan demonstrates her scathing rejection of humanitarian pieties and political platitudes. Unlike virtually all American comedians these days, she never preaches to the liberal choir for easy laughs. On the contrary, she goes against the grain and overtly offends and repels… She cracks jokes about Nazis, mass murderers, the handicapped, the homeless, the elderly, starving children, racial minorities, stroke victims and even suicides…

                    What Joan represents is power of voice… Jewish-American women already had a startling candor and audacity, producing the shrill ethnic stereotype of the “Jewish seagull.” Joan turned the seagull into a lioness. Although her self-deprecating acceptance of the iron law of female beauty initially put her at odds with the women’s movement, Joan must be recognized as an iconic feminist role model. Everything she says or does, even when following her killer instinct for marketing and publicity, is about personal empowerment and ferocious independence.

Camille Paglia

The Hollywood Reporter

12 Jun 2013