Kenta Yamazaki | Furousha 'The Dark Comedy' (Part 2)
Kenta Yamazaki's review of Furousha's 'The Dark Comedy' (Part 2) analyzes homosocial relationships and the politics of laughter.Summary
This article is the second part of Kenta Yamazaki's review of Furousha's 'The Dark Comedy'. Episode X centers on a battle between X and Mx over laughing and being laughed at. Mx's attitude reflects resistance to relinquishing the position of evaluator and the weakness of masculinity that cannot maintain pride without external validation. During their exchange, Mxx appears from the 'darkness' and begins imitating Mx, illustrating how homosocial norms are passed down from Mx to Mxx and onward. X's words urge departure from poisonous homosociality, but X's attitude sometimes seems vengeful and cannot be wholly affirmed. The chaos is quelled by the Owner and Administrator x, but a sneeze from Fx triggers a big-bang-like return to chaos, leaving only X and a cow. Episode X offers no easy resolution, and other episodes similarly depict homosociality as allegory. The crucial point is what comes after: visualizing the dark sphere does not solve the problem. The allegory exposes the absurdity and eeriness of men steeped in homosociality, but even those who notice can stubbornly persist. In such a world, laughing at 'The Dark Comedy' is hard to distinguish from complicit laughter and can easily be recuperated by power. Therefore, confirming the inability to laugh together may be a faint resistance to a desolate world. Even if a similar world emerges again, one must repeatedly point out and share its sameness.
(Source：artscape)