Cultural Studies

When one hears the term “Carnival”, one immediately conceptualizes images of fairs, a large playground where family and friends may get together and have fun. A collection of people in costume who live only to entertain, where one can play games, eat, drink and be merry. The notion of the carnival as a time to let a person’s creativity and inner spirit run free, without restriction from authority, eventually turned into a popular theme in literature and popular culture. According to Mikhail Bakhtin, Russian philosopher, literary critic and scholar, the “Carnivalesque” is a concept that comes from the carnivals of medieval Europe and still greatly influences society today in many ways. It shall be illustrated how exactly the notion of “Carnivalesque” came into being, how it has changed with time, and how it is manifested in modern society.

 

Bakhtin developed his theory of the “Carnivalesque” in relation to the carnivals held in medieval Europe, where people were allowed a time of celebration and where the influence of the church and state were inverted somewhat. The term carnival’s etymological origins suggest the latin terms “Carn” meaning flesh, and “Levare” meaning to remove *(Online Etymology Dictionary). As such the carnival can be seen as a figurative removal of human flesh, an escape from the influence of the church, and an escape from the tedium of daily life. Bakhtin adapted this idea to literature. He viewed the “Carnivalesque” in literature as giving examples of the liberation of the human spirit, demonstrating the equality of all men and the absence of meaning behind concepts such as class and social rank. I believe that this notion of “Carnivalesque” is arguably as present today as it was in Bakhtin’s time. Although society is much more open to personal expression, societal conventions still dictate that people should lead a certain lifestyle centered on work, school, family responsibilities, etc. The “Carnivalesque” is manifested through various media: Television shows, theatre, etc. Phenomena such as reality television serves to demonstrate to the population how ridiculous and absurd life can be when conventions are not followed, and while this only gives the viewer a view from behind a screen, it still allows some sort of escape and embraces the absurd and the ridiculous.

 

Another notion tying the “Carnivalesque” to the phenomenon of reality television is the notion of it being “neither here nor there” (Barsky) neither an accurate portrayal of human life, nor a complete lie. “This notion is crucial to carnival as it denotes the strangeness of being neither here nor there, i.e. being neither inside nor outside, neither awake nor sleeping, neither living nor dead, neither sober nor drunk.”(Barsky) This notion is also the root of much of the criticism aimed at reality television, but most people recognize these shows for a “Carnivalesque” representation of reality, rather than a window on to reality itself, which would be much less entertaining and much less freeing.