(James)
Deviants, we have all heard of them, many of you might know or even identify yourself as a deviant. But what really constitutes a deviant? According to Alex “Some sociologists simply say that deviance is a violation of any social rule, but others argue that deviance involves more than the rule violation” (Thio 1). This past week I have sought out a better explanation using television as a platform. I chose to find deviance through television because it is a major influence on American Culture. With Reality TV being the new craze since CSI, I thought of no better place to spot deviance than in reality.
As I was watching TV over the weekend and came across a new comedy reality show called “Impractical Jokers”. The show follows four men Murr, Sal, Joe and Q in their pursuit to embarrass each other in public. They achieve their goal by making each other break social norms, and treat it as if it were a game. When I started watching the show, I was expecting to see small social norms being broken, but was shocked to see when that was not the case.
The first challenge I watched was the Buffet Challenge. The Jokesters goals’ were to go to a local Buffet restaurant and only take food off of other customer’s plates. The person to get the most amount of food would be determined the winner of the challenge. One at a time each of the four men tried out different techniques of extracting other people’s food off of the strangers’ plate. The techniques varied between the four, but all of them were caught in the act. The most common reaction among all of the unsuspected customers was that of shock.
One of the most entertaining and disturbing challenges was the restaurant bathroom skit. One of the men had to go into a crowded restaurant with a one person bathroom located right in the center of the dining area. The goal of his challenge was to open the bathroom door while sitting on the toilet and yell for some toilet paper. This is a classic example on how behaviors differ in context to location. Everyone and their mothers’, in the privacy of their own home have at one point been stranded in the bathroom with an empty roll of toilet paper. Yelling for help is the most common reaction. But reacting the same way in public can land you a “deviant label,” which is exactly what happened in the show. The entire restaurant sat and listened to this man yell for toilet paper in shock. When a Good Samaritan was kind enough to bring him napkins the restaurant applauded as one cohesive group. This is proof that everyone in the restaurant was aware of the deviant and the deviant behavior that was occurring.
With so many great skits to choose from I had to include the TV Reporter Challenge. In this challenge the four men had to pose as a TV reporters and had to ask only the questions his friends asked him too. I would almost call this skit the Deviant reporter because the questions he asked people were completely out of the ordinary. One of the things asked to an older couple was, “Are you and your lovely mother enjoying their visit” (Impractical Jokers). The questions made many people caught off guard and speechless.
The last challenge was the Dance in the Park Skit. The challenge was to go up to a random stranger in the park and convince them to dance without speaking. The four men each took turns dancing in front of strangers. This skit differed because some people laughed at the men. It’s funny to see people do things out of the ordinary. Laughter is another tool used by society to point out deviant behavior.
The one thing I did learn from this show is how to classify deviant behavior. “Impractical Joker,” depicts some of the many social taboos there are shunned upon while in the public eye. The commonality between every skit was the reactions of the people. When the deviant act was occurring, everyone not doing the deviant act banded together into one group. It is easy to spot deviant behavior because society points it out for you. If you would like to find out more about Impractical Joker go to http://www.trutv.com/shows/impractical-jokers/index.html
Work Cited
DeBevoise, Charlie, dir. Impractical Jokers. Tru TV: Television.
Thio, Alex. Readings In Deviant Behavior. 6th. Boston: Pearson Education Inc.
James ``Murr'' Murray, Brian ``Q'' Quinn, Joe Gatto and Sal Vulcano (from left). 2011. Photograph. Zap2itWeb. 22 Jan 2012.
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