Cuck: A cure for social media

Application summary

Cuck is a solo comedy performance by James Lórien MacDonald that situates stand-up in the current social media landscape, working with questions of power, satire, cruelty, rage, political intervention, laughter, empowerment, and anxiety. What exactly are we doing when we make fun of our “enemies” online? If anyone knows what it means to make fun of other people, it’s a professional stand-up comedian. Comics are obligated to have a “hot take” on the news of the day, using what some assume to be a non-serious, no-consequences mode of human communication (comedy, satire) in order to put words to public opinion. On social media, however, anyone can take that role; and the role can even be filled by machine. Who can make jokes in public? Why are we obsessed with defining exactly who has free speech? What does a person gain when they joke about another person, and what does it cost? How are mockery and anger contributing to getting people like Trump and Boris Johnson elected – to say nothing of Halla-Aho? Is this behaviour changing us as people? How are minorities empowered by rage online? Cuck, in its form, merges the traditional performance style of stand-up comedy with the more cerebral, less straightforward mode of performance art. I want the audience to leave with questions about their own ways of engaging with and performing politics online. The work takes a position of compassion as its starting point. The duration is 1 hour, and will be in English and Finnish.

Cuck: A Cure for Social Media is a solo stand-up show mixed with elements of performance art. It touches on the emotional landscape caused by activism and social media dependence, and in particular the transgender experience. It was intended to premiere at Mad House in the fall of 2020, but has been postponed until the fall of 2021. A developing version was performed in November 2020 at the NU Performance festival, Tallinn, and development also continues online on the streaming service Twitch.