Humor, Violence, and Creative Resistance in the Sitcom Arab Labor

Abstract

This article frames the primetime television comedy Arab Labor, created by the Israeli-Palestinian writer Sayed Kashua, as a site that allows viewers to reconceptualize Israeli collective memory, rendering it more inclusive for non-Jewish citizens of the state. A close visual and textual analysis of one particularly bold episode titled ‘zikaron’ [encompassing in Hebrew both memory and national Memorial Day], reveals that the episode aims to bridge an existing gap between two forming narratives, the celebratory Jewish War of Independence and the Nakba, the Palestinian disaster of 1948. This daring cultural suggestion, indeed an antidiscourse, identifies productive intersections between these competing narratives. Moreover, the article posits that by employing humor, irony, and the genre of the sitcom, the creators of the TV series mask a volatile criticism of prevailing social conventions and norms in contemporary Israeli society. By suggesting creative resolutions to the crises the storyline raises, resolutions that on many occasions transgress social boundaries, Arab Labor creates a meaningful space for identity negotiation and cultural intervention in the Israeli socio-political arena.