Time to Leave the Village

New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 890, 24 August 1956, Page 4

Time to Leave the Village

CORRESPONDENT has suggested on the opposite | page that the "Hori and Dad" episode in Radio Roadhouse could well be omitted. It is; he thinks, "lacking in subtlety, understanding and good taste," and the implication is that it might give offence to Maoris. The merits of this par‘ticular case need not be argued here; but the criticism opens a wider question that cries out for examination. Good taste is an attribute of the cultivated mind; and if it appears often enough it is evidence of maturity in national life. There are, however, some misconceptions about it which become noticeable when progress is being made beyond a state of cultural adolescence. Taste is not primness; nor is it a fear of causing the slightest offence to anyone; and in a balanced personality it is compatible with a sense of humour robust enough to be shocking if indulged in the wrong company. Since humour is not shared by everyone in the same degree, some discretion is needed in the choice of topic and audience. Whatever the topic, however, someone is bound to be offended when the audience is public instead of private. Much humour comes from misadventure, or from exaggerations of speech and custom; and people are quick to sense ridicule, and to resent it, if they feel that the comedy is a little too close to their own interests and misfortunes. The difficulty is easily passed over when the audience is large, but in New Zealand a protesting voice may often seem to be louder than the laughter. There is an anomaly in our situation which rests on a double standard. Humour from abroad is received with much more tolerance than is allowed to a local production. Take It From Here, although not as popular as it used to be (the Goons have undermined it), still has a large following. We cannot remember a single objection to the characters and actions of the Glum Family, whose adventures have long received the attention of Messrs. Edwards and Bentley. If the same family were introduced, with appropriate varia-

tions, as a group of New Zealanders, we should be told at once that the emphasis on delinquency was unhealthy, that the addiction to alcohol was shameful, that Ron’s illiteracy was a poor advertisement for our education system, and that Dad’s treatment of Mother was a slight upon our womanhood. Distance, it appears, makes all things bearable: we may laugh at others, but not at ourselves. Take It From Here is produced in the first place for English listeners, who receive it joyfully. It is undoubtedly easier for a large population to submit to caricature, and to enjoy it; for in numbers there is strength and confidence. But the time has come when we in New Zealand should ask ourselves if we can afford indefinitely to excuse our timidities by pointing out the smallness of our population. New Zealanders are often said to be a humourless people. It is not true, as anyone can testify who relaxes with his friends or fellow workers. Yet at the point where humour passes into print or on to the air, an icy inhibition supervenes. We are all too much aware of the censors in our midst, the people who presently will write letters to the papers and sign themselves "Curious," "Interested," or "Indignant." It is not merely in humour that the double standard is operating. The number of topics on which people hesitate to speak their minds is too large. And so also is the number of people who feel unable to express an opinion except above a pen-name. There may well be some connection between the prevailing anonymity of newspaper correspondence and the anaemia of discussion. The pen-name is rarely used in better English journals-in some, not at all; and there are hopeful signs that it will gradually disappear from our own columns. If by then we have all learnt to laugh at ourselves more freely, and to bear with a little crudity while a native humour is struggling to be born, we shall witness a corresponding growth in the vitality of thought and argument. After all, with a population moving steadily towards the third million, it will soon be time to leave the village.