Abstract
In the article, “Laughing to Keep from Dying: Black Americans with Diabetes in Sitcoms and Comedies,” Phyllisa Deroze traces the representational pattern of linking diabetes and death for Black Americans in film and television comedies. Looking at Soul Food, Boondocks, Madea’s Big Happy Family, Madea Family Funeral, 30 Rock, and Black-ish, Deroze traces how African American characters use humor to “deflect, ignore, or silence their experiences with diabetes complications.” Set against the background of her own diagnosis experience, Deroze critiques the representation for its power to shape and limit beliefs about life with diabetes.
Because my mouth
Is wide with laughter
And my throat
Is deep with song,
You do not think
I suffer after
I have held my pain
So long?
Because my mouth
Is wide with laughter,
You do not hear
My inner cry?
Because my feet
Are gay with dancing,
You do not know
I die?
—Hughes 1994
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Deroze, P.S. (2021). Laughing to Keep from Dying: Black Americans with Diabetes in Sitcoms and Comedies. In: Frazer, B.C., Walker, H.R. (eds) (Un)doing Diabetes: Representation, Disability, Culture. Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83110-3_6
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