High Status, Low Status

Social status is ripe for comedic exploration. Also, we have a December Writing Challenge.

Imagine that Barack Obama takes up painting, thereby following in the illustrious footsteps of ex-US-president George W Bush.

Let’s say Obama is a rank beginner, painting watercolor pictures of fruit bowls, sunsets, fishing boats, and so on. For good measure, he throws in a few painting of his favorite predator drones.

Ever the high-achiever, Obama decides he wants to start getting feedback. So he shows one of his paintings to an art critic. The following short dialogue ensues:

Obama: What do you think of my painting?

Critic: Hmmm. Well, we all have to start somewhere, Mr. President.

Obama is a smart, high-status, elite guy. So the idea of him getting a harsh art critique has comedic potential. But the flavor and subtext of this exchange changes quite a bit depending on the identity of that critic. 

Imagine the critic is a nine-year-old girl, taking her first elementary school art class and paying ole’ Obama a special visit on a class trip:

Obama: What do you think of my painting?

Nine year old: Hmmm. Well, we all have to start somewhere, Mr. President.

Now change the scenario again:

Obama: What do you think of my painting?

George W. Bush: Hmmm. Well, we all have to start somewhere, Mr. President.

You could imagine a bunch of different critics of various identities—political aides, world leaders, family members—giving Obama the subtle “you kind of suck right now, Mr. President” message. Each one lands a bit differently.

This illustrates our topic: social status. 

Social status is ripe for comedic exploitation. Status is everywhere, and it surrounds all human interaction, subtly or not subtly, whether we acknowledge it or not.

Anytime you have a story or dialogue with two or more characters, their relative status will make a difference to the meaning and humor of that story. We don’t necessarily need two characters.

Any time you have a narrator, the narrator’s status—or status relative to the listener—can serve in the same way. This gives you, as a writer, two variable to play with: