ABSTRACT
The plays of Shakespeare’s contemporaries are populated with sneering jesters, often in double acts with snarling malcontents. Black humour that thrives on placing violence and banality side by side is a staple of contemporary culture. In many ways, Shakespeare sets the paradigm for a variety of black humour that shapes much of contemporary culture. His predilection for putting the commonplace in collision with cruelty is echoed in the work of film directors such as Tarantino, the Coen Brothers, and Chris Morris, who delight in darkly comic humour, while his creation of a charismatic jester driven by an inexorable will to power has been formative for figures. The suicide bombers rage against the materialistic values of the west, but are fascinated by electronic equipment, computer games, theme parks, and bargains offered by fast food chains. The most intelligent member of the group, Omar, models himself on a figure in Walt Disney’s The Lion King.
