The Wit of "Judge Rinder"
Judges, Humour and Popular Culture
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1036Keywords:
Judge Rinder, reality TV cour shows, Judge Judy, emotions, humour, laughter, televisionAbstract
Judge Rinder is a British reality TV court show. It has much in common with the US archetype Judge Judy. But there are differences. One is Judge Rinder’s humour, and more specifically his wit. Using a research database of Judge Rinder cases. The article examines the nature and effects of humour in this courtroom setting. It explores the role of the judge, the form the humour takes and the interactions and social relations it generates. A distinctive feature of the analysis is consideration of the impact of the audio-visual technologies, and the techniques and conventions developed around them, upon the interactions and social relations the onscreen humour generates with viewers. While the camera aligns the screen audience with the judge and the laughter track infects the audience with emotion the judge generates, the paper cautions against assuming that all viewers have the same emotional experience.
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