„Как се чувства мозъчната клетка на бореца?" (за един нов вицов персонаж)
"How Does a Fighter's Brain Cell Feel" (Discussion of a New Type of Joke Personages)

Summary/Abstract: One of the most interesting phenomena in the post-socialism retelling of jokes in Bulgaria has been the emergence of jokes about the so-called "fighters". These are former or current sportsmen who, in the new economic situation, have quickly set up safeguard or insurance companies and have become a synonym of organised crime. The jokes about them are extremely popular, bringing to mind the outburst of jokes under totalitarianism. The article dwells on the manner in which their image is presented. In most general terms that character continues the tradition of the folklore fool that could be traced to the jokes about militiamen of the recent past. What the author is keenly interested in is the question why the lighters have been selected as joke personages. It is his view that this can be explained through the prism of political jokes, because they most precisely match the power substance of the phenomenon. The appearance of fighers in jokes is natural and is directly related to the processes of change taking place, which however, have by and large have left intact the former paradigms of social life and behaviour, also including power relations. Their basic feature is their informal nature, which is also the underlying motivation of joke-telling itself. At the same time there are no such integrating and identification figures on the political stage, which could become joke personages.

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