LAUGHING AT THE MARGINS: HUMOUR AS SOCIAL MOVEMENT IN ITANAGAR 0KM

This article analyses the Arunachali film Itanagar 0KM as a case
study of comedy as a social movement and a mechanism of cultural
resistance. The film employs satire, irony, and humour to examine
dominant narratives surrounding identity, politics, and marginalisation
in Arunachal Pradesh, a region that has historically experienced socio
political and representational erasure in Indian media discourse. This
research employs critical discourse analysis, drawing on theories
of humour and resistance, indigenous media studies, and counter
public discourse, to investigate the film's portrayal of bureaucratic
inefficiency, cultural stereotyping, and political alienation. The film's
humour serves as a form of counter-public discourse, providing an
alternative means of knowledge production that challenges prevailing
representations of Arunachali identity. The findings demonstrate that
Itanagar 0KM exemplifies how comedy in rural media functions as
a means of subaltern communication, facilitating social critique and
local action in the context of cultural and political marginalisation. This
study contextualises the video within the larger framework of comedy
as a political tool, thereby contributing to the developing scholarship
on the intersections of media, humour, and indigenous resistance.