Comedy
Comedy
• We call cultural content meant primarily to
generate laughter and mirth “comedy”
– Most, if not all, genres include comedic elements
– Some argue that any story where the low-born or
put-upon rise to a higher station and a better end
is a comedy
• Comedy is not content-specific
– May have to do with just about anything
• Any setting, everyday or fantastic situations, most any plot,
all kinds of characters
• However, it is a genre that emphasizes the normal and
mundane
– Audience familiarity
– Combines easily with content-based genres
•
•
•
•
Romantic comedy
Horror comedy
Political comedy
Cop comedy
• What is considered funny is not universal
– What is fearful, sad, exciting are much more
widely agreed upon
– What is funny depends heavily upon the viewing
context and audience characteristics as well as
content
• Culturally specific
• Consequently, comedy does not ‘travel well’
– Action/adventure, Horror, etc. seem to be more
effective in crossing borders
Why do we find things funny?
1. Incongruity theory
• Cognitive scientists have concluded that one
of the main sources of pleasure from comedy
is the realization that once the content
disconfirms our expectations we attempt to
make sense of the newly defined content.
When we do so we may have a positive
affective experience (mirth, happiness,
satisfaction)
– The “ah-ha” moment
• The new connection should not be mundane,
but surprising and unusual
– This sort of connection can range from the subtle
to the bizarre
• One view is that two scripts are unfolding
simultaneously, with one obvious and the other
hidden. At some point, the narrative switches the
two and the audience member adjusts to the
switch.
• Too difficult--bothersome or offensive
– People don’t ‘get it’
• Too easy—not funny, obvious
• The second script must remain hidden till the
right moment
Comedic examples
• Jokes
– Punchline provides the unexpected twist
• Scenes of dialogue where the two actors
misunderstand what the other is talking about
• Actions taken that lead to different
consequences than the actor/audience
member would expect
• Satire/Irony
– considered the most advanced/cerebral of humor
Why do we find things funny?
2. Superiority theory
• We get an ego boost from looking down on
others, enhancing our self-image
• Humor is a means to denigrate another that
does not require physical violence
– However, the more physically or socially dominant
normally has the greater ability to engage in cutdown humor than does the lesser
– Occasionally, those lower in the hierarchy can
claim a victory through wit (especially when the
more powerful don’t understand the joke)
Feelings of superiority
• Widely-shared humor based on superiority
may trade in stereotypes
– Allows the comic to say “It’s just a joke”
– Those who are not the target have a tendency to
see such portrayals as harmless, all in good fun
– Members of the targeted groups often find the
portrayals offensive because their identity is tied
to the group being made fun of
Comedic examples
• Silliness/weird behavior
• Stupidity
• Cut-down humor, especially when aimed at
the powerless
Why do we find things funny?
3. Disposition theory
• Zillmann:
– We don’t find good things happening to good
people to be funny
– The more the victor is liked and the victim
disliked, the greater the humor
• Perceptions of justice and retaliatory equity
– “Humor and comedy seem exceedingly partial to
dishing out put-downs, mishaps, insults and
outright humiliations” (2000)
Why do we find things funny?
4. Subversion of authority
• Humans resent being controlled for even good
reasons. There is a natural tendency to push
back against social control of any sort.
– Mocking the powerful
– Flouting social convention
Comedic examples
• Political humor aimed at the president
• Jokes about the high and mighty
– Late-night monologues
• Celebrity misfortunes, etc.
• Kids swinging the bat, hitting dad in the groin
• Engaging in bad behavior
– Those who break the normative rules of society
are often seen as inherently funny for having done
so
– They may espouse a philosophy that contradicts
widely held norms, make a mockery of social
custom
Comedic examples
• Beavis and Butthead
• The Simpsons
• 30 Rock
Why do we find things funny?
5. Catharsis theory (Freud)
• Release of tensions caused by self-imposed
limitations meant to meet societal
requirements
• Same sorts of predictions as Subversion of
Authority, different mechanism
• Sexual humor, bad behavior
• Gross-out humor
• Gross-out humor
• Sick humor
• Dark humor
Factors often are combined
• For example, surprise and ‘bad behavior’ may
be mixed together
Important context
• Comic frame of mind
– Certain clues in the narrative make clear that one
is not to take it seriously
• Once in a comic frame of mind, misfortunes or
criticisms evoke humor rather than pity
– We are free to react to tendentious (anti-person)
humor when a non-tendentious joke, etc. is told
• Tendentious is more intensely funny but frowned upon
socially
Situation Comedies
Comedy subgenres
•
•
•
•
Romantic/Sex
Screwball
Dark (black)
Satire
•
•
•
•
•
Buddy
Mocumentary
Parody
Road
Slacker