Post on 15-Jul-2015
transcript
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THE NATURE OF HUMOR
• FEATURES = CHARACTERISTICS
• FUNCTIONS = THE PURPOSE(S)
• SUBJECTS = THE TOPIC(S)
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AN IMPORTANT FEATURE OF HUMOR IS INCONGRUITY AND
INCONGRUITY RES0LUTION
• Consider an umbrella in a severe rain and wind storm.
• We feel tension until we put things right—at least in our mind’s eye—as with the kitten on the next slide.
Other Features of Humor
• Ambiguity• Exaggeration• Understatement• Hostility• Incongruity or
Irony• Situation-Insight
• Sudden Insight
• Superiority• Surprise or Shock• Tension and
Relief• A Trick or Twist• Word Play• Visual Imagery
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A century ago, philosopher Thomas Hobbes said that an important feature of humor was laughing at those we feel are inferior to us.
This was known as the “Superiority Theory.”
• Later philosophers, including Frances Hutcheson, argue that what we are really laughing about is incongruity.
• We do not go to asylums to laugh at the “inferior” beings, nor do we laugh at animals unless they resemble human beings.
• We laugh at someone who slips on a banana peel not because we feel superior, but because of the incongruity between our expectations and the sudden insight.
Functions of Humor
PSYCHOLOGICAL•To amuse•To establish superiority•To gain control•To persuade•To save face•To test limits•To inbond/outbond
INTELLECTUAL•To amuse•To teach•To make connections•To compare two scripts—one metaphorical, one straight-forward
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An Important Literary Function relates to Double Entendre.
• “The text of a joke is always fully or in part compatible with two distinct scripts and the two scripts are opposed to each other in a special way.”
• “The punch line triggers the switch from the one script to the other by making the hearer backtrack and realize that a different interpretation [of the joke] was possible from the very beginning.”
Attardo and Raskin [1991] 308
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The Function of Disparaging Oneself.
Self-disparagement humor illustrates how it is not always easy to recognize the functions of humor. On the surface, it appears to be humbling oneself, but oftentimes the mock-humility really puts the speaker in a position of power as in these commercials:
•Terminex Pest Control: “When you think of pests, think of us.”
•Twist Lemon-Menthol Cigarettes: “Our new menthol is a lemon.”
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• Champion International Trend Carpet: “Eight million people walked all over us. And they don’t even know our name.”
• Quaker Oats as a diet food: “Quaker Oats: Breakfast of losers.”
• Simmons bunk beds: “Simmons beds are a lot of bunk.”
Educators Use Humor To:
• Relax Students• Teach Facts • Argue and Persuade• Teach Vocabulary
Concepts• Teach Careful
Observation• Model Problem
Solving
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Real vs. Unreal
• This is an amusing lesson in careful observation.
• What are the clues that it is a painting?
• Were such paintings precursors to today’s PhotoShop fun?
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JONATHAN WINTERS--STICK PROP:
http://biggeekdad.com/2013/04/jonathan-winters-stick/#.UXfWSphGZzg.email
SUBJECTS OF HUMOR
The subjects we joke about are the very subjects that we hesitate to talk about in real life.
To test out the attitudes of new friends, we often send up “trial balloons” disguised as jokes.
– Ethnic Identification
– Politics
– Sexual Roles and Scatology
– Occupations
– Religion and Belief Systems
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Jokes Reveal Current Areas of Social Discomfort
OLD TABOOS
•Vulgarities
•Swear Words
•Body Parts
•Sex
•Religion
•Obscenities
NEW TABOOS
•Lack of Patriotism
•GLBTQ Issues
•Disabilities
•Ethnicities
•Old People
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The epiphany comes in this political joke with the explanation that the maple leaf design is a silhouette of
Jack and Jacque arguing over English vs. French.
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Hate Speech Vs. Humor
• The subject matter that people choose to joke about goes a long ways in determining whether they are using humor as release of moderate levels of discomfort, or whether they are really engaging in “hate-speech” disguised as humor.
• The important question to ask is whether the humor is used to weaken the target or strengthen the target.
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