Humor and Incongruity

When an individual thinks of comedy three theories do not usually immediately come to mind. Usually one's favorite skit, movie, or television show enters their mind first. The three main theories of humor are relief, superiority, and incongruity. All three theories have different interpretations when it comes to their context in a certain comedy piece. For example, a relief theory allows an individual to release any sort of stress in their lives and laugh for a minute. Relief theory is a quick break from reality to escape any strain in life. Then, there is a superiority theory of comedy which reverts back to the time of Plato and Aristotle. It remains and general idea that people laugh at others misfortune. Finally the theory that I will be focusing on is the incongruity theory. The theory known as incongruity is a type of humor that individuals find funny due to the misplacement of certain person or object in a situation. This tends to occur when the brain believes a particular outcome is going to happen before it does. For example in certain gymnastic fails or a person falling off a diving board in a particular manner causes laughter. For instance the brain wants to believe that when watching a gymnastics clip the gymnast will land their trick, so when the individual in the video falls flat on their face it creates laughter. Or, when watching a short diving clip the viewer’s brain predicts what will happen before the video is over. So, when the video ends in a person breaking the diving board or falling off in a particular way the brain responds with laughter due to the unexpectedness of the situation. I thought that Kant’s argument of incongruity was the most compelling because he described it as something “being absurd.” Therefore it correlates to a fail compilation of gymnastics or a diving board because it seems absurd to happen. Humor will always remain a tricky topic only because all individuals have a slightly different sense of humor. Not all people find a relief theories humorous, and not all people who find relief theories humorous find incongruity funny. That is just the way of life which makes it difficult to fully grasp the essence of humor.

Comments

  1. Shane HerronSeptember 5, 2018 at 12:39 PM

    I like the idea that even though the three theories try to explain humor in general, they also work on a specific type--so we can see them as much like genres as theories.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Office "Knock Knock"

When asked to write about a comedy piece my initial thought immediately reverts to Michael Scott from The Office. His playful yet annoying character to his other colleagues in their shared workspace allows the viewers to find his punny humor laughable. In a particular episode referred to as “Knock Knock” in season five of The Office, Michael Scott begins annoying one of his colleagues, the receptionist, Pam. He proceeds to pester Pam while she is in the middle of a phone call asking her knock knock, knock knock continuously. After Pam is finished, Michael delivers his pun which in the reading is referred to as the “weakest form of wit.” He snickers while asking Pam if she would buddha his bread as a joke that does not land with Pam. Michael Scott is the king of puns which he delivers at the most inconvenient times. The puns that he repeatedly says are never as funny to Michael Scott’s colleagues which allows the viewers to be more entertained by them. Nobody in The Office lets Mich...
Read more

Response to Lead Blog #9

Luckily I did not miss out during my childhood because I loved watch Tom and Jerry with my older brother. It was honestly one of the only times that my brother and I got along. Anyways, I always loved when Tom and Jerry was on because it was so different from what I was use to watching. I was a typical young girl and lived for watching the Disney channel, but I would stop everything to watch Tom and Jerry . I always found it intriguing that young kids could understand what was occurring throughout each short episode due to the fact there was no sound. I believe that the reason it was so captivating to all ages was because of the incongruity that happened during the show. There was never a time where Tom and Jerry were not scheming to take down the other. There was constant mischief between them, and it allowed for young children to find humor in the show despite the fact that there was no sound. I particularly like the scene that Tyler chose to focus on. I personally do not remember th...
Read more

Response to Lead Blogger #1

I couldn't agree more with the examples and evidence that you presented as to why The Office will remain a genius act of comedy. The staged, yet seamless transitions of banter between character allows individuals to fall in love with the show and cast throughout each episode. Although, The Office might not be everyone’s cup of tea there are scenes that allow anyone to have a sense of comic relief. The use of the superiority theory is present in many of the characters. For example Dwight, a beloved character, demands power. Dwight is a perfect example of an individual who would have followed Hobbes during his era. Hobbes believed that greed was good and was forceful in his ways of trying to obtain power, just like Dwight, leading them to both look ludicrous. Dwight constantly wants to obtain the highest position in Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, and will knock down anyone in his path to do so. Dwight often refers to himself as the Assistant to the Regional Manager which is funny be...
Read more