My life, and most of my social interactions, as best I can determine, has been a series of jokes and laughs. When I meet people, I instinctively shy away from the stiff formalities and pleasantries of "accepted" social behavior. Not to say that I intentionally try to be inappropriate, but I do like to challenge social norms and the expected patterns of behavior. I find them stifling. I don't like to be told how to behave. I've come to realize that's why I hate competitive swimming. When I'm in the water, I'm free. I can go wherever I want in the pool, however I want to get there. And when someone tells me I have to swim a certain way, in a certain direction, for a certain distance, my entire being rejects the idea. Also, I can't dive.
But back to what I was saying. When I meet people, I try to project a certain image of myself. I want to be someone you don't have to take too seriously, because, after all, I hardly take myself seriously anyway. But whenever I violate these social conventions when I'm around people, especially people I've just met, they tend to laugh. And that's curious because I'm not trying to be funny. The things I do and say aren't funny in and of themselves. And that gets me wondering: why do people laugh at unfunny things? Think about it. People laugh in awkward situations, when they don't know what else to say. People laugh when they're really happy, even though the situation itself isn't necessarily funny.
It only follows then that laughter and humor are not necessarily related. So what makes something funny. According to our textbook, there are the Relief Theory, Incongruity Theory, and Superiority Theory. But I think these theories are dumb. First of all, I don't think there's a fixed scientific definition of humor, that if something meets these criteria then it's funny. But I do think most humor is just variations on the same thing. In my experience, confirmed by my readings in class, something is funny if it's unexpected. This would explain all the humor that falls under the supposed category of "Incongruity". Humor is the study of the unexpected. When a drunk walks into a wall, it's not funny because we feel superior to that person. It's funny because his behavior conflicts with normal human behavior of not walking into walls. And don't get me started on the Relief Theory. It might explain why we laugh at times, but it doesn't mean something's funny.
Personally, I loved learning about humor since it's such a big part of my life. I was glad to know that my own musings on the subject have been much more extensively mused on. If I live my life making jokes, isn't it important to know why my audience laughs?
This explains so much about you, Bennett.
ReplyDeleteJust kidding (no I'm not). But I find your musings on your behavior in regards to social norms interesting. Even more so, it's interesting how you pose the question of why people laugh at unfunny things. Sometimes I find myself laughing around others -- especially those I am not great friends with or I have just met -- either to make them feel accepted or to make things less awkward, like you mentioned. If someone says something that I believe they meant to be funny, I tend to laugh (unintentionally) to make them feel like I think they are funny and that I have accepted them. It seems to just be a natural reaction rather than a forced effort.
I've also got to agree with you on that the theories of humor seem to just be wastes of breath. No one will ever be able to explicitly define why someone laughs at a specific thing in a specific instance. You also highlighted that there is a difference between laughing at something and something being funny, and I think that's a unique way to think about the questions posed in this class.