In my opinion, the Incongruity theory is probably the best explanation of most instances of comedy. The reason for this, I believe, is that the positive emotion of humor is separated for other positive emotions by it's spontaneity. Take hope for example, both of these are produced from the fact that we are expecting something good to happen according to plan or as desired. However, with humor, it is not expected but unexpected outcomes which make us laugh. Therefore, if humor is fundamentally spontaneous positive emotion, it seems that this can only be produced by means of some unexpected pattern emerging between incongruous events. In addition to this, is seems that the Incongruity Theory is able to include the other theories as well. For example, the theory of superiority states that one feels a sense of greatness at seeing something or someone humbled or made silly in one way or another. Whether or not this is right, I find that in comedy this is done by equating something or someone originally looked at as grandiose with something silly or ridiculous by means of some unexpected patter of events, words, etc. This is fundamentally just a subcategory, though perhaps a helpful one, of the Incongruity Theory. Also, it is important to note that not all examples of the Incongruity humor can be explained by the Superiority Theory. For example, it is very difficult to see how a pun can be fit into the superiority theory. It is even harder how we can laugh at ourselves in Superiority Theory. Surely, It can not be that we feel superior to ourselves, can we? The same goes for the Relief Theory. It seems that, if we used the Relief Theory without adding the Incongruity theory, we could not distinguish between a horror film and a comedy. After all they both treat of(under Freud's interpretation) a repressed tendency or thought which is made open. What separates a horror film from comedy is that in comedy there is something incongruous going on. In the "Quest for the Holy Grail," it would not have been funny if Author had simple stabbed the Knight and killed him brutally. What made it funny was the fact that Knight kept taunting and jeering King Author, despite the fact that he kept getting limbs hacked off. This is clearly an example of Incongruity with the normal sequence of events. So, in conclusion, I believe that the Incongruity theory is both the most plausible psychologically, and the most inclusive of the theories so far.
This is my response to Kimberly's blog post: I definitely agree with the points made in Kimberly's blog, and I thought the application of the different theories to the video was well done. First of all, she points to the incongruity of Dwight's character with the fact that he is literally starting a fire that will cause total chaos. He seems perfectly calm as though he were simply making a point about some abstract theory. Also, throughout the video, even though everyone else is in complete panic, he never once losses a sense of implacability. So, we see incongruity in Dwight's calm demeanor contrasted with the surroundings. Also, as Kimberly pointed out, we see the relief theory at work. Typically, due to the harm it causes, the topic of a fire is uttered in very serious contexts. However, since we know the fire is actually totally under control, we do not need to think or feel about this fire in these terms. this creates a relief from the burden of needing to repres...
That's a great argument for what makes humor different from other forms of relief and other forms of superiority. If we dislike someone, we feel superior to them often, but without seeing them connected to an incongruous idea, there is no humor. The same goes for relief--horror and tragedy also produce forms of relief. It is the specific incongruity that makes comic relief what it is.
ReplyDeleteI really connected with this argument, and I think it is so valid. I love how you brought the other theories into the argument and explained how they connected and did not connect. I believe the relief theory could also be seen in use with the incongruity theory when the audience thinks something bad is going to happen, but then something funny happens instead. This would be both relieving and incongruence for the audience.
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