This is my response to Elizabeth's lead blog.


First of all, I thought that the video was a great example of the use of exaggeration in comedy. That is, the exaggeration creates an incongruity which, in turn, makes us laugh. Everyone as seen there parents behave in this frantic way trying to clean up for company before, but what makes it so funny is the extreme way the mom figure in this video does this. She uses statements such as "We can't let people know we live in this house," which are so hyperbolic that we can not take them seriously. So we have here an incongruity between something very familiar on the one hand, and bizarre statements that none of us encounter with any regularity on the other. We can also see superiority and relief theory at work in this case as well. The relief comes from the fact that cleaning for company is oftentimes a very stressful experience, but the fact that this particular scene is so unrealistic makes it relieving. In other words, this situation is detached enough from real life stressful situation so as to not be a cause of distress. The reason superiority theory also explains this theory is very obvious. The mom's ridiculous antics are so silly and panicked that we can not help but to view ourselves as more logical and put-together people than she is. In conclusion, I thought it was a very funny video to which we can easily apply the comedy theories.

Comments

  1. akspitlerOctober 31, 2019 at 2:27 PM

    I like how you described the "mom's" statements as hyperbolic. They most definitely are! I also agree that this clip is very relatable, which thus adds to the humor, in my opinion. Great post!

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  2. Alex NOctober 31, 2019 at 10:34 PM

    I think benign violation is a better explanation for this. It is a violation because many of the statements are very unrealistic, but it is benign because we have all seen our moms do very similar things to prepare the house for guests.

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  3. Shane HerronNovember 1, 2019 at 7:07 AM

    I think you are right that the major moment is when she says "we can't let people know we live in this house." That's a great line, but I think it captures the essence of what we are trying to hide when we are "cleaning up" for company. It also reveals some assumptions about what makes us respectable in the eyes of other people: the means or wealth to hide or obscure that we are living beings in the world.

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