This is my response to Grace's lead blog.

First of all, I agree with the points that Grace makes in her blog. The setting definitely resembles an insane asylum, and the voice of the guy in the video adds a sort of bizarre, almost insane, quality to the video.

In watching the video, I found myself very conflicted as to what I was feeling. On the one hand, if the person in the video is acting or trying to be funny, then I would find it hilarious. On the other hand, if the person was seriously suffering from sort of mental illness which drink those things, I would not find it funny at all(which is very usual for me since I love dark humor.) So, for me, it was like watching a play where someone gets killed. As long as it is actually a play and not real, I am perfectly happy to enjoy the play. However, if I suspect that someone is actually being killed, the emotional response will be completely different. Nevertheless, I do believe that can see the relief theory pretty clearly at work. The video is dealing with thing(like the drinking of glue) which we would typically find grotesque. By doing this, it is creating a sense of relief. The incongruity theory is a little harder to spot, but I do believe that we can find it. For example, when one first watches the video, one expects the white liquid to be something like milk. When it is glue, we are shocked(and possibly horrified.) In other words, I do think it could  count as humor. However, given that is may be a series illness of some sort, my enjoyment was lessened

Comments

  1. Kimberly KiepekDecember 3, 2019 at 5:12 PM

    I think what you are describing in the second part of your response has to do a lot with the benign violation theory. You are basically explaining how if the violations are benign, you would find them funny, but if they were actually violations, they wouldn't be comedic. It's interesting how you described this without probably even thinking about how it relates to the theory!

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  2. Shane HerronDecember 4, 2019 at 6:43 AM

    That is true that it represents a genre that could be humor but we aren't sure whether or not it is intended to be. As Kimberly notes, it is perhaps skirting the boundary of a benign violation, tempting us with the possibility that it is not benign.

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  3. Alex NDecember 5, 2019 at 9:26 PM

    Its interesting how one's own morals can affect how they perceive a joke if certain background knowledge is present. It is the simple fact that knowing something is real can change how someone views an event or situation.

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