Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3: Analyze three examples of humor/comedy in dramatic entertainment (e.g., in a sitcom, movie, Youtube video, meme, etc.) and explain them using three different theories of humor.
Describe the example (can provide a link to video or image)
Define the theory that applies to this example
Analyze your example using the theory
For paragraphs 1-3 please use any 3 of these theories:
Freud’s tendentious and non-tendentious humor: Freud made a key distinction between tendentious and non-tendentious humor. Tendentious or disparagement humor involves a “victim”, someone at whose expense we laugh. Non-tendentious humor does not require a victim. This innocuous humor typically depends on wordplay, and Freud believed it has only modest power to evoke amusement. Tendentious humor, then, is the only kind that can evoke big laughs.
Disposition Theory. From previous instruction, you should recall how disposition theory can be applied to humor. With tendentious humor, we usually don’t find it quite as funny when we or those we deeply care about are the “butt” of a joke. But, we often laugh more readily when someone we don’t know well or don’t particularly like is ridiculed. Our disposition toward those involved in a humorous situation mediates our reaction. We often find it funniest when someone we empathize with is poking fun at someone who we do not empathize with. Not all humor is truly malicious. Often jokes are made in good fun, and it is good to be able to laugh even at yourself sometimes. In much of the humor in romantic comedies and other humor genres a liked protagonist often is the butt of the joke (although they usually triumph in the end!). That said there are concerns that much humor masks latent prejudices. Both correlational surveys and experimental studies have found, for example, that those who find off color sexist or racist jokes tend to hold more prejudicial views.
Misattribution Theory. Freud believed a mixture of both tendentious and non-tendentious humor is required to keep the tendentious humor from becoming too offensive or demeaning to its victim. The innocent joke work of the innocuous humor would mask the otherwise hostile joke and therefore “bribe” our senses, allowing us to laugh at what would otherwise be socially unacceptable. Therefore, we often think we are laughing at innocuous jokes, but what really makes them funny is their socially unacceptable nature hidden below the surface. Your additional reading this week elaborates on the misattribution theory of humor that examines how innocuous non-serious cues may make one feel more liberated to laugh at another’s misfortune.
Incongruity Resolution Theory. Kant explained laughter at humor as a response to an “absurdity.” Scholars have expanded upon this notion in coming up with an incongruity resolution theory of humor that can apply to both tendentious and non-tendentious forms of humor. Many jokes first pose a question or start with an inconsistency. (What is black and white and red all over?). Something doesn’t sound or look right or quite make sense. The idea is that this consistency or confusion creates some anxiety. When the resolution is provided (A newspaper!) it provides “relief” or a reassurance that is expressed as laughter. Jokes that rely on word play, irony, exaggeration or other tests of logic most clearly reflect this theory. Although there are many examples of incongruity resolution in humor that do not contain any tendentious (hostile or belittling) elements, research suggests that jokes and the resulting laughter, even in these situations, can signify a challenge and then a sense of mastery, superiority or “one upsmanship” in being able to “get” the joke (particularly when others may not).
Paragraphs 4, and 5: Select specific examples (TV show, movie, etc.) for at least two different genres (tragedy, mystery, reality, action/thriller, horror, etc) below and analyze their appeal. Consider what it is that you think makes those examples so good. In your essay include: The uses and gratifications you think best apply on the list below
Explain the dramatic structure/formula for the genre and if/how the story follows it (Hint: Table 4.2)
Discuss who (i.e., the types of people) might be more inclined to watch this genre and why
