When Mikhail Bakhtin claimed that carnivalesque humor is specific to the middle ages and inherently different from modern satire, he was both right and wrong. To see how modern humor actually parallels folk carnival humor in a variety of ways, you'll have to read my English paper. However, he is right in that humor is often a product of a specific time and culture.
Though it is hard to pin down the exact age range of people who submit and read TFLN, the content makes it clear that it is geared towards contemporary American youth, some of whom are still in school. Though the content or subject of the joke can be age specific sometimes, as the website explains, "[their] goal was to create a site that was revealing in nature while concealing the identity of everyone involved. " As a result, the text itself displays other characteristics of humor so that the its style offers insight to a broader trend in our culture today.
(609): Made a joint out of my Yale rejection letter. Life is grand.
While the humor can come from the sarcasm of the statement "life is grand" at the end of the joke, in this case it is also possible that the person is sincere...and high. The humor of this text mostly come from the stark contrast between a joint and Yale (or maybe if we're being brutally realistic, they aren't necessarily contradictory?). Most of the humor resides on the stunning incongruity of these two things. We call it shock humor. Like frosting on a cake, another element that contributes to the humor of this text is the detail. It wasn't not just any upsetting letter, but a rejection letter. It wasn't any rejection letter, but one from Yale. These details also give hints about how the person was probably a serious, and academically successful student, bringing more contrast to the joint, which brings another side of him to light. Thus, the details enhance the contrast. On a similar note, using the word "grand" as opposed to just "good" also contributes to the humor.
Here is another example of how detail contributes to the comical effects of a joke, "(412): You are writing your college essay comparing yourself to Lady Gaga, Vladimir Putin, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. and you are worried about the conclusion sounding cheesy?"
First of all, the outrageous contrast and impossible links (personally, I can't figure out any connection between Lady Gaga and Putin besides the fact that they live on the same planet and are on the news a lot) lead us back to humor from the sheer ridiculousness of the text. Moreover, the specific names enhance the joke because of all the connotations that come with them.
This joke not only represents how detail and incongruities work in humor, but also reflects how humor changes with our culture. Nowadays, with 10 windows opened on our screen, the song flowing through our earphones and the iPhone spazzing with new textsconveys a message about our lifestyles, we need flashy and gripping things like big names to grab us. And really, our attention span only lasts as long as it takes to read that name. In our fast paced lives, we no longer settle down to appreciate the subtly and the buried sarcasm in a joke. We only enjoy spurts of shock humor that tear our eyes away for whatever we were doing. Thus, technology and pop culture not only shapes our lifestyles, but also contribute to the evolution of our culture change alongside us.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Love Story
Back when pigtails was my default hairdo, I would not only pout and whine my through those steamed carrots and multiplication tables but also always ask my mom if I was adopted (I am not), just in case she was my evil step mother and I didn't even know it. This suspicion was almost as deeply engrained in my mind as the notion that I'm going to be a princess. With the Cinderella picture book always opened in my lap, "I see the lights, see the party, the ball gowns/ See you make your way through the crowd/And say, "Hello"/Little did I know..." Okay, I won't get carried away with Taylor Swift here, but there is a point to be made: princess fantasies knows no age limits and neither does idealism. However, shaped by our reality and molded by time, our idealism has endured but also changed with our human experiences to obtain their places in our lives today.
Although contemporary romantics may have traded in white ponies for sleek Mercedes, romanticism and a few age-old acts of chivalry still remains. For example, the gentlemanly act of giving up one's jacket is still respected today, (303): Awww. A guy on the train just took his coat off so his girlfriend could throw up into it. Who says chivalry is dead?
It's not. In fact, it has transformed alongside our culture and way of life (443): I'm a gentlemen, chivalry is what i do, i'll open the door, pull out your chair, buy your drinks, i'll even go down first, but when it comes to mario kart, i draw the line. I'm sorry but i just can't let you beat me at mario kart.
More importantly, romanticism is only one of many manifestations of a broader idealism. Americans have a special relationship with this idealism in that we embrace it as much as doubt it. This contradiction not only continuously provides material for humor, but has also given rise to a classic form of humor: good news/ bad news jokes.
(620): He just helps fat girls get exercise. One walk of shame at a time.
This follows the good news/bad news formula because a walk of shame humiliating (and usually accompanied by a headache) while exercise is beneficial. Though this is by no means a just representation of contemporary romantic relationships, it does evokes the reality of many college campuses as way of undermining the Disney notion that every girl will be saved by a knight in shining armor. Yet we can't help but laugh. This confirms Jessie Bier's claim in The Rise and Fall of American Humor that Americans tolerate and even embrace “so much cruelty in our humor" that has become a defining characteristic. At the same time, this also goes back to the not-so-secret pleasure we derive from laughing at "suckers." It's like we enjoy being inside the bubble of fantasy. But if we're not inside, there's nothing that we love more than bursting it. However, not all of the jokes in this genre follow the form as closely, "(636): The doctor said 'youre the 2nd youngest person that ive seen with this condition. Thats probably not the silver medal you were looking for today.'" This one features a slight variation since it also incorporates sarcasm, which adds a whole new dimension to the joke. In this case, the bad news is not the punch line as it is in the walk of shame one above. Within the second line itself, there is another juxtaposition between the good and the bad that makes the statement more stinging and more poignant. But why does the last line, in which bad news so overt beneath the sarcasm still evoke a chuckle? Are we marveling at how we can make something so horrible sound so nice? In a way, the attempt to look on the bright side of things is just us laughing at our own idealism. The inherent incongruity in this is that while it is a laughter, it represents a way of coping.
The fact that Cinderella (the Disney version) has become as much of a classic as Othello and that good news/ bad news jokes still appear in different forms today means that we still believe. It doesn't mean that we are naive and unaware of the reality of the world we live in. Sometimes, we just want to suspend our disbelief. We're not ostriches burying our heads in the sand pretending that we live in a happy-go-lucky world. The truth is that we need this idealism as much as we need the brutality of realism to keep us in check. Because if we let go of this idealism, this fantasy to look up to, what have we got to keep us going?
No wonder Taylor Swift's Love Story gets so played so many times.
Although contemporary romantics may have traded in white ponies for sleek Mercedes, romanticism and a few age-old acts of chivalry still remains. For example, the gentlemanly act of giving up one's jacket is still respected today, (303): Awww. A guy on the train just took his coat off so his girlfriend could throw up into it. Who says chivalry is dead?
It's not. In fact, it has transformed alongside our culture and way of life (443): I'm a gentlemen, chivalry is what i do, i'll open the door, pull out your chair, buy your drinks, i'll even go down first, but when it comes to mario kart, i draw the line. I'm sorry but i just can't let you beat me at mario kart.
More importantly, romanticism is only one of many manifestations of a broader idealism. Americans have a special relationship with this idealism in that we embrace it as much as doubt it. This contradiction not only continuously provides material for humor, but has also given rise to a classic form of humor: good news/ bad news jokes.
(620): He just helps fat girls get exercise. One walk of shame at a time.
This follows the good news/bad news formula because a walk of shame humiliating (and usually accompanied by a headache) while exercise is beneficial. Though this is by no means a just representation of contemporary romantic relationships, it does evokes the reality of many college campuses as way of undermining the Disney notion that every girl will be saved by a knight in shining armor. Yet we can't help but laugh. This confirms Jessie Bier's claim in The Rise and Fall of American Humor that Americans tolerate and even embrace “so much cruelty in our humor" that has become a defining characteristic. At the same time, this also goes back to the not-so-secret pleasure we derive from laughing at "suckers." It's like we enjoy being inside the bubble of fantasy. But if we're not inside, there's nothing that we love more than bursting it. However, not all of the jokes in this genre follow the form as closely, "(636): The doctor said 'youre the 2nd youngest person that ive seen with this condition. Thats probably not the silver medal you were looking for today.'" This one features a slight variation since it also incorporates sarcasm, which adds a whole new dimension to the joke. In this case, the bad news is not the punch line as it is in the walk of shame one above. Within the second line itself, there is another juxtaposition between the good and the bad that makes the statement more stinging and more poignant. But why does the last line, in which bad news so overt beneath the sarcasm still evoke a chuckle? Are we marveling at how we can make something so horrible sound so nice? In a way, the attempt to look on the bright side of things is just us laughing at our own idealism. The inherent incongruity in this is that while it is a laughter, it represents a way of coping.
The fact that Cinderella (the Disney version) has become as much of a classic as Othello and that good news/ bad news jokes still appear in different forms today means that we still believe. It doesn't mean that we are naive and unaware of the reality of the world we live in. Sometimes, we just want to suspend our disbelief. We're not ostriches burying our heads in the sand pretending that we live in a happy-go-lucky world. The truth is that we need this idealism as much as we need the brutality of realism to keep us in check. Because if we let go of this idealism, this fantasy to look up to, what have we got to keep us going?
No wonder Taylor Swift's Love Story gets so played so many times.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
LOLZ
As society hops from telegraphs to e-mails to texts, and from gramophones to Walkmans to ipods, random humor has also evolved from “Overheard” columns in printed newspapers to its most recent reincarnation, a website named Text From Last Night. The ceaseless advancement of technology is not only another outlet but also yet another source of humor. Nonetheless, while technology and culture have developed over time, many posts actually reveal that our sense of humor has remained much the same.
(401): Renamed my iPod as 'the titantic' so when I plug it in it's says 'the titantic is syncing.'
Admittedly, this follows the timeless form of jokes at which we pronounce the words “ha-ha” to indicate that we understand the wit of the joke, instead of letting out a natural trill of laughter. These jokes are not meant to evoke guffaws but to make us feel witty- for making it and getting it. As Hobbes once noted, the instant gratification that follows is the root of many jokes-this desire to feel clever, preferably more clever than others. Moreover, the mutual understanding and appreciation of wit also sets the foundation for a connection, which is especially meaningful in American culture, which is so pluralistic that conformity is cherished. As Jessie Bier noted in The Rise and Fall of American Humor, "one consequence of pluralism is a desperate conformity... in order to hold our society together," which explains why we cherish connections in between our differences.
At the same time, this joke also demonstrates anti-romanticism, another characteristic of American humor that dates back to the beginning of good news/bad news jokes. Titanic is a classic Hollywood love story. However, Americans love nothing more than puncturing an innocent illusion. As dashing and charming as Leo DiCaprio might be, the Titanic still sinks. This not only underscores the pleasure we derive from laughing at “suckers” but also our distaste for cliché happy endings. Another text,
(334): He used my blackberry to make a voice recording of me orgasming, then set it as my ringtone while I was sleeping. I discovered this during a staff meeting this morning
also highlights the anti-idealism in American humor. Though new devices such as blackberry mobile phones are popularly perceived as angels sent from above to make our lives easier, they are just as powerful when used against us. The laughs that follow the bursting this bubble is similar to the gratification from having made a clever joke. Both come from a momentary feeling of superiority. As readers of the jokes, we instinctively side with clever one, chuckle at the “sucker” and gladly feel superior to the naïve.
Before concluding this post about technology and humor, I would like to (and feel very much obligated to) defend my own generation in saying that we are not the only ones suffering from this technology-epidemic (symptoms include but are not limited to calluses on thumbs from texting and muscles that type facebook.com every time we open Internet Explorers). Or maybe we just like to laugh at others who are more severely affected than we are.
(678): So my prents justed posted "DO NOT DISTURB" on facebook and i just heard their door shut and lock...I'm leaving
(401): Renamed my iPod as 'the titantic' so when I plug it in it's says 'the titantic is syncing.'
Admittedly, this follows the timeless form of jokes at which we pronounce the words “ha-ha” to indicate that we understand the wit of the joke, instead of letting out a natural trill of laughter. These jokes are not meant to evoke guffaws but to make us feel witty- for making it and getting it. As Hobbes once noted, the instant gratification that follows is the root of many jokes-this desire to feel clever, preferably more clever than others. Moreover, the mutual understanding and appreciation of wit also sets the foundation for a connection, which is especially meaningful in American culture, which is so pluralistic that conformity is cherished. As Jessie Bier noted in The Rise and Fall of American Humor, "one consequence of pluralism is a desperate conformity... in order to hold our society together," which explains why we cherish connections in between our differences.
At the same time, this joke also demonstrates anti-romanticism, another characteristic of American humor that dates back to the beginning of good news/bad news jokes. Titanic is a classic Hollywood love story. However, Americans love nothing more than puncturing an innocent illusion. As dashing and charming as Leo DiCaprio might be, the Titanic still sinks. This not only underscores the pleasure we derive from laughing at “suckers” but also our distaste for cliché happy endings. Another text,
(334): He used my blackberry to make a voice recording of me orgasming, then set it as my ringtone while I was sleeping. I discovered this during a staff meeting this morning
also highlights the anti-idealism in American humor. Though new devices such as blackberry mobile phones are popularly perceived as angels sent from above to make our lives easier, they are just as powerful when used against us. The laughs that follow the bursting this bubble is similar to the gratification from having made a clever joke. Both come from a momentary feeling of superiority. As readers of the jokes, we instinctively side with clever one, chuckle at the “sucker” and gladly feel superior to the naïve.
Before concluding this post about technology and humor, I would like to (and feel very much obligated to) defend my own generation in saying that we are not the only ones suffering from this technology-epidemic (symptoms include but are not limited to calluses on thumbs from texting and muscles that type facebook.com every time we open Internet Explorers). Or maybe we just like to laugh at others who are more severely affected than we are.
(678): So my prents justed posted "DO NOT DISTURB" on facebook and i just heard their door shut and lock...I'm leaving
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