HUMOR;+By+Erik

HUMOR For as long as I can remember I have been laughing. I laugh almost every day and sometimes I laugh almost the entire day. I take a moment to look around this strange Western world we live in and quickly I see that humor permeates all elements of society. Humor is present when people are relaxing, stressing, mourning, rejoicing, and even when one would least expect it. It is present on the tele, in books, in advertisement, in conversation, in the look we give to the person walking. Humor is a multi faceted concept that is completely subjective and can vary widely from person to person and situation to situation. These variables make pinning down a concrete definition of humor difficult. However, a broad definition of humor stems along lines as something that is meant to amuse or be comic (causing or having meant to cause laughter).

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The functions of humor also expound like the plumage of a bird’s tail, as it can be used as a stress reliever, can convey messages, advertise products, rally people, point out important issues, explore dangerous territory in conversation, and even fight fascism according to some. Humor can be very beneficial as a stress reliever. According to Dr. Scientia himself, laughter is the world’s best medicine. My parents, my father in particular, do a great job of reminding me that there is more to life than just school. My dad will often tell me to go for a bike ride or go skiing instead of doing homework. My typical response is somewhere along the line of “but I have too much to do,” to which he loves to respond, “well f**k it,” in his typical nonchalant manner.

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When used in advertisement humor often makes for memorable moments, which is crucial to an effective ad. Fighting fascism is a stretch… but it works nonetheless…

Left: (http://www.wordans.com/wordansfiles/images/2008/5/22/6468/6468_340.jpg?1258088400) Right: (http://www.tueplay.com/content/pictures/200803/02/Fascism.jpg)

Categories of humor are vast and include but are not limited to: puns, irony, satire, dark humor, parody, jokes, banter, sarcasm, social satire, innuendoes, unusual juxtaposition, slapstick, and raunchy humor. Remi Gaillard: Bat media type="youtube" key="g1dxNsjYeIs" height="390" width="640" Black Swan Parody: Jim Carrey SNL Skit. ( !!!!!WARNING!!!!! SORTA OBSCENE ) media type="youtube" key="3LyVvbqTJuE" height="390" width="640"

uuhhhhhhh...? media type="youtube" key="CD2LRROpph0" height="390" width="640" Remi Gaillard: Top 10 Sports media type="youtube" key="kga0eKfeeTE" height="390" width="640"

Humor appears in day-to-day life. Sometimes humorous events occur at unexpected times, such as when watching the news and peeps like Glenn Beck come on or when you’re trying to sleep in government class and a teacher, we’ll call him oh… Bruce, has his voice crack or yells at everyone to line up with their hands against the wall. The other day I was eating some food in the kitchen and I looked out the window at two extremely cute juvenile rabbits. They were just a few feet from one another and were facing each other. But rabbits in the yard are fairly commonplace and I was none to surprised to see a pair eating together. But what really caught my attention was when one of the rabbits quickly darted at the other, and in response the second rabbit leapt straight into the air directly over the first rabbit. I could hardly believe what had just happened. And just my luck it happened again and again and again! So, I LOLed pretty hard and then finished my milk and did homework.

(http://www.altiusnordicskiclub.org/images/rabbit.jpg) (http://articulateart.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/cute-little-bunny-rabbit.jpg)

Examples of Humor In Our Texts:

//Candide// : “He lay down without eating supper, between two furrows in an open field; it was snowing in large flakes” (Voltaire 19). Dark Humor

“As they were preparing for a third run, Candid, unable to go on, begged them to blow his brains out instead. The favor was granted; he was blindfolded and made to kneel.” Candide is saved only by the King of the Bulgars when he realizes that Candide is ignorant and naïve (Voltaire 22). Dark Humor

“But our good Westphalian had received a fine sword with the suit of clothes the old woman had given him. Despite his gentle nature, he drew this sword and laid the Israelite out on the floor, dead as a doornail, at the feet of the fair Cunegonde” (Voltaire 37). Dark Humor … “This reasoning was swift and sure; without giving the Inquisitor time to recover from his surprise, he ran him through and laid him out beside the Jew” (Voltaire 39). Dark Humor

“‘We’ll see about that, you scoundrel!’ said the Jesuit Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh, and at the same time he struck him across the face with the flat of his sword. Candide instantly drew his own sword and plunge it to the hilt in the Jesuit baron’s belly” (Voltaire 57). Dark Humor

“One day, exasperated by her behavior, he gave her some medicine for a slight cold, and it worked so well that she died two hours later in horrible convulsions” (Voltaire 96). Dark Humor

“I didn’t know it was a crime for a Christian to be found naked with a young Mussulman” (Voltaire 111). Dark Humor

//Metamorphosis// : “When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin” (Kafka 3). Dark Humor

“During the day Gregor did not want to show himself at the window, if only, out of consideration for his parents, but he couldn’t crawl very far on his few square yards of floor space, either; he could hardly put up with just lying still even at night; eating soon stopped giving him the slightest pleasure, so, as a distraction, he adopted the habit of crawling crisscross over the walls and the ceiling. He especially liked hanging from the ceiling; it was completely different from lying on the floor” (Kafka 31). Unusual Juxtaposition

//Waiting for Godot// : “Vladimir: The Saviour. Estragon: Why? Vladimir: Because he wouldn’t save them. Estragon: From Hell? Vladimir: Imbecile! From death” (Beckett 7).

“Pozzo: you’re being spoken to, pig! Reply!” (Beckett 25).

“Estragon: (pretending to search) Bozzo…Bozzo… Vladimir: (ditto) Pozzo…Pozzo… Pozzo: PPPOZZZO! Estragon: Ah! Pozzo…let me see…Pozzo… Vladimir: Is it Pozzo or Bozzo?” (Beckett 19).

Artist Statement

On this wikispace I have crafted a multi-medium/multi-modal project that is meant to specifically answer a number of the key questions that can be asked in regard to the topic of comedy/humor. I am sensitive to very few things and take very few things personally. As a result, this page may contain material that //could// be insensitive to some, though there is nothing on this page that would not be allowed to appear on television. I intend for this page to be somewhat entertaining, but my main goal in creating this was to give myself and others a slightly better understanding of what humor is and the impacts it has/can have on society. I hope I have accomplished what I have set out to do. And please, keep laughing- for my sake and your own.