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The influence of comedy
Humor in society essay
The influence of comedy
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Nearly all people of today’s society enjoy watching and relating to the content of current humorist such as Leslie Jones, Jimmy Kimmel, and Seth Meyers. Not only do comedians provide entertainment for many individuals, they allow the true values and opinions of society to be revealed in a more pleasant and tension-easing manner. In his 2004 book, Status Anxiety, author Alain de Botton accurately emphasizes the crucial role that humorists play in society by thoroughly discussing how humorists are able to openly speak about rising issues that the rest of society typically keeps repressed. The content of comedy is ever changing as years pass by, but one thing remains the same. Comedy always expresses the current beliefs and attitudes of the public towards present …show more content…
Comedy is an essential part of most people's lives and impacts everyone more than they realize. It has the ability to make one think, laugh, and ultimately change themselves into a more highly educated person. In today’s society, people have a lack of trust in political leaders and news writers; many believe there is crucial information being withheld from the world. Many members of society obtain their real world news from their brutally honest, and trusted humorists. As actor and comedian John Fugelsang accurately said, “comedians can articulate complicated emotions and arguments by using jokes as a framing mechanism, when just existing in the heart unexamined can be murky and amorphous.” He continues by explaining how “humour can be a social corrective” because it “validates shared experiences, gets us to think more flexibly and reframe situations in this shared experience we call life.” Whether it be a late night television host, a cartoonists or satirical writer, they all reveal the truth that others are afraid to directly
Rebecca Krefting (2014), “an Associate Professor of American Studies, affiliate faculty to Gender Studies, and Director of the Media and Film Studies Program” (Skidmore), wrote an article called “Making Connections.” Krefting (2014) explains the connections between comedy and people, listing the reasons the world can build “Cultural Citizenship” through “charged humor” (p. 17-18)
For example, the comedy shows The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon expresses satirical humor concerning politics. His show also demonstrates political satire by telling jokes and even impersonating political figures for the audience. He creates humor through sarcasm that focuses on real issues. His sarcastic humor causes others to feel more confident in their criticism toward politicians. For example, “Jimmy Fallon expresses his humor about Donald Trump, impersonating his appearance and imitating his voice while talking about politics. He uses his humor by impersonating Donald Trump and his sweeping generalizations with Madea (Rogo).” Jimmy Fallon shows people his views through humor and it creates a sense of community to express their agreeable and disagreeable views. As we discussed some ideas about satirical humor that affects political changes, it was important to reveal their feelings about changes in life and drove them to look upon their society or government more
Psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists study humor because it is a fundamental culture value, but they still can’t determine why certain things make some people laugh and others not. There are “humor quotient” tests that are designed to measure an individual’s sense of humor, but these tests are questionable. These tests aren’t accurate because almost all humor depends on cultural background knowledge and language skills. Not every person in the whole world, or even in one country share the same background knowledge and skills, therefore they cannot have the same type of humor. “The fact remains that individuals vary in their appreciation of humor” (Rappoport 9). Since humor varies from individual to individual, humor lies in the individual. How successful or funny a joke is depends on how the person receives the joke, humor cannot be measured by a statistical
Steve Almond’s “Funny is the New Deep” talks of the role that comedy has in our current society, and most certainly, it plays a huge role here. Namely, through what Almond [Aristotle?] calls the “comic impulse”, we as a people can speak of topics that would otherwise make many of uncomfortable. Almond deems the comic impulse as the most surefire way to keep heavy situations from becoming too foreboding. The comic impulse itself stems from our ability and unconscious need to defend and thus contend with the feeling of tragedy. As such, instead of rather forcing out humor, he implies that humor is something that is not consciously forced out from an author, but instead is more of a subconscious entity, coming out on its own. Almond emphasizes
According to Everything’s an Argument by Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz, “Humor has always played an important role in argument…” (38). Humor itself is something that activates amusement or laughter. Moreover, in popular culture satire is a tool that is used to point out things in our society. Satire opens the minds of people to philosophies they might completely deny, using humor. There are many elements of satire that identify flaws within our society. A couple of satire elements that will be discussed are irony and exaggeration. In addition, a parody is used in popular culture as a way to mock or mimic situation or person.
Within the past year, I’ve become a big fan of The Onion and it’s satirical articles. The articles in The Onion poke fun at the world that it is all around us, whether it be world news, politics, or simply people we encounter in our daily lives. It’s a way of helping us cope and with the tough world we live in, as well as reassuring us that some of the frustrating situation we are a part of are normal and the people we find annoying annoy other people as well. It succeeds in that quite well, especially if one understands the satire in the article, and if they relate to it.
Humor is more than just amusing entertainment to pass the time. Though jokes and witty banter can be shallow, humor can go deeper than surface level to convey messages to audiences who would otherwise be close-minded about certain ideas. Humor is a great tool to get audiences to change the way they think, feel, and act. In “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” Alexander Weinstein uses humor to criticize some of society’s faults such as the way it has become heavily reliant on technology, racially insensitive, and judgmental.
In Alain de Botton’s book, Status Anxiety, he argues that the aim of humorists is not solely entertainment, but also to convey a message that isn’t always okay to state directly. There are many places where his argument can apply. Even with humor, some topics are still too controversial to joke about; However, in most cases, humor can lighten things up and make it easier to discuss topics that otherwise would not be as easy to talk about without heavy arguments. There are many cases that would make his argument true. There are many examples that support his argument, and that help to show the importance of humor in arguing, including cartoons, comics, works of literature, and also when thinking of hosts of television programs.
John Marwood Cleese, an English actor, comedian, writer and film producer said, “If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you more open to my ideas. And if I can persuade you to laugh at the particular point I make, by laughing at it you acknowledge its truth”. The point he brings up is the ideology of satire. Satire, by definition, is a technique utilized by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society. This can be done by using humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule ("Satire - Definition and Examples", para.1). Often times, the humor used opens the audiences’ minds to the underlying problem that the writer is trying to reveal. By examining the purpose and methods of satire, dissecting literary works, and displaying examples in the media, satire is shown to be a valuable tool.
Comedy differs in the mood it approaches and addresses life. It presents situations which deal with common ground of man’s social experience rather than limits of his behaviour – it is not life in the tragic mode, lived at the difficult and perilous limits of the human condition.
James Conroy argues that laughter in serious topics has been regarded through the ages as dangerous, deviant, and subversive; yet equally as refreshing, challenging, and constructive. Political humor is extensively used in almost all countries, but political satire is perceived differently from one country to another. The research question is as follows: what factors make political satire an effective tool that affects politics and policy? I argue that humor is more influential when blended with serious topics, such as international relations or politics. Laughter is a great means to put serious topics under the lenses of critical thinking. The use of humor, and political satire specifically can bring about serious political change. Humor can play all sorts of roles in the political process through being informative, educational and influential while keeping its captive entertaining
The study with Race, Ethnicity and Intercultural Communication takes place within Canada. Although it takes place in Canada, one can still see just how much this information is valuable within race and ethnicity and public health. Faiza Hirji, the author of this article, studies how the issue of humor and race fall within race and ethnicity. He looks at the comedian Russell Peters as an outlet for humor within racism. During both of my interviews, they did not mention humor and comedies, but I feel as if this would have been a good topic to see their views and see whether or not they would believe this as a form of communication in racism. “Comedians who incorporate race and ethnicity into their acts can be alternately popular and offensive” (Hirji, 2009, pg 544). Who would have ever thought that comedians would incorporate race and ethnicity in their comedy routines? It just shows how communication in different forms such as comedy will still get their points across when it comes to race and
The nature of comedy has always left it somewhat resistant to critical analysis, and to some extent the same can be said for comedic actors. The class-clowns of Hollywood like Will Ferrell are often times constructed as being nothing more than amusing, so they seem lik...
If there is one way to bring a smile to someone’s face, it is laughter. Funny jokes, comical stunts, sarcasm- Every person is different when it comes to what makes them laugh. Some find dry humor comical. Others think sarcasm or joke-filled ranting are the best. ‘Comedy’ is such a broad term, broad enough to allow everyone to find something they find comical. In fact, ‘comedy’ includes a specific type of drama, one where the protagonist is joyful and happy endings are expected. Comedy is like a drug; it allows you to escape reality. When we say the word ‘comedy’ in the present, we are generally referring to a type of performance which provides humor. However, in its broadest sense, comedy has only one purpose: comedy makes people smile and
Humor has been the source of entertainment throughout history. Today humor is practiced in movies, plays, songs, television shows and radio. Humor has brought fame and fortune to those who have mastered its power.