Anthropology of Humor - Essay Example

?Anthropology 2040 Anthropology of Humor Dr. Ewa Wasilewska Spring ID# Anthropology of Humor Humor is a difficult thing to judge how far is too far. As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, humor is funny in the mind of the individual. Some people may find certain ‘brands’ of humor funny, while others will find it offensive or hurtful. Often, we see that humor is seen as a joke, and if it is not seen as funny by the crowd we share it with, it is perceived as sarcasm. Sarcasm is a child of humor, or vice versa depending on your point of view. I do not think that there is a limitation on how far is too far, as the entire subject of humor is subjective, not objective. Humor is used in every level of society, in every country in the world. It may be seen as a ploy to garner the interest or desire of other people, namely women, as it is often quoted as being a prerequisite for a man to make a woman laugh. According to the website www.makewomenlaugh.org (2010), “humor is the key to attracting women.” It is seen as a huge role taker in life in attraction in meeting as well as relationships. Humor begets laughter, begets attraction and so on. “Men who can make women laugh are irresistible…” (www.makewomenlaugh.org, 2010). In a study performed by Martin & Gray, (1996), they sought to prove that humor might not be appreciated without a boost from audience laughter in situation comedies. Martin & Gray state in their hypothesis that “genuinely funny material” would be shown to the test group, with the existence of audience laughter will increase the natural occurrence of laughter of the individual. Although published in a renowned periodical, I believe that Martin & Gray are right in this hypothesis, which they later proved. However, what may be “genuinely funny material” to one person may be dry, boring and dull to another. Humor is not something that can be categorized into any single section. Although similar to the aforementioned comparison of beauty, what is funny to one may be offensive to another. Therefore, it appears that the influence of the masses is what makes a mass produced bit of material funny or not. This closes many doors to those who find humor in otherwise unfunny circumstances. When it comes to humor, I completely support taking the First Amendment as it is written. There are no exceptions needed to employ it in regards to humor. We were given the protected right of freedom of speech, regardless of whether one person or millions agree or disagree. It is no different than watching a television program, which is known by the popular masses to be funny, while others see no humor in it whatever. If you do not like what you are watching or hearing, change the channel or walk away. It is that simple. We as humans do that every single day, in the grocery store, at work or at home. If we do not like it, we can either do something to try changing it or walking away from it. If our attempts at changing the circumstance we do not like fail, we still have the option of protecting ourselves from it by ignoring it. The right to the freedom of speech was granted us by our Founding Fathers and by God Himself, in His provision of free will. We as humans should be afforded this right at any cost, as the right to speak freely is as important as the right to walk down the street of our neighborhood or use the restroom as we need. It may offend some or make others cry with laughter, but it is a protection that we were first given by God and was reiterated into law by our Founding Fathers. It often appears that women find different types of humor less funny than others do, while men see things differently. Women tend not to engage in public rituals of humor with the result of embarrassment or insult. Men seem to have the market cornered on this. Men more typically employ “verbal duels, ritual insults, practical jokes, pranks, slapstick, institutionalized clowning and institutionalized joking…”, whereas women generally focus on the activities and appearance of the men in their lives (Apte, 1985). Although this may be true in most cases, there are always exceptions to the rule when it comes to humor. Often women are more offended by certain types of humor than men are, and are generally excluded from these types, or are the subject of them. Oppositely, men seem to be the primary subject of women’s brand of humor. Although the discussion of humor in Martin & Gray’s (1996) article was aimed at situation comedies, violence also uses humor, whether in reality or fictional works. One example of this is provided by O’Rourke (2004). While in Iraq, he was a party to handing out Red Crescent aid boxes to the local Iraqi’s who were in need. While the volunteers were attempting to hand out these boxes to the people, fights inevitably ensued every time the trailer door was opened. Much to the chagrin of the volunteers, the Iraqis found humor in this sort of brawling. Although there were British soldiers available to break up the fighting, it never changed. His take on this sort of behavior was taken into account in comparison to other country’s aid-seekers with a deft hand at humor. Instead of fighting each other like the Iraqi’s were doing, “England would queue automatically by needs… Americans would… sell their places to the highest bidders… Japanese would text-message… getting in line to get in line. Germans would await commands from… the under supervisor of the town clock” (O’Rourke, 2004). Although the desire for the Red Crescent aid boxes was dire, they would still enjoyably fight for them. It gave the appearance that violence in Iraqi culture is not only normal, but also humorous. Given the violence that took place in Iraq during the war, and is still taking place, O’Rourke (2004) continues with his humorous recital of horrible violence. In another account, Kuwaitis claimed to have been hit by a “Seersucker” missile. He goes on to say, “Who names these things…? Next we’ll have the Madras Cummerbund missile and the Lime Green Pants with Little Trout Flies missile.” through this use of humor in dire circumstances, it seems to cut the pain and misery from the actuality of the situation, making it easier for the reader to bear. Often, people want to know about the violent acts that are occurring in the Middle East, but do not want to know the truest reality of it. Take a horrific event and mix it up with some humor, and it becomes much more socially acceptable as well as morally palatable. This is the same as with hate humor, or so it is termed. Hate comes in every form imaginable, and humor is no exception. A great example of hatred is Al Qaeda’s hatred of the U.S. The United States is often seen and told to be one of if not the greatest country in the world, and there are cultures and people around the globe that get tired of hearing that. O’Rourke may have said it best, with humor, when it comes to Americans and foreign policy, or lack thereof. Americans on the whole would like to completely ignore foreign policies and isolate ourselves from the world’s problems. “Evil is an outreach program. A …bad person… harboring genocidal thoughts… wishing he ruled the world is not a problem unless he lives next to us…” (O’Rourke, 2004). Other nations view the United States as hegemonistic, unilateral and acting as though we are the only nation that exists or counts for anything. This tends to breed hatred of the country itself and its people, but hatred continues within our own borders as well. Most often, it rears its ugly head in the form of racism or political airing of dirty laundry. Although it is silly to some, to others it is of paramount importance that the world see us the way we want to be seen as individuals, and no other opinion matters. If they disagree, we will change their mind for them. It is the American thing to do. We know that we are a world super power, that we have the world’s largest and strongest army, which begets the typically American question, “you and what army?” (O’Rourke, 2004). Although the truth in that statement is staggering, the average American does not see it as our military is stronger than yours. It is simply my country is better, the end. Although racism is a commonplace occurrence which most Americans would rather assume does not exist, it along with religion is the butt of many jokes. Often, the most sought after jokes for religiosity are those that are the most ornamental, such as Catholicism, or misunderstood, like Buddhism or Judaism. Ted Cohen (1999) calls this “outsider humor”, because, as the example used in his book, the Marx Brothers are outsiders because of the fact that they are immigrants. “Outsider humor” is the basis and essence of religious humor, because of their “outsider” status. There are strong differences between Jewish, catholic, etc. religions and simple American humor. These are differentiated because of the fact that they do not fit well together. One religion’s brand of humor may be dull and boring to another religion, either because of the context or because of the plotting. Some religious jokes simply cannot be understood by “outsiders” because of their lack of knowledge of the religion to understand the insider issue. On the other hand, the limited knowledge that “outsiders have of a particular religion can create humor, although it may be at the distress of another religion. This is in part why we were granted the freedom of speech, and there are considered to be levels of censorship that are required of people, but generally this requirement is because of the opposing individual’s distaste for something that had been said or done by the other. If a person so chooses to censor himself, then so be it. There is nothing wrong with self-censorship, as oftentimes this form of censorship is an aspect of respect for their company. For example, a respectful member of a family will likely not cuss like crazy around their grandparents, unless of course their grandparents do. Often, however, censorship is only used in mass media circumstances, to protect our children and feeble minded who couldn’t handle what is perceived as bad or inappropriate language or scenes. This is unfortunate, because the humor in the world still takes a front row seat to the theater of life, even in modern children’s movies. There are few children’s movies available today that do not in some way have what is referred to as “adult humor” or some other form of double entendre squeaked into the plot lines for the parents benefit, not the child’s. Humor is a great thing, and if people choose to censor themselves, that is their choice. If they choose not to, that is also their choice. We all have the choice of listening, watching or not. If we like something we will laugh about it, if we don’t, we can walk away from it. Humor should be held in high regard, as it is a beautiful thing. “How to Make Women Laugh …and Fall in Love!” makewomenlaugh.org. Make Women Laugh, n.d. Web. 30 April, 2011. Martin, G. Neil & Gray, Colin D. “The Effects of Audience Laughter on Men’s and Women’s Responses to Humor.” The Journal of Social Psychology. 136(2) (1996): 221-231. Print. Cohen, Ted. Philosophical Thoughts on Joking Matters. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1999. Print. Apte, Mahadev L. Humor and Laughter: An Anthropological Approach. New York: Cornell University, 1985. Print. O’Rourke, P.J. Peace Kills. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2004. Print. Read More