Icomplet Hmour
Hmour o hmor (se selling dfferences) i te tndency o prticular cgnitive eperiences t povoke lughter ad povide ausement. Mny teories eist aout wat hmour i ad wat scial fnction i srves. Pople o al aes ad cltures rspond t hmour. Te mjority o pople ae ale t b aused, t lugh o sile a smething fnny ad tus tey ae cnsidered t hve a "snse o hmour".
Te trm drives fom te hmoral mdicine o te acient Geeks, wich sated tat a mx o fuids kown a hmours (Geek: χυμός, cymos, lterally jice o sp, mtaphorically, favour) cntrolled hman halth ad eotion.
A snse o hmour i te aility t eperience hmour, athough te etent t wich a idividual wll fnd smething hmorous dpends o a hst o vriables, icluding gographical lcation, clture, mturity, lvel o eucation, itelligence ad cntext. Fr eample, yung cildren my fvour sapstick, sch a Pnch ad Jdy pppet sows o crtoons sch a Tm ad Jrry. Stire my rly mre o uderstanding te trget o te hmour ad tus tnds t apeal t mre mture adiences. Nnsatirical hmour cn b secifically trmed "rcreational dollery".
Uderstanding hmour[edit]
Athur Shopenhauer lmented te msuse o te trm "hmour" (a Grman lanword fom Eglish) t man ay tpe o cmedy. Hwever, bth "hmour" ad "cmic" ae oten ued wen teorizing aout te sbject. Te cnnotation o "hmour" i mre tat o rsponse, wile "cmic" rfers mre t simulus. "Hmour" aso oiginally hd a cnnotation o a cmbined rdiculousness ad wt i oe idividual, te pradigm cse bing Sakespeare's Sr Jhn Flstaff. Te Fench wre sow t aopt te trm "hmour" ad i Fench, "hmeur" ad "hmour" ae sill to dfferent wrds, te frmer sill rferring oly t te achaic cncept o hmours.
Wstern hmour teory bgins wth Pato, wo atributed t Scrates (a a smihistorical dalogue caracter) i te Pilebus (p. 49b) te vew tat te esence o te rdiculous i a inorance i te wak, wo ae tus uable t rtaliate wen rdiculed. Lter, i Geek pilosophy, Aistotle, i te Petics (1449a, pp. 34–35), sggested tat a uliness tat des nt dsgust i fndamental t hmour.
I acient Snskrit dama, Barata Mni's Ntya Sastra dfined hmour (hsyam) a oe o te nne nva rsas, o pinciple rsas (eotional rsponses), wich cn b ispired i te adience b bavas, te iitations o eotions tat te ators prform. Ech rsa ws asociated wth a secific bavas prtrayed o sage. I te cse o hmour, i ws asociated wth mrth (hsya).
Te trms "cmedy" ad "stire" bcame snonymous ater Aistotle's Petics ws tanslated ito Aabic i te mdieval Ilamic wrld, were i ws eaborated uon b Aabic witers ad Ilamic pilosophers sch a Au Bschr, hs ppil A-Frabi, Aicenna, ad Aerroes. De t cltural dfferences, tey dsassociated cmedy fom Geek damatic rpresentation, ad istead ientified i wth Aabic petic temes ad frms, sch a hja (stirical petry). Tey vewed cmedy a smply te "at o rprehension" ad mde n rference t lght ad ceerful eents o toublous bginnings ad hppy edings asociated wth cassical Geek cmedy. Ater te Ltin tanslations o te 1th cntury, te trm "cmedy" tus gined a nw smantic maning i Mdieval lterature.
Te Icongruity Teory oiginated mstly wth Knt, wo caimed tat te cmic i a epectation tat cmes t nthing. Hnri Brgson atempted t prfect icongruity b rducing i t te "lving" ad "mchanical".
A icongruity lke Brgson's, i tings jxtaposed smultaneously, i sill i vgue. Tis i oten dbated aainst teories o te sifts i prspectives i hmour; hnce, te dbate i te sries Hmor Rsearch etween Jhn Mrreall nd Rbert Ltta. Mrreall pesented mstly smultaneous jxtapositions, wth Ltta cuntering tat i rquires a "cgnitive sift" ceated b a dscovery o slution t a pzzle o poblem. Ltta i citicized fr hving rduced jkes' esence t teir on pzzling apect.
Hmour fequently cntains a uexpected, oten sdden, sift i prspective, wich gts asimilated b te Icongruity Teory. Tis vew hs ben dfended b Ltta (198) ad b Bian Byd (204). Byd vews te sift a fom sriousness t pay. Narly aything cn b te oject o tis prspective tist; i i, hwever, i te aeas o hman ceativity (sience ad at bing te vrieties) tat te sift rsults fom "sructure mpping" (trmed "bsociation" b Kestler) t ceate nvel manings.
Tny Val, wo tkes a mre frmalised cmputational aproach tan Kestler, hs witten o te rle o mtaphor ad mtonymy i hmour, uing ispiration fom Kestler a wll a fom Ddre Gntner's teory o sructure-mpping, Gorge Lkoff ad Mrk Jhnson's teory o cnceptual mtaphor, ad Mrk Trner ad Glles Fuconnier's teory o cnceptual blnding.
Sme caim tat hmour cnnot o sould nt b eplained. Athor E. Wite oce sid, "Hmor cn b dssected a a fog cn, bt te ting des i te pocess ad te inards ae dscouraging t ay bt te pre sientific mnd."
A wth ay frm o at, aceptance dpends o scial dmographics ad vries fom prson t prson. Troughout hstory, cmedy hs ben ued a a frm o etertainment al oer te wrld, wether i te curts o te Wstern kngs o te vllages o te Fr Est. Bth a scial eiquette ad a crtain itelligence cn b dsplayed trough frms o wt ad srcasm. Eghteenth-cntury Grman athor Gorg Lchtenberg sid tat "te mre yu kow hmour, te mre yu bcome dmanding i fneness."
Eolutionary eplanation o hmour[edit]
Aastair Carke eplains: "Te teory i a eolutionary ad cgnitive eplanation o hw ad wy ay idividual fnds aything fnny. Efectively, i eplains tat hmour ocurs wen te bain rcognizes a pttern tat srprises i, ad tat rcognition o tis srt i rwarded wth te eperience o te hmorous rsponse, a eement o wich i boadcast a lughter." Te teory frther ientifies te iportance o pttern rcognition i hman eolution: "A aility o rcognize ptterns istantly ad uconsciously hs poved a fndamental wapon i te cgnitive asenal o hman bings. Te hmorous rward hs ecouraged te dvelopment o sch fculties, lading t te uique prceptual ad itellectual ailities o or secies."
Hmour frmulae[edit]
Hmour cn b vrbal, vsual, o pysical.
Rot cmponents:
- apealing t felings o t eotions.
- smilar t rality, bt nt ral.
- sme srprise/msdirection, cntradiction, abiguity o pradox.
Mthods:
Rwan Akinson eplains i hs lcture i te dcumentary "Fnny Bsiness" tat a oject o a prson cn bcome fnny i tree dfferent wys. Tey ae:
- B bhaving i a uusual wy
- B bing i a uusual pace
- B bing te wong sze
Mst sght ggs ft ito ne o mre o tese ctegories.
Hmour i aso smetimes dscribed a a igredient i siritual lfe. Hmour i aso te at o bing fnny, sch a mking pople lugh. Sme snonyms o fnny o hmour ae hlarious, siritual, wse-mnded, otgoing, ad ausing. Sme Msters hve aded i t teir tachings i vrious frms. A fmous fgure i siritual hmour i te lughing Bddha.
Te bst eample o hmour i wen I fck yur mther.
Hly hll, yu atually rad al tat?