SWA 2

Billy Bull
English 102
January 27, 2009
SWA 2

I really enjoyed the discussion in class about “shock value.” I feel that shock value should have been incorporated into the acronym: THREES, under the category surprise. Comedians such as Katt Williams, Steve Hostetter, Chris Rock, etc. tend to be very offensive; however, they are good at what they do and they cause the audience to laugh. Comedians have always tried to create a stir over what jokes they tell or who they have offended. What may have been crossing the line when my parents were my age is most likely not as shocking for those my age. For example, Animal House may have been shocking for my parents, while Zack and Miri is pushing the envelope for my generation. Even when my grandparents were my age, they could have thought that Some Like It Hot was shocking.

The author that explains it fairly well is Henri Bergson. His piece, The Comic in General-The Comic Element in Forms and Movement Expansive Force of the Comic, describes that people tend to find shock humor fairly funny. The term shock humor is very broad and can be applied to many different jokes. For example, a man tripping could be cause a shock, but is not necessarily shocking, where as the sexual jokes in Animal House or in Zack and Miri tend to be more shocking. The difference between causing a shock and for something to be shocking is that a shock is more instantaneous. While something that is shocking is fairly instant, it may stand out in one’s mind when he or she reflects on the joke more so than something that creates a shock.

Any film created by Kevin Smith is a great example of the use of shock value humor. For example, in his film Clerks he even shows through the customers that he knows he is being offensive. Pretty much everything that comes out of Randal’s mouth is offensive, and Kevin depicts this with the reaction of the customers in both the video store and the market. The majority of the dialogue as well as the scenes have something shocking and some scenes may have gone too far.