January 20

January 20, 2009
SWA 1

In Henri Bergson’s article The Comic in General-The Comic Element in Forms and Movement Expansive Force of the Comic, the author describes some of the common elements to humor are clumsy jokes, pranks, and witnessing pain.  Bergson continues to use the example of a man falling as a form of his on misfortune and in the sense of a prank.

            According to the author, in order to understand laughter, humans must “put it back into its natural environment, which is society.”  The author continually uses an example where a boy trips, and explains it through different ways that could cause this to occur.  Whether the incident was accidental or a prank, the author states this to be funny because it puts the boy in an awkward situation.    

Bergson is completely correct with his views of humor.  Shows such as Punk’d, Jackass, or MXC tend to have a pretty high following.   Although it appears that Punk’d has lost its popularity, shows that focus on pranks are still one of the more popular themes.  Society likes to laugh at when people make fools of themselves.  This continues to be true for shows such as Jackass of MXC.  Jackass is a program that shows a group of men trying to physically hurt each other.  A popular scene from the second movie is the four way see-saw bull fight, where four of the members sit on a see-saw as a bull tries to knock them off.  Another show that depicts pain as a form of comedy is the Japanese Game show most extreme elimination, where two teams try to complete various obstacles that have a high possibility of the contestant getting hurt.  Not only do the contestants make complete fools of themselves, but the T.V. station translates the Japanese into something that would make fun of the contestants or into a sexual joke.   One of the more common events is called Floaters and Sinkers, where contestants have to run across a pond, jumping from rock to rock, but some rocks float and some rocks sink.    

             Why do people find the pain of others to be so funny?  It may be because everybody is a critic; but I don’t think the viewers are judging the boy who accidently tripped; however, I am sure people judge the characters of the show Jackass.  In most of the recent comical movies there is a scene where one or more of the characters get hurt.  Therefore, society will continually feel that pain leads to laughter.