Political humor generally stems from political unrest or turmoil. Political humor is used to enhance/change the existing politics.
Recently, the most common political humor stemmed from the 2008 presidential election. Most of the humor was about Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. The reason for her being chosen to be humiliated is because she is attractive, and many people seem to find that there are very few attractive women in politics. One of the other women in politics that seem to get a lot of attention in humor is Hilary Clinton. When she visited Bosnia, she was being shot at as soon as she landed. But some people decided to change the image around a little bit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHVEDq6RVXc&feature=PlayList&p=0B8F18F3C334DC27&index=0&playnext=1
Another clip I found was regarding Obama and Hilary Clinton. This clip was different because both of them were the first of their kind, Hilary- a woman and Obama and african American. This clip shows all the controversy that Clinton faced in an attempt to reach the White House, with her husband having an affair with Monica Lewinski.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMs-p5y6cvo&feature=PlayList&p=0B8F18F3C334DC27&index=1&playnext=2&playnext_from=PL
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
my essay topic
My initial thought for an example of humor that i would like to analyze is how does humor make situations better. For example, when someone is hurt/sad, someone always likes to make a sarcastic remark in order to make the person feel better.
A Monument to Adam
Mark Twain's short story, A Monument to Adam, is all about how the city if Elmira believes that Charles Darwin completely forgot about Adam when discussing the evolution of man. Darwin describes that humans came from monkeys, but where does Adam fit in? "We had monkeys, and "missing links", and plenty of other kinds of ancestors, but no Adam." The people of Elmira believe Adam's name will be forgotten unless they do something about it, like build a monument. "Elmira ought not to waste this honorable opportunity to do Adam a favor."
Two bankers came forth and met with Mark. They came up with a proposal that would cost $25,000. The town believes that if they construct this monument, Elmira will be the new Mecca; people would come across the globe to see this statue. When the idea really hit the ground running was when the three of them submitted the proposal to General Joseph R. Hawley, who was supposed to be in the House and read the proposal aloud for the rest of the members. When time came to give the proposal, General Hawley was afraid it was "too serious, too gushy, too sentimental." But unfortunately the town never constructed the monument to honor the first male.
Two bankers came forth and met with Mark. They came up with a proposal that would cost $25,000. The town believes that if they construct this monument, Elmira will be the new Mecca; people would come across the globe to see this statue. When the idea really hit the ground running was when the three of them submitted the proposal to General Joseph R. Hawley, who was supposed to be in the House and read the proposal aloud for the rest of the members. When time came to give the proposal, General Hawley was afraid it was "too serious, too gushy, too sentimental." But unfortunately the town never constructed the monument to honor the first male.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Defining satire
An object is criticized because it falls short of some standard which the critic desires that it should reach.
"a literary manner which blends a critical attitude with humor and wit to the end that human institutions or humanity may be improved. The true satirist is conscious of the frailty of institutions of man's devising and attempts through laughter not so much to tear them down as to inspire a remodeling" (Thrall, et al 436).
Examples that everyone will know and understand are movies like Scary Movie, and Not Another Teen Movie. These movies make a mockery of other films, frequently horror films.
"a literary manner which blends a critical attitude with humor and wit to the end that human institutions or humanity may be improved. The true satirist is conscious of the frailty of institutions of man's devising and attempts through laughter not so much to tear them down as to inspire a remodeling" (Thrall, et al 436).
Examples that everyone will know and understand are movies like Scary Movie, and Not Another Teen Movie. These movies make a mockery of other films, frequently horror films.
Twain vs. Article
This is similar to my previous article. I believe that you cannot build up the humor in a story; the humor must be unexpected. If you build up the humor...you expect too much. The audience expects the story to be once in a life time story, but it does not turn out that way.
The only way to build up a story is with suspense. Suspense entices the audience. It gets the audience thinking over and over... what's next? This is similar to watching one of your favorite movies, or even a movie that you have never seen before, and the movie is just starting to get good but then a commercial comes on. When that happens I nearly shoot myself. I hate having to wait and see what happens later on.
The pause at the end of telling a funny joke/story is the where it really entices the audience. It gives the audience a chance to think about the answer or what will happen later. Then the punch line comes in, and the audience comes to expect something hilarious.
The "Golden Arm" was very difficult to read (well to the lazy reader). You must interpret the sounds and the spelling. This article was similar to the writer from the "celebrated jumping frog".
The only way to build up a story is with suspense. Suspense entices the audience. It gets the audience thinking over and over... what's next? This is similar to watching one of your favorite movies, or even a movie that you have never seen before, and the movie is just starting to get good but then a commercial comes on. When that happens I nearly shoot myself. I hate having to wait and see what happens later on.
The pause at the end of telling a funny joke/story is the where it really entices the audience. It gives the audience a chance to think about the answer or what will happen later. Then the punch line comes in, and the audience comes to expect something hilarious.
The "Golden Arm" was very difficult to read (well to the lazy reader). You must interpret the sounds and the spelling. This article was similar to the writer from the "celebrated jumping frog".
Mark Twain
I cannot say that I have a favorite author, probably because I do not read enough to have one, but I could say that Mark Twain would definitely be included in a list if I made one. Dating back to high school, one of my favorite books of all time was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In Tom's book, my favorite part was when the come out the back during their own funeral to surprise the town as the town thought he and Huck had died. In Huck's book, the part of the book that intrigued me the most was the controversy that Huck was faced with with the runaway slave. He struggled with the idea of whether to turn him in or not.
I agree with what the article said about Twain's humor in his stories. He knows what he says will be funny, but he plays it off as if he didn't think it would be funny. Conversely, the European writers would make a big deal of how a joke was upcoming. Humor for me comes when it is not expected. I feel as if humor is built up, you end up being let down cause it's not as funny as you had hoped it would be. Humor must be solely unexpected.
I agree with what the article said about Twain's humor in his stories. He knows what he says will be funny, but he plays it off as if he didn't think it would be funny. Conversely, the European writers would make a big deal of how a joke was upcoming. Humor for me comes when it is not expected. I feel as if humor is built up, you end up being let down cause it's not as funny as you had hoped it would be. Humor must be solely unexpected.
Why Can't you be normal looking?
Why Can’t You Be Normal Looking?
Anchorman. Zoolander. Two and a Half Men. Seinfeld. The Simpsons. King of Queens. Entourage. Wedding Crashers. Old School. Billy Madison. If anyone were to catch me watching the television, at any given point in time, they would most likely find me watching one of these shows or movies. Each of these comedies depict a humorous way that these characters live their everyday lives which happens to appeal to me. I never thought to think of why I found these kinds of comedies funny until I took this Rhetoric of Humor and Satire class. As class went on, I slowly began to realize which type of humor causes me to laugh on a consistent basis. Of the three mains theories, Superiority Theory, Incongruity Theory and Release Theory, I think the most evident reason why something amuses me is the Superiority theory. I realized I found comedians like Mitch Hedberg or Dave Chappelle amusing because I was laughing more at them than with them. I think this relates to Professor Katz’s point that generally most comedians are less than average looking.
The other day I was watching Mitch Hedberg after having watched and discussed him in class, and I strongly believe that he was a classic example of how a member of the audience could relate to the Superiority Theory. Hedberg was much less than the average looking with his long hair and grungy look. However his approach to telling his jokes the more interesting part. He is extremely nervous when on stage, he has this sort of stutter that effects the delivery of his speech, along with the fact that he struggles making eye contact with the audience. I find Hedberg hilarious because of the fact that he jokes about simple every day struggles. He is able to look at these daily routines in a third person, and find the humor within something so simple. He once made a joke after watching a commercial for a tool to water your hard-to-reach plants, but “who the fuck would want to make their plants hard to reach?” When watching these infomercials, we always hear the generic payment process. This tool was available for four easy payments of $19.95, and we hear this saying in so many infomercials but do not think much of it. Of course Hedberg would much rather make joke about this. He mocked the infomercial saying, “I rather have three easy payments and one complicated payment.” After watching these videos in class, it caused me to want to watch them more often on my own in my free time as well.
I have noticed that many of the humorous shows and movies that I find appealing happen to follow many of the comedic rules we discussed in class. In all of these shows and movies, there is a great deal of embarrassment or physical harm. All the humor from my favorite movies of all time like Anchorman and Billy Madison is due to the pure embarrassment presented by each character. In Anchorman, all of the humor relates to the character of Ron Burgandy, played by Will Ferrell, and his stupidity and common sense. Throughout the movie, Ron’s dog, Baxter, was literally his best friend. He would dress his dog up in the same pajamas as he wore at night while having the dog wear a similar retainer. Ron convinced himself that he was able to speak with Baxter. After nights out on the town he would go home and have a conversation with his dog just to relive the night. One of my favorite lines and one of my most quoted lines from the movie when Ron came home from a date and Ron began talking with the dog. The dog barked at Ron and Ron interpreted it as “you ate the whole wheel of cheese?!?!? I’m not even mad…that’s just amazing”. It appears to be funny when you see the miniscule dog in the movie and you are able to picture the dog attempting to eat the wheel of cheese. The movie goes downhill for Ron when he throws a burrito out of his car window and accidentally hits a motorcyclist. Once both vehicles come to a stop, the motorcyclist grabs the dog out of his car and dropkicks Baxter off the Coranado Bridge. Many of these movies deal with extreme absurdity as well.
My other favorite movie of all time is Billy Madison. Billy, played by Adam Sandler, is a son of a multi-millionaire hotel owner. Everything in life came too easy to Billy. He was given anything and everything he wanted from his father. Billy barely made it through elementary and high school because he never thought he would need to learn anything with the kind of money he had. Billy did nothing with his life after high school. He and a few of his friends would live in his guest-house drinking and partying all day and all night long. The boys would do absurd things like go around lighting bags of human disposal on fire, ringing the door bell and watching from a distance. The opening scene from the movie was one of my favorite parts because it opens up with Billy lying in a floating pool toy as he realizes that he has not put sun screen on while in the sun. Getting distracted he thought we would make a smiley face by putting sunscreen on his nipples for eyes and creating a smile under his belly button for the mouth. Once he finished his artwork he said “smiley” in a hysterical manner that could only be understood if seen the movie. His foolish idiotic actions are so ludicrous one can only laugh hysterically.
Humor is a lot more complicated that I thought before I took this class. I never thought it would be as hard as it is to talk about, describe, or explain humor. I have found that I agree with the Superiority Theory the most. This is due to the fact that in the shows and movies that I watch, I am usually laughing at the actor or speaker for his or her embarrassment or absurdity. This is the kind of humor I have found that I am most attracted to throughout taking this course.
Anchorman. Zoolander. Two and a Half Men. Seinfeld. The Simpsons. King of Queens. Entourage. Wedding Crashers. Old School. Billy Madison. If anyone were to catch me watching the television, at any given point in time, they would most likely find me watching one of these shows or movies. Each of these comedies depict a humorous way that these characters live their everyday lives which happens to appeal to me. I never thought to think of why I found these kinds of comedies funny until I took this Rhetoric of Humor and Satire class. As class went on, I slowly began to realize which type of humor causes me to laugh on a consistent basis. Of the three mains theories, Superiority Theory, Incongruity Theory and Release Theory, I think the most evident reason why something amuses me is the Superiority theory. I realized I found comedians like Mitch Hedberg or Dave Chappelle amusing because I was laughing more at them than with them. I think this relates to Professor Katz’s point that generally most comedians are less than average looking.
The other day I was watching Mitch Hedberg after having watched and discussed him in class, and I strongly believe that he was a classic example of how a member of the audience could relate to the Superiority Theory. Hedberg was much less than the average looking with his long hair and grungy look. However his approach to telling his jokes the more interesting part. He is extremely nervous when on stage, he has this sort of stutter that effects the delivery of his speech, along with the fact that he struggles making eye contact with the audience. I find Hedberg hilarious because of the fact that he jokes about simple every day struggles. He is able to look at these daily routines in a third person, and find the humor within something so simple. He once made a joke after watching a commercial for a tool to water your hard-to-reach plants, but “who the fuck would want to make their plants hard to reach?” When watching these infomercials, we always hear the generic payment process. This tool was available for four easy payments of $19.95, and we hear this saying in so many infomercials but do not think much of it. Of course Hedberg would much rather make joke about this. He mocked the infomercial saying, “I rather have three easy payments and one complicated payment.” After watching these videos in class, it caused me to want to watch them more often on my own in my free time as well.
I have noticed that many of the humorous shows and movies that I find appealing happen to follow many of the comedic rules we discussed in class. In all of these shows and movies, there is a great deal of embarrassment or physical harm. All the humor from my favorite movies of all time like Anchorman and Billy Madison is due to the pure embarrassment presented by each character. In Anchorman, all of the humor relates to the character of Ron Burgandy, played by Will Ferrell, and his stupidity and common sense. Throughout the movie, Ron’s dog, Baxter, was literally his best friend. He would dress his dog up in the same pajamas as he wore at night while having the dog wear a similar retainer. Ron convinced himself that he was able to speak with Baxter. After nights out on the town he would go home and have a conversation with his dog just to relive the night. One of my favorite lines and one of my most quoted lines from the movie when Ron came home from a date and Ron began talking with the dog. The dog barked at Ron and Ron interpreted it as “you ate the whole wheel of cheese?!?!? I’m not even mad…that’s just amazing”. It appears to be funny when you see the miniscule dog in the movie and you are able to picture the dog attempting to eat the wheel of cheese. The movie goes downhill for Ron when he throws a burrito out of his car window and accidentally hits a motorcyclist. Once both vehicles come to a stop, the motorcyclist grabs the dog out of his car and dropkicks Baxter off the Coranado Bridge. Many of these movies deal with extreme absurdity as well.
My other favorite movie of all time is Billy Madison. Billy, played by Adam Sandler, is a son of a multi-millionaire hotel owner. Everything in life came too easy to Billy. He was given anything and everything he wanted from his father. Billy barely made it through elementary and high school because he never thought he would need to learn anything with the kind of money he had. Billy did nothing with his life after high school. He and a few of his friends would live in his guest-house drinking and partying all day and all night long. The boys would do absurd things like go around lighting bags of human disposal on fire, ringing the door bell and watching from a distance. The opening scene from the movie was one of my favorite parts because it opens up with Billy lying in a floating pool toy as he realizes that he has not put sun screen on while in the sun. Getting distracted he thought we would make a smiley face by putting sunscreen on his nipples for eyes and creating a smile under his belly button for the mouth. Once he finished his artwork he said “smiley” in a hysterical manner that could only be understood if seen the movie. His foolish idiotic actions are so ludicrous one can only laugh hysterically.
Humor is a lot more complicated that I thought before I took this class. I never thought it would be as hard as it is to talk about, describe, or explain humor. I have found that I agree with the Superiority Theory the most. This is due to the fact that in the shows and movies that I watch, I am usually laughing at the actor or speaker for his or her embarrassment or absurdity. This is the kind of humor I have found that I am most attracted to throughout taking this course.
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