Reflection:

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/TzxlJ_srv5Y

This week I learnt about two other theories of humour. 

The creator of the relief theory, Sigmund Freud, believed that laughter was a way to release pent up ‘animal spirits’ (J Morreall, 2009), psychological tension and alleviate anxiety from within (Meyerowitz, 2023). I understand why this is a theory of humour because when we laugh at something funny we feel a sense of relief. Although like we learnt last week laughter can be triggered in so many other situations, it doesn’t take into account other factors like environment, social, cultural and more.   

In regards to the Benign Violation, this theory suggests that humour arises when something that is benign and a violation happens simultaneously. This type of humour works because it ‘could be a method of reassessing negative events in comical constructive and more affirmative ways’ (Harm et al., 2014). I believe that this theory helps to show that humour is subjective and complex. Different people may perceive the benignity and violation elements differently because of their individual perspectives, experiences and cultural backgrounds. 

My media artefact was based on this week’s topic of silent comedy. In class we watched the infamous first episode of Mr Bean. The sketch might not have been silent but it lacked dialogue. It made up for it with other elements such as performance, timing, repetition and laughing track. These techniques helped to inform my work. I showed my sister returning back from school, knocking on the front door to get in. She becomes angrier, climbing through the window, only to find the door unlocked. I directed my sister in her performance, making her facial expressions more exaggerated to heighten the intensity of the situation. Additionally, I contrasted the happy upbeat music with epic music to show the goal or the objective of getting through the door. I also kept in mind the relief theory, where tension is built as my sister struggles to open the door, and it is released with a simple solution at the end. 

Furthermore, peer feedback in class helped me further develop my skills in this skit. My peers gave suggestions of different angles for the camera, extending my skit and emphasising the actor by adding close up facial expressions. Something that I could have done better is to stretch out the ending of the skit, to really focus on the fact that the door was unlocked the whole time. 

References:

Harm, J., Vieillard, S., & Didierjean, A. (2014). Using humour as an extrinsic source of emotion regulation in young and older adults. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 67(10), 1895–1909.

Meyerowitz, R. (2023). Sigmund Freud: Later models-identification, internal structure, and the ubiquity of loss. In Mourning and Metabolization (1st ed., pp. 58–95). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003266631-3

Morreall, J. (2009). No Laughing Matter: The Traditional Rejection of Humor and Traditional Theories of Humor. In Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor (pp. 1–26). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.