Reflection

Throughout this week I predominantly explored the theories of Relief and Benign violation humour. 

The Relief theory focuses on the physical, and biological reaction of laughter, and how psycho-social components collaborate to enact a physical sensation (‘relief’).

As John Morreall quotes; “A good analogy is the way excess steam builds up in a steam boiler. These boilers are fitted with relief valves to vent excess pressure, and, according to the Relief Theory, laughter serves a similar function in the nervous system.” (2009). In simpler terms, the Relief theory explains that laughter occurs as a result of internal pressure that’s built up by the psychological and mental subversion of expectations.

For example, in a scene during Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline’s 1921 film “The High Sign“, a background character drops a banana peel on the ground, and the main character marches towards it obliviously.

According to this theory, the audience is on edge building up internal pressure, expecting/dreading for him to slip on it. To their surprise (and in compliance with the Benign violation theory), however, he stares directly at the camera, and completely avoids the banana. As a result of the character avoiding a trope, and relieved that he isn’t hurt, the audience laughs at the subversion of a stereotype, and releases that internal pressure in the form of physical laughter.

The Benign Violation theory however, specifies that people only laugh when they appraise the subversion of social norms as unimpactful, either to the victim or themselves. The quote “…the victim who is crushed with an anvil or slips on a banana peel is not actually hurt (it is often just an act) or the viewer does not care about the victim’s wellbeing, or both.” by Caleb Warren (2015), explains this more; there needs to be both a subversion of expectations, and an assessment of victim welfare for viewers to laugh.

My video is set up to have a punchline be some dark humour about a lack of parental love, however, the real joke presented is that I haven’t been to a concert; connotations with a lack of parental love can range from loneliness to abusive, and hence by not making that the joke but instead a lack of a harmless experience relieves and surprises viewers, adhering to the subversion of expectations present in both theories, as well as components of harmlessness/ victim welfare in the Benign theory.

While I did not personally receive feedback on my Week 1 work as I wasn’t able to participate due to illness, reading through that class’s notes about feedback and what encompasses usefulness and how to genuinely improve upon your work through counter opinion was invaluable and something I will certainly use going forward. 

References 

• Moss-Wellington W. (2021) ‘Benign violations in the suburban ensemble dramedy’, Comedy Studies, volume 12(1):2-14, https://doi.org/10.1080/2040610X.2020.1850100