Reflection

• The deviation from the norm in this piece revolves around the seemingly mundane act of retrieving mail at night turning into a chain of unexpected events triggered by a surprising letter from an old friend. The norm here is that receiving mail at home, even at odd hours, is a routine activity. The anticipation is that the man will simply retrieve his mail, perhaps in a mundane fashion, and return to his Batman-themed chair without incident. However, the norm is quickly disrupted when the letter from the old friend is revealed to hold a grudge, setting the stage for an unexpected turn of events. The eerie, ominous music sets the tone, hinting at something sinister lurking beneath the surface. As the man descends the stairs, the tension builds, only to be shattered by the absurdity of the flashback sequence triggered by the old friend’s recounting of a childhood memory in the letter. The transition to the flashback is punctuated by a classic sound effect, instantly transporting the audience into the past coupled with the transition effect of a ripple in water. As said in Berger’s ‘The semiotics of humour:..’, “All of these things are ‘signs’ which is the core concept in semiotics.” Everything from their clothes, expressions to the sounds and visuals are all signs to signal to the audience the meaning being portrayed, for example within the flashback itself, we witness the actions of a younger version of the man stealing his friend’s favourite swing by pushing him off. The exaggerated actions and expressions of the child actors add to the comedic effect, emphasising the ridiculousness of the situation. As the flashback ends with the same transition and sound effect, the audience is jolted back to the present by the setting and dark lighting, only to be met with another unexpected twist: the man’s beloved Batman chair has been stolen as an act of revenge. The escalation of absurdity, from a childhood prank to a missing valuable chair, adds layers of humour to the scene. The use of language in the old friend’s narration adds another dimension to the piece, as his matter-of-fact delivery complements the absurdity of his actions. In conclusion, the disruption of expectation in this comedy piece is executed through a combination of story/context humour along with the added slapstick visual humour, performance, and audio cues, creating a hopefully comedic experience for the audience.

References:

Berger, A.A. (1970) The semiotics of humour: Universal humour techniques in comedy writing, SpringerLink. Available at: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-33422-1_2

Reflection

• The “Disruption of Expectation” is a classic technique utilised to subvert the audience’s anticipated outcome, leading to unexpected and often humorous results. In this piece of comedy the disruption occurs through the juxtaposition of familiar characters and situations within the Lego universe. The norm, anticipation, presumption, and common logic that are disrupted revolve around the perceived competence and seriousness of characters like Lego Dr. Strange and Lego Thor. Typically, these characters are portrayed as powerful and heroic figures, capable of handling any challenge with grace and skill. However, in this comedic piece, their dignity is compromised as they engage in a series of clumsy and absurd actions. Following the core idea of slapstick humour, “it made a satisfyingly loud sound without inflicting any real pain”. The moment creates absurdity through multiple layers of humour; the visual humour is evident in the contrast between the grand entrances of Lego Dr. Strange and Lego Thor and their subsequent mishaps, such as Lego Dr. Strange’s trip over a small Lego brick, this is a simple depiction of visual humour. This unexpected clumsiness undermines their usual air of confidence and power. For performance the exaggerated movements and expressions of the Lego characters enhance the comedic effect. Lego Dr. Strange’s hurried attempts to regain his composure and then awkward pause and Lego Thor’s scene of being thrown upside down add to the absurdity of the situation. This is also backed by the concept of the benign violation theory, “For a violation to produce humour, it also needs to seem OK, safe, acceptable, or, in other words, benign.” The two lego characters remain fine after the violations that occur. Then we are introduced to Lego Lady Thor and Lego Ice-Cream Cone Girl adding another layer of humour to the scene. Their casual enjoyment of noodles atop a giant Lego Mjolnir provides a humorous contrast to the intense battle unfolding before them. The absurdity of the situation is heightened by the juxtaposition of epic conflict and mundane activities. While not heavily the focus, sound effects such as the clattering of Lego bricks and the slurping of noodles further enhance the comedic experience. These auditory cues contribute to the overall sense of chaos and hilarity. By disrupting the audience’s expectations of how characters like Lego Dr. Strange and Lego Thor should behave, the lego comedy piece creates a delightfully incongruous and humorous scenario. Through a combination of visual humour, performance, story/context humour, and potentially audio humour.

References:

Warren, C. and McGraw, A.P. (2015) Benign violation theory, SSRN. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2559414

Peacock, L. (1970) What is slapstick?, SpringerLink. Available at: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137438973_2

Reflection

• The disruption of expectation in my sketch is through the opening line, “Top five people who didn’t stand up for themselves.” The audience is then misled by the built up social meaning of that statement which is that I’m referring to, a set of people who didn’t assert their position or stance against an opposition and weren’t able to express their own needs, wants, and opinions in a clear and confident manner. The audience is then surprised when they see number five on the list is Rosa Parks who did ‘stand up for themselves’ just not in the literal sense of the meaning because she protested by sitting down on the bus. And as Seth Simons said in ‘Six Small Essays about Comedy’, “This time around I was equipped to understand a line that went over my head 20 years ago..”. The idea of getting a joke makes the ‘bit’ funnier for an audience and for the audience that’s understanding that Rosa Parks didn’t technically stand up for herself. Another expectation which is then also subverted is the genre of music which begins with a typical melody that’s associated with a ranking list to then the ‘Prowler Theme” from ‘Spiderman into the Spider-verse’, the sharp transition which is timed with the subversion of the reveal of rosa parks compliments the moment by enhancing the starkness of it. In Nick’s book ‘Sketch  Comedy’ he mentions, “The first minute or so of any comedy sketch usually introduces viewers to a funny world or worldview,” The bottom half of the video also showcases a copyright free minecraft parkour video which has become a commonplace attention grab to keep the audience focused on social media content but it also sets up that expectation of a set of rules and the world of norms that would come with that. which is an AI narration or a text that is alongside the video or another video on top of it and so on. Another disruption of expectation is the voices that narrate the ranking video starting from the beginning. The AI voice narration sets an expectation for the audience but is followed by a very high pitched ‘Kawaii’ voice and that difference is another stark change that could create humour through the sense of shock or surprise. The last nail in the coffin would have to be the snippet reveal of the number four candidate with another beat of the ‘Prowler Theme’ to coincide with it, a close up of Stephen Hawking who famously is known to be suffering from ALS a motor neuron disease that literally leaves him unable to ‘stand up for himself’ a similar subversion to rosa park but much darker in its context and its tone of humour which is intended to inspire comedy through instilling shock, confusion, incongruity even. The speed at which it is also cut off is another factor added to the piece of comedy.

References:

Simons, S. (2023) Six small essays about comedy, Humorism. Available at: https://www.humorism.xyz/six-small-essays-about-comedy/

 Marx, Nick. Sketch Comedy : Identity, Reflexivity, and American Television, Indiana University Press, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rmit/detail.action?docID=6513090.