Superiority Theory In Reflections Upon Laughter

States have choices in the means by which to promote community well-being, protect public safety and curb the drug trade. Over the last two decades, the choice was imprisonment. Prison is, of course, a legitimate criminal sanction, but it should be used as a last resort – i.e. used only for serious crimes -- and the length of the sentence should be commensurate with the conduct and culpability of the offender. Unfortunately, too many states have opted instead for sentencing policies that mandate long sentences even for nonviolent, low-level drug offenders. In her article, Patrice Gaines, the author of Laughing in the Dark: from Colored girl to woman of a color-A journey from prison to power, argues that it is necessary to provide restorative

    The form of communication created by the television is not only a part of how our modern society communicates, but is has changed public discourse to the point that it has completely redefined it, argued Neil Postman in his convincing book Amusing Ourselves to Death. He viewed this as very harmful, and additionally so because our society is ignorant of it as they quickly becomes engulfed in its epistemology. When faced with the question about whether the television shapes or reflects culture, Postman pointed out that it is no longer applicable because "television has gradually become our culture" (79). What kind of culture is this? Postman warned that it is one in which we

As asserted by Alain de Botton in his book, "Status Anxiety", humorists not only entertain but convey controversial and necessary messages. With their standing in today's world, humorists, such as comedians, talk show hosts, and cartoonists, play a vital role in society. These people put issues out in the open when others hide them away. Once these issues are in the air to talk about, the people contribute to conversations, which leads to steps taken to stop the problem. But that could never happen unless humorists helped us see.

In the BBC article “How comedy makes us better people” Mary O’Hara claims comedy holds a very relevant place in not only British politics and culture, but in the entire world because it can be used to comprehend and come to terms with confusing events or tragedies, challenge the authority of our governments, and destroy bigoted states of mind. Humor continues to mystify the people who study it to this day. Why does humor play a major part in our everyday lives? What is the significance of it? O’Hara interviews experts from many different fields discussing comedy and its impact on the emotions, politics, and differing points of view. For instance, the tragedy of 9/11 had many jokes following its events because people around the world were trying to grasp why such a terrible thing

Laughter can be an instinctive expression of lively amusement although we don’t usually realise the offence of the joke we are laughing at. Tamara discusses modern satire and its position in humanity.

In a study conducted by Kuiper & Harris (2009), the extent to which humor styles can predict different components of physical health was examined. A sample of 105 undergraduate students within the age range of 17-34 years was selected for the study. The different components of physical health included physical symptoms, attitudes about physical health issues, and coping strategies for dealing with a variety of common physical health ailments and complaints. Adaptive and maladaptive humor styles were expected to show differential relationships with the components of physical health. It was found that humor styles were unrelated to the number of physical symptoms experienced by the participants. The results also showed that higher levels of adaptive

Although not recognized easily, humor is an effective tool that can influence the society. As Alain de Botton argues in his book Status Anxiety, humorists serve a vital function in that they satirize the social problems without offending any particular groups. They identify the troubles, exaggerate through humor, and effectively deliver the messages they have intended. The position of humorists can be recognized simply through media that people encounter everyday. Dave Barry’s The Ugly Truth about Beauty and Jon Stewart on The Daily Show reveals how humorists' indirect criticisms through wit can change the world by acknowledging people about the problems that are embedded in themselves.

There is a sense of joy found in feeling superior to someone else. In John Lippitt’s “Humor and Superiority”, Lippitt talks about the ideas of Thomas Hobbes, where he tells his beliefs about comparing the less able to the ablest people. In this particular comedy sketch, “The Kids in the Hall”, Greene plays a role of the straight man, the character normally not creating the laughter. McGuillicutty plays the role of funny man, the one who uses the straight man to create laughter. Fortunately, the roles of these two character’s reverse.

Over the past 70 years, there has been great change in comedy especially for African-Americans and other Non-American races. During the early days of comedy, many of these people were considered to be minorities during that era. This influenced many comedic stints of that time which over the years have evolved to catch up with the modern day society. Some of these include the humor, the topics discussed and also epithets. Over the years many comedians have emerged from ‘this’ group of minorities and have played a major factor in the evolution of comedy itself and how the different minorities have evolved from being quiet to playing a great part in show casing their lifestyle. Compared to the past, there has been a great change in comedy from the old times of Dick Gregory to the modern times of Aziz Ansari.

Laughter is something that breaks tensions, forms bonds between its victims, and can cheer up your day. It has been scientifically proven that laughter sends rushes of dopamine (the brain’s happy “drug”) to the brain, in which results in you being in a better mood. Everyone is different; hence, everyone will find their own definition of what is funny. Though, there are usually socially acceptable things to laugh at and to not within a community. For example, in America, it is not socially acceptable to laugh if you find out someone has died, or if someone is severely injured. First instinct is to cry, consult the family, and have alone time. However, in Felicidade Eterna, their first instinct is to make it a positive situation and laugh it

For this experiment, I went to McDonalds, because that restaurant is known for promoting laughter and happiness. They even have an item that is called a happy meal, and their slogan is "Para Pa Pa I'm Loving it!". Therefore, I was expecting that I would get plenty of laughs across the board. My hypothesis was disproven as there were more females than males laughing. The theme of laughter that I found to be most prevalent was humor that comes from cute child behavior. There were plenty of families with plenty of children, but one couple in particular caught my eye because the mom was not laughing like the father was, because she was the one dealing with adult issues. Customers were not the only ones laughing, the employees in the kitchen, behind the cash register and on break laugh almost as much. Therefore, I concluded from the employee's laughs that they really enjoy their job, as I counted 7 laughs from the employees and 11 laughs from the customers.

This imprecise view would make it even more difficult to determine whether a certain type of humor is more beneficial when it comes to regulating negative emotions. More empirical evidence is required before we can determine that humor itself is a positive phenomenon for regulating negative emotions.

Laughter Out of Place: Race, Class, Violence and Sexuality in a Rio Shantytown- Donna M Goldstein

Humour is “anything done or said, purposely or adversity that is found to be comical or amusing” (Long & Graesser, 1988). The film ‘Deadpool’ (2016) by Tim Miller is an origin story around a fast-talking mercenary with a morbid sense of humour who is subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated superpowers and a quest for revenge. This film demonstrates unique conventions and commentaries that goes against the superhero film genre by integrating significant humour theories. This essay will outline parody theory of the superhero film, incongruity theory applies unexpected surprises with illogical situations, ‘no lasting harm’ and ‘happy endings’ in the psychoanalytical theory. Lastly addressing the superiority theory using

Humour and satire are two concepts that are both wide ranging and diverse, from dark, to light hearted, with each producing a different effect. Humour in the main, is something that is used to please the audience, its function is to invoke laughter amongst its audience. Satire is used to create a comical critical view of the subject at hand, this can range from a light hearted comical way, to a judgemental way, with each style giving the text a different meaning, however this does not mean that satire cannot be humorous, which can evident in the use of parody and irony within texts. Within literature both concepts play an important role to how the text is viewed, humour can include word play, grammatical jokes, to even inside jokes with the author and reader, and with satire, including that of irony and parody, with each style and type delivering humour in its own unique way. These differing styles of humour can be found in a variety of forms including Jasper Forde’s The Eyre Affair (2001), with its silly atmosphere, word play and grammar jokes, and the use of light hearted satire and parody to brighten up the text, and Julian Barnes A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters (1989), where there is a more serious atmosphere, with a more critical, satirical eye on history and characters, as well as using irony to achieve its comical effect, and the position of the world. Each text is humorous and satirical in its own right, and with each author using different techniques to