Humour

[P_R]

Shakespeare wanted his cloak checked to make sure it didn't need mending. It was perfect and needed no mending, the tailor remarked: "No holes bard !"

[P_R]

Add another question deepak.
1. Calling names, dirty bit*ching, belittling oneself(or others) are also considered humour and widely enjoyed by many.

There is a belief, that, these kind of humour or its enjoyment refect actually the dirty face of helplessness of one's ownself towards another.

Whats ur take on this?

[P_R]

We laugh at so many things but check ourselves when it comes to certain things. Morbid things like death,physical suffering. Natural shortcomings like physical shortcomings and perceived shortcomings like shortness, baldness,obesity etc. Innuendoes and insults. Some find sexual humour offensive. Most find scatological humour offensive. Some find puns juvenile.

Oscar Wilde and Bernard Shaw's repartees are stuff of legend. Vitriolic insults that would take a lifetime for the recveiver to come out of. Sample: someone at a party was namedropping like crazy and seemed to know every single person of the high and mity. Wilde remarked: "he seems to have been invited to every manor - once".

That generates in us a well deserved smile. We have no reluctance yielding to that wit. While indeed it is much more painful to the recepient than the slipping over the banana peel - which we refuse to laugh at because it is indecent to do so.

So what actually is the basis of our decency ? Is it really the notion that 'someone's suffering cannot be source of our humour' ? Seems to be that the understanding of 'suffering' seems to be evolutionary. In the sense that, when swathed in the artifices of civility like 'wordplay', clever conversation we are relatively less reluctant to laugh at suffering.

This plunges me into introspection. The question "why we laugh" can never be satisfactorily answered. It is right up there with "what is the nature of brahman" kind of questions

But it does not take much to realize that most of our laughter does indeed come from someone's suffering. Either the butt of the joke is not within earshot, or has a sense of humour to brush it off. So now, it is getting complicated, it has become a function of the personality of the recepient of the jibe. Just pause and think of it. This is the case with verbal/intellectual humour in private conversation. When I make light of a serious concept, if my boss takes the belittling of his brainchild seriously he is indeed suffering (and I will be suffering soon !).

So what a summary classification of decent v indecent/ innocent v insulting actually is, is a split generated by our civilized mind that is insuficiently introspective. So when we think we are being sensitive and refusing to laugh at certain suffering, we are actually being insensitive because we laugh at certain other suffering without realizing that it is indeed suffering that we are laughing at.

My short story: Kadumnagai, was essentially geared towards this.

I know we shall be in different world on this. And of course each to his/her choice of humour and all that. Just wanted to state that the classification are driven by our perceptions and not hard cold physical classifications that exist in reality.

Let me sign off with a 'racial insult' attributed to no less than Mahatma Gandhi. When he was in London at a fruitless second round table conference...

Reporters: What is your opinion about civilization in the west ?
Gandhi: I think it is a good idea

I haven't attempted to directly answer your specific question. Deepauk will do a better job of that

[sarna_blr]

edhukkaaga indha thread

[P_R]

Add another question deepak.
1. Calling names, dirty bit*ching, belittling oneself(or others) are also considered humour and widely enjoyed by many.

There is a belief, that, these kind of humour or its enjoyment refect actually the dirty face of helplessness of one's ownself towards another.

Whats ur take on this?

SP, Glad the B'bay Jayashri link was able to provide a convincing answer even though I didn't.
Let me try not to hide behind verbal calisthenics (as you suggested I might try to ).
Clarification: I am not sure I completely understand "the dirty face of helplessness of one's ownself towards another". But let me train my answer in the general direction of where I believe you are coming from.

In the united states the use of the "N" word (a racial epithet that denotes a person of african-american descent) is a controversial issue, especially with regard to who uses it and when. But the only people who are given unlimited leeway in the usage of the word,as long as it is part of their act (I hasten to add this in light of what happened with one Michael Richards, famously known for playing Kramer in Seinfeld), are comedians. I enjoy this aspect of the culture for 2 reasons:
1. It releases the performance art of comedy from the shackles of socially sanctioned decency.
2. It reduces the negative association/stigma associated with the word as well as the meaning by creating a mental re-association with something positive.
IMO the extraordinary efforts taken by those interested in not offending the feelings of others, are an inherent result of a perceived sense of superiority. And the offense taken by targets is a manifestation of their internal insecurity. And I guarantee I speak from personal experience when I say the previous sentence. As thambi equanimus might say, "nilA enna AgasaththulayA irukku? nilA manasula irukku" .

[P_R]

I just dont know how u guys react to the foll comedy.

I mean talkin on looks or branding someone as non-intelligent , even calling him names is fine....(Tolerable enough though sometimes some may seethe internally ) Raunch / Saddism as themes are sometimes too distasteful. Fine lets leave that out too.


What I cannot understand is, how do we rate,
kicking and other such physical abuse as comedy?

poda naaye and some x kicks y. (Do we need to grin ?)
pongappa

X punches y and y bleeds. Should we smile ? (atleast some of us cant )

This is where I get a feeling, things which we cant do, our inner self is happy when we see someone else doing it to another.
Typical satisfaction of "albert pinto ko gussa kyon aata hai" types.

I remember some vivek and sundar c scene in some nameless movie where he pokes vivek's hand with a spanner or sharper instrument and asks

"valikutha"

vivek wanna sport a brave man and tries to swallow his pain

"illaiye" (and he is bleeding! )

I mean I feel many people FLINCH at such comedies
Or may be few like me are weird [


anyway, this is not a question, or counter argument, or I aint any authority to talk on which is apt comedy. I just wanted to share my stand. So please dont get me wrong.

[P_R]

edhukkaaga indha thread

sirippai paththi sindhanaigaL pagirndhukoLLa

[sarna_blr]

edhukkaaga indha thread

sirippai paththi sindhanaigaL pagirndhukoLLa

for the kind information

[pavalamani pragasam]

sirippil eththanai vagai!

siriththu vaaza vENdum piRar sirikka vaaznthidaathE!

[sarna_blr]

PR, Karagaattakaaran, SingaravElan, Ullaththai allithaa , Nadigan , Mannan , few prabhu's movie with GM makes me but excluding few scenes of GM like thakkaali pazhaththula thaar ooththuna maadhiri irukku ( I remember Senthil's reply to GM , annE romba sevappudaa )

SP akka, indha jokes ellaam paaththirukkamaattaanganu nenakkurEn

actually few months back, in GM thread ( 1st thread ) , u and Viv's used to post some laughable jokes ( atleast for me ) in GM thread I was actively participating in GM thread ( means I was a regular visitor those days )

but ippa ellaam, GM thummuna kooda adhu periya joke'nu solli pOduradhu konjam Over'aa irukku