Comment to Lead Blog (Caroline)


I have never seen the movie Talladega Nights, but I have heard from a lot of people about how funny it is. I think it is quite impressive when a movie is able to portray a type of comedy that many people can find humorous. While I was reading Caroline’s blog post, it impressed me that she was able to identify all three theories of comedy as they were being applied in the scene she used as an example. Using all three theories throughout entire scenes from Talladega Nights helped to maximize the humor that people experienced. When a piece of comedy is able to use all three theories, it provides a greater chance for more people to be able to identify with the type of comedy that they find the most humorous. Therefore allowing the movie to be found enjoyable and funny by a wider range of people. The examples that Caroline used in her blog post were perfect because they gave me an understanding of what the movie was about and the type of comedy that was used. Caroline summed up her example perfectly when she said that “He makes Jesus, the holiest of all figures, look like a normal guy.” The reason that I believe this summarizes the examples she used perfectly is because of how it is able to portray the irony and incongruity in the scene. The irony in this quote comes from the way that Caroline explains how Ricky talks about Jesus as if he is just an average guy when in reality he is a very holy figure. Incongruity is also perceived from this quote because of how absurd and inappropriate it seems for someone to describe Jesus as a typical guy instead of someone who should be worshiped. These elements and the other two theories were the crucial aspects that lead to the development of humor in the scene that Caroline described.

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 11, 2018 at 8:53 AM

    I think you are correct about the use of all three types of humor coming together and making a work of comedy great. If all of the jokes in a movie or show use the same type of humor then the viewer will get bored and eventually move on.

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  2. UnknownOctober 11, 2018 at 3:03 PM

    I can't believe you have never seen Talladega Nights! It is great that the movie uses all three theories of humor and that definitely is a reason why it is so funny. The example she used about the incongruity of Jesus just being portrayed as a typical guy was great because of how unusual it was.

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  3. Shane HerronOctober 12, 2018 at 8:05 AM

    I'm jealous you get to see it for the first time! I think you are right that there is something about making exalted and mythical figures seem ordinary that is just very funny. This is certainly what the movie does in general. Perhaps we could argue that what is really happening in superiority theory is something more like the opposite, that is, taking important people and ideas and making them seem familiar and "relatable." That also suggests to me that we could see superiority as a kind of relief theory (taking threatening or awe-inspiring ideas and making them seem human).

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