Humor? Do we need the resolution.

I have never really sat down and pondered about what humor is and why I find the things that I find funny, funny. Kulka writes about three different theories of humor, but first off, I would like to address the action of laughter separate from the theory of humor. I have always thought that laughter was means of relief for us, when you laugh it makes you feel better. Whether it is a laugh at a joke or a nervous laugh. It is means of expressing some sort of emotion and letting it out of our bodies.

Kulka, though, explains the different theories of humor, and the first is The Superiority Theory which is where the reason we laugh or things are humorous are the things that happen that make us feel superior to someone else. For example, much of slapstick comedy falls into this category. The film I watched this week was Bridesmaids, and the scene that makes me think of this theory is the scene in the dress shop when they all get food poisoning... a very HILARIOUS, yet uncomfortable scene to watch. It is also one of the most popular scenes of the movie.

The Relief Theory reminds me of my discussion of laughter. Humor has a "liberating effect"a "discharge of energy." Both Bridesmaids and the Hangover made me feel this relief and after watching I felt more joy and less stress.

The Incongruity Theory is that humor is met when an outcome is something different than what is expected as an outcome. Something that comes for this theory in Bridesmaids is at the end when the wedding is happening and right after the ceremony there is a wedding singer, but he is singing an extremely sexual and inappropriate, which is not what you expect out of a wedding singer. You would expect them to be singing sweet love songs; in turn, the audience is humored by this incongruence.

At the end of the article, Kulka discusses that when it comes to the humorous, the incongruence is not the source of the pleasure but rather the resolution. I am not completely sure if I buy this or not. I do not think there needs to be a resolution of this unexpected happening to be found it funny. But I do see why the word pleasure would be placed in there because the Hangover and Bridesmaids did not end in a happy and resolved manner, we might not have the same feelings towards the ending or the movie as a whole.