South Park the Great Teacher

          Humor is one of the more interesting topics within the philosophical world due to its wide range that it covers. It can be used as a tension release to lighten the mood, entertain a crowd, a way to inform, and overall bring people closer to each other. People who laugh together stay together. Humor/Comedy has historically always been the inverse of its counterpart Tragedy. They are two sides of the same coin in a way, and both are equally important in the process of communicating ideas. 

          In his writings in "On Humor," Critchley discusses how comedy is effective and why it is so by providing three different theories. The first one is the superiority theory which states that laughter and comedy displays feelings of superiority over a specific group or person; this theory is not universally believed in and not widely accepted. The next theory is the Relief theory which states that laughter is just a mechanism of releasing nervous energy from within, and this usually happens when there is high amounts of tension/pressure. People are always looking for a reason to laugh, especially when something serious is going on. Everybody can think of a specific example of this, where the tension was so thick that you could cut it and then somebody makes a joke and the mood lightens again. The final theory discussed was the Incongruity theory which states that laughter arises from things that are incongruous, or do not go together in a way that makes sense to us in our minds. This theory is universally accepted. This also explains why the punch lines of jokes work so well, because the punch line is something our minds did not expect and we laugh as a result. 

          The movie South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut is a film that perfectly displays the Incongruity theory as well as makes a commentary about a social issue through crude humor and satire. Most of the movie was just scene after scene of jokes and situations that were incongruous with each other that all I could do is laugh. The movie for the most part pokes fun at American parents as well as people in general for blaming the problems that they go through on everyone but themselves by giving a storyline so out of this world that it strongly conveys its message. It does something that many mediums cannot do, which is make people laugh hysterically. And one might think, how does a cartoon with so many cuss words, crude jokes, and over the top humor teach a lesson? This is just proof that laughter can break down barriers and open people up to conversation/discussion they won't usually have. By making it so hyperbolic, it is easy to see what specifically they are making fun of. During this movie I was constantly thinking to myself, why does this describe America so perfectly but yet be so funny. I can think of plenty of examples of parents blaming everything but themselves on why their kid turned out so rotten. Violent TV shows are why my child fights all the time, surely not because you haven't taught them correctly and raised them with correct values. Another comparison can be made to the person that says my life is terrible because of such and such people and I am going to solely blame them for my misfortune. It also had underlying social issues that were not as widely shown, but were still there such as race. 

          This movie's overall purpose was to entertain people with a satirical story line that has underneath it a message that is conveyed with comedy. Was this message the overall most important thing in this movie and should it be taken with utmost seriousness? Absolutely not, but one thing South Park has always been good at is showing the incongruity in real life situations and just puts them in cartoons. Maybe the everyday man will be more informed and better off if they just watch more South Park.