It’s Not Sick, it’s Funny

    In my own experience, jokes often tend to be funnier the more offensive they are; Like we discussed in class, humor is always at someone’s expense. If someone has to be at expense in order to create humor, then the only way not to be offensive is not to use humor, but that would be a very boring way to live. So if humor should exist at all, who are we to dictate what can and cannot be joked about? But that doesn’t mean you can just say something offensive and expect it to be funny. Offensive humor is built entirely on the juxtaposition of something ‘taboo’ with something light and harmless, like a seemingly innocent little toddler screaming expletives when their favorite toy breaks. One example I’ve seen of this is the existence of dark bowling animations, which require neither skillful setup nor hard-hitting punchline to land. They work simply because a bowling animation is something that’s supposed to be innocent and goofy; a bowling alley that jokes about domestic violence or Vietnam whenever you get a spare wouldn’t make very much money. The juxtaposition of what was intended to be a child-friendly medium with more brutal subjects works wonders in terms of humorous effect. Some people might call it sick to laugh at the expense of such a sore subject, but if they’ve ever found anything funny at all then they’re hypocrites for saying something.

     Absurdist humor is a more favorable option because it doesn’t necessarily have to push the boundaries of what’s considered ‘taboo’ to joke about. Absurdism works purely based on the unexpected, like this: 

     Walking into a dollar store and seeing this hanging on one of the racks would probably earn at least a chuckle or two, because it’s not what you were expecting to see there. This, too, is a form of juxtaposition-based humor: amongst a sea of corporate-manufactured products painstakingly designed and packaged to be as appealing and sellable as possible, this stupid nonsense sticks out like a sore thumb. 

     Juxtaposition is what sells both offensive and absurdist humor. The more violently extreme the juxtaposition is, the better the joke. It’s an important element of humor, which is why limiting what can be joked about inhibits the scope of juxtaposition-based humor. Bill Watterson once wrote in the famous comic strip Calvin and Hobbes that humor is what enables us to react to a lot of life. By limiting humor in life, you effectively hinder your own ability to respond to life itself.