JoLIE 2:2/2009

 

Back to issue page

 

 

TOGETHER OR APART:

TARGETING, OFFENCE AND GROUP DYNAMICS IN HUMOUR

 

 

Isabel Ermida

University of Minho, Portugal

 

 

 

Abstract

 

Choosing what (not) to laugh about, when, where and with whom to do so are crucial questions to the pragmatics of humorous interaction. The topic of a joke, the target it is aimed at and the situation in which it is told may jeopardise comic success by causing offence or just by being deemed inappropriate. Issues of permissibility bear on such notions as respect, courtesy and political correctness. Yet, it is humour’s very prerogative to break rules and be incorrect, while one of the best laughing triggers is the release from social and moral tensions.

In this paper, I intend to discuss the ways in which politically incorrect jokes freely make use of tabooed topics and target frequently discriminated groups, all the while prompting responses of either approval or rejection that depend on each hearer’s ideological and/or personal standpoints. Thus, I will hopefully make clear the dually unifying and divisive role of humour, causing in-group cohesion and out-group ostracism. By analysing cases ranging from sexism through racism to ageism, I expect to assess how far humour is, after all, allowed to go, and at what price.

 

Key words: Humour; Disparagement; Offence; Targeting; Politically incorrect jokes.

 

 

References

 

Aristotle (1980). La poétique. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.

 

Bergson, H. (1900/1978). Le rire, essai sur la signification du comique. Paris: PUF.

 

Billig, M. (2005). Laughter and ridicule: towards a social critique of humour. London: Sage.

 

Carroll, N. (2003). Humour. In J. Levinson (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of aesthetics. Oxford-New York: O.U.P.

 

Cicero (1948). De oratore. London: Heinemann.

 

Cohen, T. (1999/2001). Jokes: philosophical thoughts on joking matters. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

 

Critchley, S. (2002). On humour, thinking in action. London: Routledge.

 

Davies, C. (1990). Ethnic humour around the world, a comparative analysis. Indiana: Indiana University Press.

 

Descartes, R. (1649/1998). Les passions de l’âme. Paris: Flammarion.

 

English, J.F. (1994). Comic transactions. literature, humor and the politics of community. Ithaca and London: Cornell U.P.

 

Freud, S. (1905/1974). Le mot d'esprit et ses rapports avec l'inconscient. Paris: Gallimard.

 

Gaut, B. (1998). Just joking: The ethics and aesthetics of humor. Philosophy and Literature, 22, 51-68.

 

Glasgow, R.D.V. (1995). Madness, masks, and laughter: an essay on comedy. London and Toronto: Associated University Presses.

 

Graf, F. (1997). Cicero, Plautus and Roman laughter. In J. Bremmer, & H. Roodenburg (Eds.), A cultural history of humour: from antiquity to the present day. London: Polity.

 

Hobbes, T. (1650/1983). A natureza humana. Lisbon: INCM.

 

 

How to cite this article: Ermida, I. (2009). Together or Apart: Targeting, Offence and Group Dynamics in Humour. Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education – JoLIE, 2(2), 93-103. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2009.2.2.11

 

 

For details on subscription, go to: http://jolie.uab.ro/index.php?pagina=-&id=19&l=en