The movie Elf is a great representation of the superiority and incongruity theory. It's one of my favorite Christmas movies, and I think I look differently at it now than how I did as a kid. Watching the movie again knowing about the theories of humor has definitely changed my perception of the type of humor used in the movie. I liked how Jane gave specific examples from the movie and tied it into the superiority theory and how we as an audience tend to feel superior to him due to his child-like and naive behavior. I think Buddy's child-like tendencies and behavior is one of the main reasons why so many people find this movie humorous. In a way, we can all relate to Buddy. We all (and maybe still) have this young and childlike wonder about us. Who wouldn't want to stay in a mall overnight and make paper snowflakes and etchy sketch the Mona Lisa? The incongruity aspect comes from his age (a 30 something-year-old man) and the contrast between his sense of humor and mannerisms. No matter what age, Elf seems to appeal to a lot of people and draw out many laughs from people of all ages.
The interesting thing about comedy, in general, is that it's all subjective. What I find hilarious may not even register with someone else as humorous. This same principle is applied to comedy tv shows as well. In response to Jake's blog post, I found some of the points that he raised as interesting. He explained how the show Seinfeld has no overlying plot, and that's what makes it so exceptional. In a way, I agree with him. There is always a time and a place where we just want to laugh, and not worry about keeping up with a detailed plot or keep track of attributes we need to remember in order to understand the show. Seinfeld is definitely that kind of show where you can turn it on and just enjoy the singular episode for what it is. The humor in Seinfeld is a sort of observational comedy, where the premise of the humor is based on going through the motions of everyday life. But referring back to my original point, someone may not be interested in that type of show or hum...
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