I’ve often thought that comedy is useful because it breaks down compartmentalisation, and more generally because it creates a sort of mental safe space in which ideas can be thought about without triggering the usual mental defences.
I’ll go as far as to say it’s the safest way of breaking down compartmentalization- that if you do it while precommitting to accept the result, you’ll tend to select the synthesis consistent with your most cherished beliefs, rather than the one which most accurately reflects reality.
On a related note, humor-intolerance is a great warning sign for mentally dangerous ideologies.
I’d be wary of attempting to derive any universal “theory of comedy” though- this doesn’t account for clowning or really any types of physical humour for instance. The only thing that seems to be universal about comedy is that it demonstrates awareness of/ability to manipulate multiple levels of meaning or interpretation—which isn’t a sufficient condition.
Okay just looking at this now I realise I’ve failed to heed my own advice, there’s one style of “humour” that doesn’t involve multiple levels of awareness and is very common among joyless ideologues, which is the style of mean spirited mockery, vicious down-putting of out-groups.
It kind of rises into proper humour if you exaggerate it to the point of ridiculousness, and it’s my impression that the people who do that are also comfortable with self mocking and silly humour, and are capable of talking amiably with people not on “their side”.
I’ve often thought that comedy is useful because it breaks down compartmentalisation, and more generally because it creates a sort of mental safe space in which ideas can be thought about without triggering the usual mental defences. I’ll go as far as to say it’s the safest way of breaking down compartmentalization- that if you do it while precommitting to accept the result, you’ll tend to select the synthesis consistent with your most cherished beliefs, rather than the one which most accurately reflects reality. On a related note, humor-intolerance is a great warning sign for mentally dangerous ideologies.
I’d be wary of attempting to derive any universal “theory of comedy” though- this doesn’t account for clowning or really any types of physical humour for instance. The only thing that seems to be universal about comedy is that it demonstrates awareness of/ability to manipulate multiple levels of meaning or interpretation—which isn’t a sufficient condition.
Okay just looking at this now I realise I’ve failed to heed my own advice, there’s one style of “humour” that doesn’t involve multiple levels of awareness and is very common among joyless ideologues, which is the style of mean spirited mockery, vicious down-putting of out-groups.
It kind of rises into proper humour if you exaggerate it to the point of ridiculousness, and it’s my impression that the people who do that are also comfortable with self mocking and silly humour, and are capable of talking amiably with people not on “their side”.