Humor, wit, and laughter surround each person. From everyday
quips to the carefully contrived comedy of literature, newspapers,
and television we experience humor in many forms, yet the impetus
for our laughter is far from innocuous. Misfortune, stupidity, and
moral or cultural defects, however faintly revealed in others and
ourselves, seem to make us laugh. Although discomforting, such
negative terms as superiority, aggression, hostility, ridicule, or
degradation can be applied to instances of humor. According to
scholars, Thomas Hobbes's "superiority theory"--that humor arises
from mischances, infirmities, and indecencies, where there is no
wit at all--applies to most humor. With the exception of
good-natured play, Charles R. Gruner claims that humor is rarely as
innocent as it first appears.
Gruner's proposed superiority theory of humor is
all-encompassing. In The Game of Humor, he expands the scope of
Hobbes's theory to include and explore the contest aspect of
"good-natured" play. As such, the author believes all instances of
humor can be examined as games, in terms of competition and keeping
score--winners and losers. Gruner draws on a broad spectrum of
thought-provoking examples. Holocaust jokes, sexual humor, the
racialist dialogue of such comic characters as Stepin Fetchit and
Archie Bunker, simple puns, and many of the author's own encounters
with everyday humor. Gruner challenges the reader to offer a single
example of humor that cannot be "de-humorized" by its agonistic
nature.
The Game of Humor makes intriguing and enjoyable reading for
people interested in humor and the aspects of human motivation.
This book will also be valuable to professionals in communication
and information studies, sociologists, literary critics and
linguists, and psychologists concerned with the conflicts and
tensions of everyday life.
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