Black humor

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Black humor

Postby brainpanhandler » Thu Jan 03, 2013 2:42 pm

Reading the piece by Kunstler in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=35907

has me feeling a bit black this morning.

wikipedia wrote:The term black humor (from the French humour noir) was coined by the Surrealist theoretician André Breton in 1935,[7][8] to designate a sub-genre of comedy and satire[9][10] in which laughter arises from cynicism and skepticism,[7][11] often relying on topics such as death.[12][13]

Breton coined the term for his book Anthology of Black Humor (Anthologie de l'humour noir), in which he credited Jonathan Swift as the originator of black humor and gallows humor, and included excerpts from 45 other writers. Breton included both examples in which the wit arises from a victim, with which the audience empathizes, as is more typical in the tradition of gallows humor, and examples in which the comedy is used to mock the victim, whose suffering is trivialized, and leads to sympathizing with the victimizer, as is the case with Sade. Black humor is related to that of the grotesque genre.[14]

Breton identified Swift as the originator of black humor and gallows humor, particularly in his pieces Directions to Servants (1731), A Modest Proposal (1729), A Meditation Upon a Broom-Stick (1710), and a few aphorisms.[8][11]

The terms black comedy or dark comedy have been later derived as alternatives to Breton's term. In black humor, topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo, specifically those related to death, are treated in an unusually humorous or satirical manner while retaining their seriousness; the intent of black comedy, therefore, is often for the audience to experience both laughter and discomfort, sometimes simultaneously.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_comedy


Is there any other kind anymore?

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King Jr.
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Re: Black humor

Postby brainpanhandler » Thu Jan 03, 2013 8:39 pm

We'll call this blue/black humor.

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King Jr.
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Re: Black humor

Postby brainpanhandler » Thu Jan 03, 2013 8:43 pm

IanEye wrote:pecan sandies
one bite, and you're hooked.


viewtopic.php?f=8&t=35841&start=435
"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King Jr.
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Re: Black humor

Postby brainpanhandler » Fri Jan 04, 2013 2:44 pm

I guess I'll be the bringer of darkness.

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"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King Jr.
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Re: Black humor

Postby Nordic » Sat Jan 05, 2013 5:08 am

brainpanhandler wrote:
IanEye wrote:pecan sandies
one bite, and you're hooked.


viewtopic.php?f=8&t=35841&start=435



This is very odd for me. Because once, one bite of a Pecan Sandie almost killed me. And, i was just thinking about this quote, and what it could possibly mean to anyone but me, yet checking things out WAY over here in the lounge, and lo and behold, here is the quote again. Right in my face.

I'm actually not joking about the cookie almost killing me. It's a true story.
"He who wounds the ecosphere literally wounds God" -- Philip K. Dick
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Re: Black humor

Postby Seamus OBlimey » Sun Jan 06, 2013 9:31 am

I lost another friend this week..

Musician dies after falling down drain when he tried to retrieve his keys he dropped on New Year's Day
Andy Banks, 49, is thought to have fallen into a drain after dropping his keys
He was returning from a pub near his home before the tragedy occurred
Was well known in hometown Dewsbury, West Yorks, as a talented musician
Friends describe him as 'artist, sculptor, thinker and father who loved life'

By Matt Blake

PUBLISHED: 17:06, 4 January 2013 | UPDATED: 18:14, 4 January 2013[Daily Mail]


Andy was also an experienced caver and potholer.. but I just can't find the friggin punchline.
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Re: Black humor

Postby crikkett » Tue Jan 08, 2013 2:38 am

Seamus OBlimey wrote:I lost another friend this week..

Musician dies after falling down drain when he tried to retrieve his keys he dropped on New Year's Day
Andy Banks, 49, is thought to have fallen into a drain after dropping his keys
He was returning from a pub near his home before the tragedy occurred
Was well known in hometown Dewsbury, West Yorks, as a talented musician
Friends describe him as 'artist, sculptor, thinker and father who loved life'

By Matt Blake

PUBLISHED: 17:06, 4 January 2013 | UPDATED: 18:14, 4 January 2013[Daily Mail]


Andy was also an experienced caver and potholer.. but I just can't find the friggin punchline.


Seamus - The rule is: the more you know someone, the stranger they get.
He went peacefully, and loving life.
:hug1:
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Re: Black humor

Postby Laodicean » Tue Jan 08, 2013 8:52 am

Found this, an interesting lecture given by Simon Critchley on "humor noir".

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Re: Black humor

Postby brainpanhandler » Tue Jan 08, 2013 2:42 pm

Thank you Laodicean. May as well jump to the punchline. I had considered that contributions here would potentially represent a looking glass into the dark heart of the ri membership, the cultural insiderness of RI. Unsurprisingly, the RI membership is savvy enough to fear revealing what they find funny about the darkness that resides in all of us, or at least that's one possibility for the dearth of responses. Probably only a partial explanation. As Critchley says of the relief theory, "The inhibition of affect is revealing". Only related as there is no context absent an audience. We cannot see each other laugh or suppress laughter.

Pulled a few things out on the first viewing:

"Perhaps one laughs at jokes one would rather not laugh at. Humor can provide information about oneself that one would rather not have. It reminds one that one is a person one woud rather not be."

I'm very fond of parody and pretending to be what I despise and find laughable. Doesn't work so well on a message board so my sense of humor doesn't translate well here. I'm also keenly aware that I am doing self parody when I pretend to be a christian or a homophobe or a racist. That resides in me in some measure. My superego suppresses it and keeps it in check, but I know it's there. What we laugh at not only marks our cultural background, but also how much of our cultural background we have managed to unpack and shed. Is there any more wonderful way to meet a fellow traveler than to meet eyes and share a wry smile over some profoundly subtle inside joke. There is a kindred spirit!

"Who can you laugh at in the united states? The mormons."

See the Mormons are Wack thread. I think he's wrong of course. There's just about no one that is out of bounds for me. But it is interesting to ponder who and what and in what context is out of bounds. In reference to seamus above, it seems to me that for the dead there is some waiting period that has to be observed, generally. If however cheney had died under those circumstances, let the jokes begin immediately.

"the popularity of monty python in the united states?"

Critchley is puzzled by the popularity of Monty Python in the states. Interesting. There's probably a dissertaion in answering that question. In my experience Monty Python (generally speaking the movies) is a hate or love it sort of thing amongst Americans.


I once picked up a hitchhiker, a very drunk young woman with long black hair and black leather jacket and green cowboy boots; a stripper by trade as I came to learn. I noticed on looking at her in my rearview mirror that she had dropped a pack of cigarettes and had not noticed. I decided to turn around and tell her (I was single at the time) and then I asked her if she needed a ride. She assented. One thng lead to another. I got her number and we went on a dinner and movie date. At the time Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was playing and I had not seen it yet. The theater had only about a dozen or so people in it. I laughed my ass off, only occasionally feeling discomfort with the material (such as the scenes with the runaway). No one else in the theater was laughing, including my date who did not seem to so much as chuckle even once. It was a sort of litmus test. That was our one and only date.

Reminds me of this:

I wrote:For a time when I was a young man in my twenties I would show this poem to women that I met. If they sided with the woman then I knew not to waste my time. If they acted perplexed then maybe it was worth trying to get laid. If they laughed then I knew we had some potential.


Rift


“I can’t live with you anymore,”
she said,
“look at you!”

“uuh?” I
asked.

“look at you!
sitting in that god
damned
chair!
you belly is sticking out
of your
underwear,
you’ve burnt cigarette
holes in all your
shirts!
all you do is suck
on that god damned
beer,
bottle after bottle,
what do you get out of
that?”

“the damage has been
done,” I told
her.

“what’re you talking
about?”

“nothing matters and
we know nothing matters
and that
matters…”

“you’re drunk!”

“come on, baby, let’s get
along, it’s
easy…”

“not for me! She screamed,
“not for
me!”

she ran into the bathroom to
put on her
makeup.
I got up for another
beer.
I sat back down
just had the new bottle
to my mouth
when she came out of the
bathroom.

“holy shit!” she screamed,
“you’re
disgusting!”

I laughed right into the
bottle, gagged, spit a mouthful of
beer across my
undershirt.

“my god!” she
said.
she slammed the door and
was gone.

I looked at the closed door
and at the doorknob
and strangely
I didn’t feel
alone.

Charles Bukowski

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=17456&p=183228&hilit
"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King Jr.
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Re: Black humor

Postby Nordic » Wed Jan 09, 2013 3:50 am

One could easily laugh at this:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/83011717/

At the sheer stupidity of those involved. We're talking Darwin Award material here.
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Re: Black humor

Postby Nordic » Wed Jan 09, 2013 3:51 am

BTW I thought "The Bad Lieutenant", the original, the one with Harvey Keitel, was pure comedy gold. Seriously. I laughed my ass off in the theater, much to the horror of the people around me.
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some times a vlasic is just a vlasic

Postby IanEye » Wed Jan 09, 2013 7:52 am

*

Image

Image

art with girls & birds

*
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Re: Black humor

Postby undead » Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:42 pm

You could call this lost in translation, or maybe it could also go in the loss of cliche comprehension thread. I saw this event going on at the time and approached one of the organizers, asking if she knew what "Pimp My Kid" means. She said something to the effect of "Come on, now, only a pervert would think of it that way!"

Pimp My Kid: getting styled and giving back
Image
In the midst of a debt crisis the people of Greece are still giving back. Bella Papadopolous Dobrowolska and Morgan Pettersson report.

It was all about giving style and giving back in Greece’s second largest city Thessaloniki at the Pimp My Kid, fundraiser event (for the charity Amimoni); the local community were having fun, getting styled and giving back through children participating in creative activities.

“The kids are given an opportunity to be creative, and through this we can raise money for a good cause,” said event organiser Maria Alexiadou.

The two-day festival was held last week in the centre of Thessaloniki and the kids could participate in activities such as jewelery making, rock climbing, dance lessons and having their style ’pimped’ through face painting and crazy hair styles.

All the proceeds from the event are being donated to Amimoni, a Greek organisation which fights for equal rights and education for disabled children as well as providing psychological support.

[...]

http://www.reportage-enviro.com/2011/05 ... ving-back/
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Re: Black humor

Postby brainpanhandler » Thu Jan 17, 2013 1:03 pm

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King Jr.
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