Lead Blog: Goodnight, Sweet Prince

A recent event that has our country up in arms and the government scrambling for support is the death, no, murder of the beloved gorilla Harambe. For those of you who aren’t entirely clear about the story of Harambe, here is a brief explanation. Harambe was a gorilla who lived in the Cincinnati Zoo. He was fatally shot after he was deemed a threat to a three-year-old boy fell into his habitat. This situation has raised protests from several different groups. The loudest and most vigilant group has been the animal rights activists, who argue that the shooting of Harambe was completely uncalled for and another solution could’ve been brought about by other means. A second group has been putting heat on the Cincinnati Zoo for housing Harambe in an inadequate habitat, allowing for such a situation to arise. A third group has been pointing fingers at the parents, saying that they are guilty of neglecting their child; how else could a three-year-old find his way into the habitat of a gorilla?

          

  This brings me to my topic for the week: Harambe memes and their effect on all of us. I have found all of these memes to be especially hilarious, as all memes typically are. I think that the Harambe memes resonates specifically with Freud’s take on the relief theory. Freud suggests that humor is caused from societal tension and repression, resulting in the release of nervous energy. The relief theory allows for us to be able to laugh at the memes and, indirectly, at the death of this poor gorilla because of the building tension in the country. The population is able to laugh in order to distance themselves from the real problem: animal cruelty.

            The premature humor that the memes have been able to conjure makes me think that maybe there is a taste of underlying incongruity theory in the memes. Hutcheson’s incongruity theory places two unlike metaphors beside each other and the contrast between the two provides a shock factor. I think that the shock factor in the memes comes from the contrast between the serious pictures of Harambe beside a humorous phrase that doesn’t directly go with the picture.

My question is this: How did we get to a point where we are able to laugh at the unlawful and violent death of an innocent animal? I admit that I’ve at least chuckled at every Harambe meme I’ve seen. But with this humor shouldn’t there be a pang of guilt? This seems like a good example of how we’ve become desensitized to certain types of inappropriate humor. I know that this is getting a little deep about meme about a gorilla, but I think that it is able to accurately represent how comedy has really just spiraled down a hole. A hole where, at the bottom, there is vulgarity and overriding desensitization.