Lead Blog 11/30

I've seen bits and pieces of this movie but I can't remember where from. This is the typical underdog story where the nobody suddenly becomes the hero because of his hidden talent. In this case, Bobby turns out to be extremely athletic despite his passion for being a water boy. I agree with Bailey that often times the funniest scenes are the most unexpected ones. In this particular scene, I see the incongruity theory as well as the superiority theory. The superiority theory is obvious in the way that the whole football team makes dumb jokes at the expense of Bobby. The incongruity theory is present in the response that Bobby has to this ridicule. He literally jumps over the offensive and defensive line to tackle the quarterback and knock hum completely unconscious. The typical reaction would probably be to run away and cry from the football players but, instead, Bobby decides to fight fire with fire. The incongruity theory is further continued when the coach takes Bobby aside and basically gets him into college. I think that I would find this movie funny based off of this scene solely because it has all of the aspects of humor that I personally find funny.

Lead Blog 11/16

Oh Sarah...

I would not have expected you to pick anything other than this clip right here. I'd like to start out by saying I didn't think this clip was funny at all. I didn't giggle and I didn't crack a smile. This was disturbing to me for some reason and I really can't quite put my finger on why. So to start out we see a man with an apparent beer belly but, lo and behold, he smacks himself in the gut and magically he becomes ripped. Basically, a very in shape man blows his stomach out to what looks like painful proportions and then hits himself?? Ouch. If that wasn't enough, we see a large man B with a gut equally as large as man A but obviously made up of different things. Man B is an overweight black man who seems to fall under the societal obsession of instant gratification. Therefore he is also hitting himself in the stomach, but to no avail. No matter the number of times the poor guy hits himself his six pack does not push through. This was just sad to me because it's a mockery of this overweight man. And finally, the most disturbing part to me, the baby. This kid is creepy. His laugh is scary and it made me want to shut my computer and not open it again. I see your point that for people who do find this kind of video funny, it's probably because of the superiority theory. Especially in regard to Man B, the superiority theory is what's causing this Man B to have any role in humor at all. People find it funny because it quite successfully compares Man A to Man B then proceeds to make fun of Man B. The baby is just disturbing and I have no words for it. I really can not understand how this clip even compares to the Office but thank you, Sarah, for providing us with insight into your humor.

Lead Blog Response 11/9

I totally forgot about this scene! It perfectly represents how Dwight’s character operates in the show. He’s the character who fights for control in unconventional ways and this fight is viewed as comic. I agree that Dwight’s comedy often stems from the incongruity theory. He utilizes the shock factor in his weird way. I think that everything about this scene is hilarious. Dwight says “Today, cigarettes are going to save lives.” He’s such an odd person and he’s trying to use a witty slogan to make himself look cool but since it’s him lighting up a trash can, it’s just weird. There is also this awkward tension in the room that is so typical of the Office. Dwight is trying to call attention to the fire and when no one will pay attention to him (probably because they are so used to his shenanigans), he does the awkwardly loud cough in order to get Pam to see the “fire”. This scene definitely revolves around Dwight and how he reacts to the fire. He’s the only one not panicking because he is the only one with the full extent of knowledge as to what’s going on. This is in part of what makes this scene so funny. As the omniscient audience, we know that there is no danger of a fire and this makes the reactions of the other members of the Office shocking as well as hysterical.