I had posted something on my facebook status, which I interpreted as a joke. There is one friend of mine who did not agree and he was arguing that I had written rubbish. It prompted me to think about the very thin line that exists between humour and rubbish. However good one's sense of humour may be, one can't be sure whether that thin line is crossed or not.
This thin line exists because humour, is often borne out of subjecting the characters to a slightly sorrowful situation / resentment or a weird act. Consider the most hackneyed jokes about Sardarjis which ridicule their brains, or the-nonsense-ant-and-elephant jokes which made us go ROFL when we were children. Or even consider the usual satire that prevails in college campuses; it is also a way to banter or ridicule the subject of joke.
But, walking on this tightrope can pose us some problems. The problems begin when what sounds funny to one person, is not amusing to other person at all. Often comedians have been accused of being heartless or too frivolous to understand gravity of any situation. May be it is so because the interpretation of humour is subjective to mentality of a person. The interpretation may depend on the presentation of a jok
e. It also depends on the common sense or sense of humour one has developed over his experiences. As I mentioned earlier, every joke has its own light and dark sides. Its a matter of choice which side you look up to the most. I generally try to look at the light and funny side. I also believe that a good joke can only result out of a complete and thorough understanding of situations and feelings. For example, have a look at the cartoon.Is it an insolent mockery of the old woman's misery or a joke on iPhone? At first glance, I was really confused and could not decide :) But it is also true that the joke on iPhone cannot be understood and enjoyed without being able to correlate the accident with its consequences.
Further, we generally choose to adore a particular class or flavour of humour. Some enjoy only the elite and intellectual humour, some choose to laugh at intelligent but gross jokes, some recognize only the straight-forward jokes which do not need any thinking at all. And the most unfortunate morons decide to ignore every other kind and endorse only satire and sarcasm. Some also choose to participate in humour across these classes, thus increasing their chances of smiling and laughing. I also try to restrain myself against disliking most of these flavours, since I prefer to avoid a morose and gloomy demeanor and prefer to have a smile on my lips at the end of the day.
Some of the readers may say that this post is ridiculous, some may like it and some may even proclaim that its absolutely uncessary to be so thoughtful over something like humour. But whatever your opinions be, just know that the great men are always right. :)
P.S. My facebook status was plagiarised and was actually the second best joke in a competition.
