Empathy VS Comedy: Why Do We Laugh About Bad Things?
Start writing a post
Entertainment

Empathy VS Comedy: Why Do We Laugh About Bad Things?

When is it bad to laugh?

673
Empathy VS Comedy: Why Do We Laugh About Bad Things?
HollywoodReporter

Humor often comes at the expense of other people, as we recently saw in the response to the calamitous Fyre Festival. As news of the fiasco broke, the Internet spun it into comedy gold.

The Fyre Festival was advertised as a luxury music festival on a private island. Ticket prices were insane, with one highly publicized package going for $12,000. As guests arrived, the island's infrastructure was still weeks away from completion. In place of luxury lodging, they found disaster relief tents. Instead of a gourmet dinner, guests were offered, well, this. Understandably, the bands slated to perform pulled out.

Comparisons to Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games abounded on social media. For every actual attendee documenting the experience, there were dozens of people making up apocalyptic stories about wild dog attacks and gangs of cannibals. I'm not going to take the high ground here. I, like many others, think the Fyre Festival is hilarious. The guests, after all, were some of the most privileged people in the world. For college students that can drop $12,000 on a weekend getaway before finals, this is probably the only brush with hardship they'll ever have. As far as most of Twitter is concerned, a weekend of fighting over mattresses may have brought them down to earth. To many it was a simple joke, to others a quasi-Marxist victory over the perceived ruling class.

There's simply no denying that the response to the Fyre Festival shows a lack of empathy. We can't honestly assume that every attendee deserved that. And yet, that realization doesn't stop me from laughing. The Fyre Festival makes such great comedy because it fulfills the rule of punching up. Punching down, making fun of someone less fortunate than yourself, can seem mean-spirited. Making fun of people more fortunate than yourself is the safest way to avoid controversy while savagely mocking people.

However, punching up is just a rule applied to an inherently lawless pursuit. Comedy is subjective, and there is no clear line between an acceptable and unacceptable joke. Making light of a recent tragedy will provoke responses of "too soon." 9/11 jokes won't be well-received for years, and Pearl Harbor could still be questionable, depending on the age of the audience, yet nobody will bat an eye at a Titanic joke. Pompeii is probably a safe target, too. So how many years do we have to wait before we can joke about death and destruction? However many years it is, it's totally arbitrary.

Perhaps we make these rules to avoid the inherent link between comedy and a lack of empathy. The main difference between a horror movie and a horror comedy, for instance, is that one might try to shock us with a decapitation, while the other tries to make us laugh. Even innocent, old-fashioned slapstick expects us to laugh as people are injured. Have you ever sat on a train and watched the automatic doors shut on people trying to get through? I have, and it's amazing, but I should probably feel bad about that. Can these quintessentially human traits, humor and empathy, actually be at odds with one another?

I'll laugh at plenty of jokes that could be seen as in poor taste, yet there some topics I simply can't laugh about. I'm sure other people feel the same way, about different jokes. Limit comedy to the universally wholesome, and you wouldn't have much left.

Perhaps comedy shouldn't be about avoiding the unpleasantness of the world, but confronting it. Maybe we need to laugh about terrible things sometimes, or maybe I'm just making excuses for myself. I may never know when I should or shouldn't laugh, but that's not going to stop me.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Student Life

Waitlisted for a College Class? Here's What to Do!

Dealing with the inevitable realities of college life.

49164
college students waiting in a long line in the hallway
StableDiffusion

Course registration at college can be a big hassle and is almost never talked about. Classes you want to take fill up before you get a chance to register. You might change your mind about a class you want to take and must struggle to find another class to fit in the same time period. You also have to make sure no classes clash by time. Like I said, it's a big hassle.

This semester, I was waitlisted for two classes. Most people in this situation, especially first years, freak out because they don't know what to do. Here is what you should do when this happens.

Keep Reading...Show less
a man and a woman sitting on the beach in front of the sunset

Whether you met your new love interest online, through mutual friends, or another way entirely, you'll definitely want to know what you're getting into. I mean, really, what's the point in entering a relationship with someone if you don't know whether or not you're compatible on a very basic level?

Consider these 21 questions to ask in the talking stage when getting to know that new guy or girl you just started talking to:

Keep Reading...Show less
Lifestyle

Challah vs. Easter Bread: A Delicious Dilemma

Is there really such a difference in Challah bread or Easter Bread?

31258
loaves of challah and easter bread stacked up aside each other, an abundance of food in baskets
StableDiffusion

Ever since I could remember, it was a treat to receive Easter Bread made by my grandmother. We would only have it once a year and the wait was excruciating. Now that my grandmother has gotten older, she has stopped baking a lot of her recipes that require a lot of hand usage--her traditional Italian baking means no machines. So for the past few years, I have missed enjoying my Easter Bread.

Keep Reading...Show less
Adulting

Unlocking Lake People's Secrets: 15 Must-Knows!

There's no other place you'd rather be in the summer.

954986
Group of joyful friends sitting in a boat
Haley Harvey

The people that spend their summers at the lake are a unique group of people.

Whether you grew up going to the lake, have only recently started going, or have only been once or twice, you know it takes a certain kind of person to be a lake person. To the long-time lake people, the lake holds a special place in your heart, no matter how dirty the water may look.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

Top 10 Reasons My School Rocks!

Why I Chose a Small School Over a Big University.

180264
man in black long sleeve shirt and black pants walking on white concrete pathway

I was asked so many times why I wanted to go to a small school when a big university is so much better. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure a big university is great but I absolutely love going to a small school. I know that I miss out on big sporting events and having people actually know where it is. I can't even count how many times I've been asked where it is and I know they won't know so I just say "somewhere in the middle of Wisconsin." But, I get to know most people at my school and I know my professors very well. Not to mention, being able to walk to the other side of campus in 5 minutes at a casual walking pace. I am so happy I made the decision to go to school where I did. I love my school and these are just a few reasons why.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments