The Gist 30: A Good Laugh
How humor makes horrors tolerable
Bear with me, it is very early, and this is a tricky subject.
It’s easy to see humor and horror as opposites, and in our minds, at least, they are. Physiologically speaking, the reactions that occur in our brain from being scared are the exact opposites of the ones that activate from being amused or finding humor in something we see. So why do they go together so well?
Because they rely on the exact same stimulus. What makes comedy funny and horror upsetting is based on the same basic principle: violation.
Is it Scary?
In order for something to be funny, it must challenge our sense of ‘right’ and order in the world. Social faux pas, unexpected injury, and extreme irony all meet this criteria. Likewise, fear requires the violation of our sense of safety and a deep sense of danger. The level of perceived danger is precisely the mechanism that decides whether these two situations are funny…or terrifying. It works like this:
Typically, a scary event (watching a horror movie, running from a dog, being alone at night) is a cortisol-producing event. They are high-stress moments that trigger our minds and bodies to enter a survival scenario, tense muscles, quicken breathing, release bowels if needed…
By contrast, play is a stress-reducing activity. Humor, being an aspect of play, interaction with things that make us laugh releases endorphins, relaxes muscles, and turns off vigilance. Playing with a puppy, watching a comedy on TV, sharing funny stories with friends…all will lower inhibitions and create a sense of calm.
That’s Absurd
Being chased by a rabid Doberman is not altogether humorous. There is a real danger of being maimed or seriously injured. Being chased by a chihuahua can be hilarious. It is a violation of our expected order, since humans are typically dominant over animals, and once the perceived danger is eliminated, absurdity takes its place. When we think about what humans find funny (slapstick/slip and fall comedy, awkward social situations, extreme irony), we can see the common thread is always a minor threat coupled with a deviation from the expected.
In horror comedy, this combination can be used in extremely powerful ways. Often, the psychological message is that there is a threat, but realistically, the threat is more dangerous because we choose to be afraid of it. This is the moment of turning on a light to realize the evil monster lurking by the bed was a bunch of clothes on a chair. Everyone laughs (unless procrastination is also terrifying to you as it is to me).
Relax a Bit
Films like Shaun of the Dead, Ghostbusters, and Scary Movie take our tropes and poke holes in them. They remove the danger from the scenario and reveal our fears to be both valid (zombies are a real pain in the ass) and not as threatening as we perhaps believe (some ghosts just want to read in peace). When we layer that with the psychological response system to scary stories, which is mostly just preparing us for unexpected situations, the horror-comedy works as a kind of buffer to sensory overload. Yes, these things can be terrifying, and yes, they can present real problems, but also…stay calm, it’s not the literal end of the world.
The Gist:
Comedy helps remind us that scary things can be overcome.
"Humor is the weapon of the unarmed. It’s how we fight back against a world that wants us to be afraid of our own shadows." — Trevor Noah