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Understanding Dark Humor
Do you have a friend that laughs at seriously inappropriate times? Or maybe it’s you doing this and wondering if there’s something really wrong with you. I’m one of these people. I’m also a scientist, so I tend to take apart anything I don’t understand.
I’m reading a series of books and one of the protagonists is a psychopath. I didn’t like the character to start with, but he grew on me because he generates a lot of dark humor. One scene that sticks in my head is where he and another protagonist broke into a secret lab only to find that the experiments had broken free and were attacking the people inside. After meeting up with the survivors, the other protagonist puts forth a plan. One of the survivors says something along the lines of “I’m not doing anything SHE suggests” and the psychopath shoots him in the head. I laughed.
Why is this funny to me? Do I lack ethics? Actually, if I didn’t lack ethics this wouldn’t be funny. It’s the conflict/contrast between the most efficient way of solving the problem and the ethical way of solving the problem that makes it funny.
Laughing is a response we have when there’s a difference between what happens and what is expected. Normal humor tends to contrast the ridiculous with normal life. I did an essay in college on what made things funny. In “The Importance of Being Earnest” The protagonist is a normal…
