Humor me: Funny 'n Fiction

^ As Madrugada said, the problem with the kind of comedy I'm talking about is it's often a sympathetic character (not someone who deserves it). So it's not a case of comeuppance, it's a case of ha ha look at the sad pathetic fool, look how embarrassed they are. It's hard to site a specific example because I physically react to such scenes (sweats, shakes, ears burning) and I have to turn away.

edited 20th Jan '15 6:56:41 AM by muddycurve424

Do you have an example?

Off the top of my head, no. Shes All That comes to mind, but I don't remember which specific scene. I only watched it the once.

edited 20th Jan '15 7:07:58 AM by muddycurve424

Oh well if you remember something do let me know.

edited 20th Jan '15 7:10:52 AM by Aszur

I found this, which is very relevant to what I mentioned earlier. Knowing the difference between fictional characters and non fictional characters is important.

Sorry to bump this, but I came across a link in another thread and the conversation ended on something I have things to say about. I have the same problem with humiliation humour as muddycurve, and I've had to explain it to other people before, so I have examples and I've noticed certain ways it varies for me.

My best example is from Mrs. Doubtfire - the scene when Robin Williams tries to attend two dinners at the same restaurant, one as himself and the other as his alter ego, getting increasingly drunk and ultimately forgetting whether he's in disguise and at the right table. I can see how it's funny in theory, but it was so emotionally painful that I had to leave the room.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil has a lot of variety mixing humiliation humour and dark dark slapstick, which makes comparisons easier.

• Bad things that happen to Tucker are mostly funnier than things that happen to Dale. I think this is partly because Tucker hurts himself while Dale embarrasses himself, and partly because Tucker is the less sympathetic of the two.
• Dale getting unexpectedly speared through the groin by a trap is funny; Dale trying to introduce himself and coming across as a murderous hillbilly instead (due to poor word choice, nervous laughter, and absent-mindedly carrying a scythe) is cringe-inducing.
• College students accidentally killing each other is funny, but tempered by the fact that they're mostly making dumb mistakes as a result of fear. So do Tucker and Dale, though, but they're lucky enough to survive; it feels like whether each character has earned an ironic death is being affected by Protagonist-Centred Morality.

How characters conduct themselves through humiliation also seems to affect how I react to it. The more aware they are of their situation, the funnier it is. A character who would be embarrassed if they weren't completely oblivious is the worst, and the longer the Dramatic Irony lasts the worse it gets.

edited 6th May '16 2:23:55 AM by Noaqiyeum

I seem to remember reading what makes a joke acceptable, especially racist/sexist/other sorts of discriminatory jokes.

You can joke about the discrimination itself. For example, this comic◊ (the censored word refers to an woman's bits), where sexism and sexist word choice themselves are made fun of. It's from Oglaf, which sometimes touches on such topics.

But when the joke is that a female character really is a slut because she dressed in a certain way? Or that all women are hysterical people who need to calm their assets? Or that they're all bad drivers?

I came across this joke◊, and wondered if it was disrespectful towards people with Down Syndrome. I also saw this other joke◊.

edited 15th May '16 6:09:28 AM by hellomoto