Me too Molly - I wonder what the term 'I didn't know whether to laugh or cry' means?
On 1 Dec, 00:06, Molly <[email protected]> wrote: > would much rather be laughing. > > > > > > > > On Friday, November 30, 2012 6:29:50 AM UTC-5, andrew vecsey wrote: > > > What In find interesting is how it is almost impossible to see the > > physical difference of someone laughing his head off and someone crying his > > heart out. Both are a result of a sudden unexpected disclosure of truth.. > > > On Saturday, November 24, 2012 7:51:00 PM UTC+1, archytas wrote: > > >> While there is only speculation about how humor developed in early > >> humans, we know that by the 6th century BCE the Greeks had > >> institutionalized it in the ritual known as comedy, and that it was > >> performed with a contrasting dramatic form known as tragedy. Both were > >> based on the violation of mental patterns and expectations, and in > >> both the world is a tangle of conflicting systems where humans live in > >> the shadow of failure, folly, and death. Like tragedy, comedy > >> represents life as full of tension, danger, and struggle, with success > >> or failure often depending on chance factors. Where they differ is in > >> the responses of the lead characters to life's incongruities. > >> Identifying with these characters, audiences at comedies and tragedies > >> have contrasting responses to events in the dramas. And because these > >> responses carry over to similar situations in life, comedy and tragedy > >> embody contrasting responses to the incongruities in life. > > >> Tragedy valorizes serious, emotional engagement with life's problems, > >> even struggle to the death. Along with epic, it is part of the Western > >> heroic tradition that extols ideals, the willingness to fight for > >> them, and honor. The tragic ethos is linked to patriarchy and > >> militarism—many of its heroes are kings and conquerors—and it > >> valorizes what Conrad Hyers (1996) calls Warrior Virtues—blind > >> obedience, the willingness to kill or die on command, unquestioning > >> loyalty, single-mindedness, resoluteness of purpose, and pride. > > >> Comedy, by contrast, embodies an anti-heroic, pragmatic attitude > >> toward life's incongruities. From Aristophanes' Lysistrata to Charlie > >> Chaplin's The Great Dictator to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, > >> comedy has mocked the irrationality of militarism and blind respect > >> for authority. Its own methods of handling conflict include deal- > >> making, trickery, getting an enemy drunk, and running away. As the > >> Irish saying goes, you're only a coward for a moment, but you're dead > >> for the rest of your life. In place of Warrior Virtues, it extols > >> critical thinking, cleverness, adaptability, and an appreciation of > >> physical pleasures like eating, drinking, and sex. > > >> Much humour is cruel - but try and read cruelty in to 'Doctor, doctor, > >> I've lost an electron'. 'Are you sure'? 'Yes, I'm positive'. > > >> What do we think humour is? --
