I thoroughly enjoyed the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I thought it was a good representation of con artists because it showed them turning their back on each other quite often. Also, at the end they went back to scamming innocent people even after their last scam ended up horrible. Here are some of the things I laughed at and the theory of humor I thought they corresponded with.
It’s better to be good and honest than to be not.” - Incongruity Theory
“He called me Lady Fanny.” - Superiority Theory
The leg whip scene - Superiority Theory
When he’s running down the stairs and pretending to use his chair - Incongruity Theory
I noticed that most of the class laughed at the last two things in my list but not the first two. I think I laugh most often at funny/random sayings or unique references. As an early teen I really enjoyed Futurerama which tended to fall into that category. One of the funniest movies I have ever seen is Fantastic Mr. Fox which definitely falls primarily into the Incongruity Theory. I think I agree with both theories of humor and saw the class laugh at both examples. This being said, I think the class laughed at Incongruity Theory type instances more often. I really enjoyed spending time analyzing these theories of humor and how they impacted the class.
Thanks for your comments. I agree that there's a lot of incongruity when we expect one thing and get the opposite. But it's also a mixture of all three. There's certainly some superiority in Freddy's portrayal of Ruprecht, who is certainly "not right in the head." Then there's a bit of relief throughout that we are not so gullible as the people defrauded in the film, like the woman who buys Freddy dinner on the train or the women who falls to her knees before Lawrence.
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