Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Chapter 15: Being Wrong

Haley Scholars Fall 2013 Reading Groups

"The relationship between comedy and wrongness suggests that we laugh at the errors of others not our of self-satisfaction but out of self-recognition" (322). --Kathryn Schulz 

In chapter 15, Kathryn Schulz's discussion of error and comedy is especially memorable. She also offers extended ideas about analogies between art and error. She notes at one point that "our mistakes, when we face up to them, show us both the world and the self from previously unseen angles, and remind us to care about perspectives other than our own" (332).
 
What focus in the chapter -- comedy or art -- did you find most useful or interesting? Why?

6 comments:

Ajeenah Johnson-Brown said...

The focus of Chapter 15 that I found most interesting was Schulz's idea of comedy and wrongness. In the chapter she says we laugh at other's wrongs out of self-recognition. You can see that a lot today. If someone makes even the slightest mistake, whether it's in class, work, etc. Others will laugh, however, we all make mistakes and this could've happened to any of us. I also believe we laugh at ourselves for comfort. No one likes to be the joke amongst a group of people. Therefore, we laugh at ourselves so it feels like people are laughing with us and not at us.

Brenda W said...

I found the focus of comedy most interesting because I have never viewed comedy the way it is written in this chapter. The second part of the chapter which focused more on art was more familiar to me and was along the lines of what I am used to. However, the comedy focus was alot different than what I expected and therefore was very fascinating. The notion I really took into thought was that comedy should come from imitation of common mistakes. In a sense, this was saying that we find humor in ourselves and the things we do day to day. We laugh because of the gap between what we think/expect the world to be, and what it really is. This gap is the basis for comedy. I have never viewed comedy like that and I thought it was very intriguing and useful to view something I previously thought I understood from a whole new dimension.

Unknown said...

I also thought that the comedy aspect was really interesting to read in chapter 15. I actually thought that the idea that we laugh at ourselves for comfort made a lot of sense. No one likes to be the butt of jokes and laughing at our mistakes or "wrongness" shows that we can accept the idea that we are not always right.

Sandra Nnoung said...

The focus of error being comical made sense to me in this chapter. As children we generally laughed at other kids when they made mistakes. Whether someone fell or gave a wrong answer in class it was amusing because it was not us. It is something we have done somewhat unconsciously and we no longer think about the fact that we laugh at other people's errors.

Monique Williams said...

I too found this chapter interesting. It does not come to a surprise to me that much of our humor is a result out of our mistakes. I can attest for this and I see it on a daily basis. I actually think it is very intriguing that we can laugh at ourselves. I love when people have the ability to laugh at themselves and make light of situations. We all make mistakes, so instead of dwelling on this I think comedy is in some ways a coping mechanism.

Tia S. said...

I liked the connection between comedy and error because I think it's good to laugh at your mistakes. We already learned about our fear of error and I think laughing is a way of accepting those errors. There have been plenty of times when I messed up and in the moment I felt so embarrassed, but later on I'm laughing with my friends about it. I'm over it and the mistake isn't "haunting" me. As Schulz points out, even if we're laughing at someone else's mistake, it may be out of self recognition. Maybe you did that exact same thing before or you can just add it to your list of "silly human errors". Either way, laughter is a good approach to embracing our errors.