Comedy is no laughing matter

Freud on using jokes to create subversion

- CHARLIE PIERRO

COMEDY can be a powerful weapon against the multiple narratives that are promoted and used to manipulate how we understand and act in the world.

In contrast with pursuits considered more highbrow, comedy is often thought of as entertainment, and even as 'light' entertainment. However, in Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious (1905), Sigmund Freud suggests otherwise. In doing so, he provides valuable insight into the individual and social functions that comedy can serve.

Freud recognised that we internalise the rules, norms and expectations of our society. Early on, these are instilled within us by parents and teachers who instruct us what to do, to say and to think. As this continues throughout our lives, it is taken over by other parts of society such as the educational system, the media and the government.

To function as members of a society, and build coherent relationships with others, Freud argued that we have to become aware of norms and make concessions to them. However, our tendency to do so is now being exploited by those groups who seek to control our behaviour and beliefs.

By utilising the media and modern forms of communication, they establish new norms through narratives that are designed to promote certain agendas.

These narratives are invariably fearbased. For example, we are commonly subjected to narratives that tell of impending environmental catastrophe, the looming threat of worldwide pandemics, or the immediate danger posed by an unstable foreign power.

Contained within them are a range of expectations about how we should understand certain features of the world and what we ought to do in response.