Even Funnier When Someone Gets Hurt. Comedy and Transformative Mediation

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Sociology - Social System and Social Structure, Free University of Berlin (European Societies), course: 'And now for something completely different': Sociological Issues in the Works of Monty Python, language: English, abstract: “There is nothing funny about that” – we often hear people say this when the topic touches on a sensitive issue. Jokes concerning those disabled, sex, race, homosexuality, cultural differences, power, authority, privilege, wealth etc. place many in an uncomfortable position. This is because many of these conversations are only had with people in our own social group. For example, a group of men discussing feminism and why women should or should not have equal pay. However, comedy places us in a unique position. Humour ravels truth in a veil of silliness and delivers it a diverse audience. Thus, humour also gives us an opportunity to mediate and eventually heal deep seated issues in society. I argue that it is possible to use humour to initiate transformative mediation. I use the benign violation theory to argue that the violation present in humour, is a chance to begin having the conversation, “Why is this topic sensitive and how do we heal wounds as a community?” Lastly, I dissect the Monty Python skit, “The Village Idiot”, to tweeze out the implicit message of social labeling, status, marginalization and the educational system.