The Best Medicine: Humor - Period 6 - Class #8 [10/24]
After grabbing a quick nap in his office Wilson came in to Humor about the same time the students did. Sorry guys, no yummies today, professor is tired.
“All righty then. In case the chuckling I was doing wasn’t evidence enough, you all did very well on your tests. Except for you Mr. McKnight, I need to see you after class to talk about why you missed the test last week.”
Taking a healthy swig of some wickedly strong smelling coffee, Wilson pushed away from the desk, least he give in to the urge to curl up there and go back to his nap.
“Today, we’re going to talk a little about Macarbe or dark humor.”
Thus began the lecture on the delicate art of satirizing otherwise untouchable societal taboos. A few of the taboos were quietly omitted due to it being a high school setting, with Wilson leaning heavily on the idea of Medical and EMT humor, which was definitely dark and at times disturbing.
Finally making his way back to the front desk, Wilson withdrew a small file folder and flipped it open.
Class Participation:
[warning, dark humor ahead, do not click if you are easily grossed out] “Okay, you might be an EMT if….” [warning, dark humor ahead, do not click if you are easily grossed out]
Reading through the list, he nodded at a few of those, obviously having experienced them himself, paused to arch a brow at a couple and chuckled at a couple more, then he finished up the list and set it off to the side.
“As you can see from the comments, there is a tendency to take a situation that would otherwise distress our sensibilities and twist it on its head to make it something our minds can handle. Some of these examples I’ve listed might seem positively cold or harsh to you and well to be brutally honest, they are. They are examples of what would otherwise be considered inappropriate humor in a general setting.”
Sliding down off the desk, Wilson began to fiddle with the remote.
“But we’re not talking about a general setting. We’re talking about the mind being forced to face down the unthinkable and coming up with a coping mechanism to deal with the impossible and still remain functional.”
Clicking the remote up towards the back of the room where the DVD player was set up, Wilson pulled down the white screen for the recorded to play against.
Homework:
“One of the most famous examples of dark humor was a show you all might or might not have seen called, Army Surgical Hospital Able to Move or A.S.H.A.M. The rest of the class I’m going to show you an episode of A.S.H.A.M and for homework I want you to write a short essay about the underlying theme of the show and the episode. Obviously, you’re going to see the ‘socially’ acceptable jokes but I also want you to think about the situation these people are in and how they are using dark humor or what would otherwise be inappropriate humor to remain functional in their circumstances.”
Hopefully, as he dimmed the lights and set up the projector, Wilson himself wouldn’t fall asleep in the middle of the episode.
[ooc: OCDs are on the way! up! Class is in session.]
“All righty then. In case the chuckling I was doing wasn’t evidence enough, you all did very well on your tests. Except for you Mr. McKnight, I need to see you after class to talk about why you missed the test last week.”
Taking a healthy swig of some wickedly strong smelling coffee, Wilson pushed away from the desk, least he give in to the urge to curl up there and go back to his nap.
“Today, we’re going to talk a little about Macarbe or dark humor.”
Thus began the lecture on the delicate art of satirizing otherwise untouchable societal taboos. A few of the taboos were quietly omitted due to it being a high school setting, with Wilson leaning heavily on the idea of Medical and EMT humor, which was definitely dark and at times disturbing.
Finally making his way back to the front desk, Wilson withdrew a small file folder and flipped it open.
Class Participation:
[warning, dark humor ahead, do not click if you are easily grossed out] “Okay, you might be an EMT if….” [warning, dark humor ahead, do not click if you are easily grossed out]
Reading through the list, he nodded at a few of those, obviously having experienced them himself, paused to arch a brow at a couple and chuckled at a couple more, then he finished up the list and set it off to the side.
“As you can see from the comments, there is a tendency to take a situation that would otherwise distress our sensibilities and twist it on its head to make it something our minds can handle. Some of these examples I’ve listed might seem positively cold or harsh to you and well to be brutally honest, they are. They are examples of what would otherwise be considered inappropriate humor in a general setting.”
Sliding down off the desk, Wilson began to fiddle with the remote.
“But we’re not talking about a general setting. We’re talking about the mind being forced to face down the unthinkable and coming up with a coping mechanism to deal with the impossible and still remain functional.”
Clicking the remote up towards the back of the room where the DVD player was set up, Wilson pulled down the white screen for the recorded to play against.
Homework:
“One of the most famous examples of dark humor was a show you all might or might not have seen called, Army Surgical Hospital Able to Move or A.S.H.A.M. The rest of the class I’m going to show you an episode of A.S.H.A.M and for homework I want you to write a short essay about the underlying theme of the show and the episode. Obviously, you’re going to see the ‘socially’ acceptable jokes but I also want you to think about the situation these people are in and how they are using dark humor or what would otherwise be inappropriate humor to remain functional in their circumstances.”
Hopefully, as he dimmed the lights and set up the projector, Wilson himself wouldn’t fall asleep in the middle of the episode.
[ooc: OCDs are on the way! up! Class is in session.]