Leticia Neria PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

light side’), we are presumably better able to deal with the source of the problem’, 155 in
this case, how those with disabilities are considered different.
The film Tívoli provides another example, where the theatre has two dwarfs
among its artists. He is a magician and the woman is his assistant. During their sketch,
they are heckled by the audience, which yells, whistles and throws objects. The
magician begs: ‘Estimado público, por favor déjenme trabajar’ over and over, but the
crowd does not stop. Finally, exasperated, he takes the microphone and says: ‘Estimado
público, vayan y chinguen a su madre’. 156 We would not be able to laugh if we were
disturbed by the offenses or if we felt personally affected. 157 But, as Freud suggests, by
approaching the situation through humour, we reject suffering and transform the painful
effect into pleasure. 158 It is the super-ego convincing our tough criticism that it is right
to laugh, for different reasons: we are not ourselves suffering the opprobrium, or they
are not conscious of their misfortune and will overcome it because they are characters in
a comedy. Moreover, the magician confronts the audience and insults them, bringing
him the pleasure of revenge. We laugh about his unexpected but justified anger. If
someone with the same disability observes the scene, we could expect him/her to use it
as a way to ‘mejorar el pensamiento, fortificándolo, y asegurándolo así contra la
crítica’. 159 The act of humour would make him/her, and ourselves, stronger against
those ones who would be little us. Thus, humour is an environment in which to discuss
the issue ‘by enabling us to cope with sources of conflict and distress’. 160 It has a
therapeutic benefit.
155 McGhee, Humor. Its Origin… p. 21.
156 Isaac, Tívoli, 1974.
157 Freud, El chiste y su relación… p. 225.
158 Freud, ‘El Humor…’, (para. 6 of 14)
159 Freud, El chiste y su relación… p. 132.
160 McGhee, Humor. Its Origin… p. 227.
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