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

absentmindedness in men and in events’. 69 Through laughter, we are pointing to a fault,
and to the necessity of correcting it, which elevates us to a position of superiority. ‘In
laughter we always find an unavowed intention to humiliate, and consequently to
correct our neighbour, if not in his will, at least in his deed’. 70 Besides, we laugh in
order to show our disdain or to hide our jealousy. 71 We could not assume this position if
we did not feel (or try to at least for a moment) better than the object that is causing us
the hilarity.
As we saw with Vicente Fox, we do not laugh only at the unlucky. We like to
degrade those in power, or in a better position than us. Each laugh is a victory for the
powerless, which helps explain why humour emerges in repressive states or
dictatorships. I will describe this in more detail when I discuss the relationship between
humour, context and figures in power.
Zupancic considers that humour emerges when we recognise a person who
believes to be superior, despite being no different from anyone else. Thus, the soul of
the comic characters should be projected in their whole body: ‘the soul itself is as
corporeal as possible’. 72 What comedy does is to point to the finitude of humanity
because it ‘emphasizes our essential humanity, its joys and limitation’. 73 A man is never
perfect, but rather full of faults and specific attitudes and ‘these weaknesses are
precisely something on account of which a man is never only a man’. 74 There is at least
one characteristic which makes him/her different, and consequently serves as a source
of humour. And to point out to these finitudes make us feel superior.
69
Bergson, Laughter. An Essay…, p. 87-88.
70
Ibid, p. 136.
71
Hazlitt, ‘Sobre el ingenio y el humor…’, p. 75.
72
Zupancic, ‘The “Concrete Universal”, and…’, p. 183.
73 Ibid., p. 189.
74 Ibid., p. 191.
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