Volume 38, Issue 2

Our study examined individuals’ reactions to and perceptions of the Barbie (2023) movie as subversive (e.g., targeting the United States patriarchal structure) versus disparaging (e.g., perpetuating negative perceptions of men/women). More specifically, we examined how various attitudes (e.g., ambivalent sexism, adherence to traditional gender roles, feminist attitudes) related to individuals’ decision to see Barbie , their expectations for and enjoyment of the movie, and their perceptions of its use of subversive humor for social commentary. Participants ( N  = 446, 71 % women, 79 % heterosexual, 78 % White, 65 % first-year students, M age  = 19.40, SD = 3.25) were recruited from undergraduate courses from several Midwestern universities and completed a survey via Qualtrics. In line with our Selective Exposure Hypothesis , individuals with more egalitarian gender beliefs (e.g., higher levels of feminism, lower levels of sexism) were more likely to have seen Barbie . Similarly, in line with our Motivated Cognition Hypothesis , individuals with more egalitarian gender beliefs had more positive perceptions of Barbie , its messages, and intentions. Our findings further suggest that individuals who disagreed with Barbie ’s message may have avoided viewing the movie, and if they did not avoid it, they may have resisted its message. This research furthers our understanding of subversive humor in relation to gender issues by examining how it was perceived in Barbie, one of the most significant pop culture events of the 2020s thus far.

Schlaraffia is the name of still existent male associations cultivating friendship, art and humour while maintaining a peculiar pseudo-medieval ritual. The first society of this name was founded in Prague in 1859. Subsequently, the idea spread throughout the world among German-speaking elites. By 1939, there were over three hundred branches on the territory of 29 present-day states. What started off as a local table society of artists transformed itself into a worldwide network of (upper) middle class elite. This paper shows how humour was instrumentalised as a social boundary, a kind of bourgeois shibboleth to distinguish the exclusive society from the lower middle class, not to say working class. Due to the social transformation of the membership, Schlaraffian humour was civilised, i.e. subdued to middle class morals. Schlaraffia hierarchised humour, defined it as the “highest form of comedy” and counterposed it against the alleged impertinence of the lower classes jest, wit, or prank. Humour as social distinction was associated with specific taste and knowledge needed to decode the (inside) jokes. Apart from being a subtle but effective social boundary, shared taste and knowledge through humour also helped cement the heterogeneous socio-professional groups that made up the bourgeoisie.

Spanish humorists associated with the avant-garde of the early 20th century developed an abstract, playful brand of humor dubbed “Humorism” and “New Spanish Humor.” The movement’s heyday came when Miguel Mihura created the weekly humor magazine La Codorniz [ The Quail ] and kept tight editorial control over its content. Scholars and humorists hold up Mihura’s magazine as a watershed in the evolution of Spanish humor. Much of the commentary on Mihura’s Codorniz (1941–1944) focuses on its assiduous disengagement from the social and political realities of postwar Spain and its satirization of popular media and the linguistic and social conventions of previous generations, which many humorists saw as an indirect and largely unintentional attack against the conservative Franco regime (1939–1975). This paper argues that the unintentional attacks included surprisingly direct criticism of Spanish society and government, examining three single-panel cartoons on courtship and marriage as examples of topical humor that was published and/or created by Mihura despite the fact that it went against his personal and editorial aesthetic as the champion of New Spanish Humor.

This article scrutinizes the utilization of stylistic devices for the generation of humor in literature, with a particular focus on Ḥadāʾiq al-Siḥr fī Daqāʾiq al-Shiʿr (Gardens of Magic in the Minutiae of Poetry), authored by Rashīd al-Dīn Waṭwaṭ (d. 1182). Functioning as a comprehensive guide to figures of speech and literary eloquence, Ḥadāʾiq al-Siḥr employs examples from both Arabic and Persian literature to elucidate its principles. While primarily devoted to panegyrics, Ḥadāʾiq al-Siḥr does not disregard humor, employing humorous samples to clarify the subtleties of this genre. Waṭwaṭ, adhering to the medieval pedagogical tradition, furnishes concise explanations coupled with multiple illustrations, demanding an in-depth analysis of instructive examples to unveil their intricacies. Employing the script-based theory of analyzing humor, this study scrutinizes humorous instances within Ḥadāʾiq al-Siḥr , providing insights into Waṭwaṭ’s approach to comedic elements in literature. Beyond this, the article explores the foundational aspects of humor creation within the medieval literary conventions of Persian and Arabic, thereby contributing to a nuanced comprehension of this literary genre.

Many studies have highlighted the connection between humor and impolite behaviors. In the present paper, we investigate whether such disaffiliative humor extends to the musical case, relying on a previously collected corpus of free improvisations in which duos of musicians took turn in endorsing both affiliative and disaffiliative social attitudes towards one another. Over the course of three studies, we show that improvisations were found to be more amusing when the performers were engaged in disaffiliative behaviors towards one another than when they endorsed affiliative behaviors. We also show that knowing that the performance is improvised can help disclose part of its humorous content, particularly when such humorous content inherently relies on relational aspects of the performance, such as one performer deliberately attempting to prevent their co-performer from coordinating with them. More generally, we argue for the relevance of disaffiliative humor in thinking about musical humor, beyond well-established forms of musical humor such as parodic quotations or stylistic incongruities.

Ethnic humor uses a small number of universal stereotypes such as stupidity, laziness, etc., to ridicule a large number of ethnic groups, thereby setting boundaries between them and maintaining ethnic-based hierarchies in society (Hill 1995. Junk Spanish, covert racism, and the (leaky.) boundary between public and private spheres. Pragmatics 5(2). 197–212, Hill 1998. Language, race, and white public space. American Anthropologist 100(3). 680–689; Kuipers and Ent 2016. The seriousness of ethnic jokes: Ethnic humour and social change in The Netherlands, 1995–2012. Humour 29(4). 605–633). Ethnic humor, in this sense, is ethnic inasmuch as it targets different ethnic groups, but it does not address their ethnic identity because global scripts like stupidity and laziness are in no way related to or defining of ethnic groups and their identities. Based on this observation, the key objective of this study is to theorize and empirically evidence a relationship between ethnic humor and ethnic identity. To achieve this, the study will provide an overview of ethnic humor scholarship and its lack of focus on the relationship between ethnic humor and ethnic identity. It will critically re-examine the concept of global ethnic scripts, such as stupidity and laziness, countering these notions with evidence for the existence of different types of more local, ethnically distinctive scripts, such as those based on history, language, and customs. As evidence, it will present the results of a cross-cultural qualitative empirical study that offers insights into people’s perceptions of the ethnic character of humor.