Humor

I was thinking that it must be difficult to quantify something such as humor. Then I thought that an objective measure might be the percentage or number of people that a joke makes laugh. I don't think that's the best rubric, but it's at least objective.

So I pulled up a list of the top-rated comedies of all-time from the Internet Movie DataBase. I realize that people might rate movies for many things other than sheer comedy, such as dramatic elements or popular star power, but it is a list of comedic items drawn from a very large sample.

Here's the top ten rated comedies on imdb:
1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
2. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
3. Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (2001)
4. Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006)
5. Modern Times (1936)
6. Safety Last! (1923)
7. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
8. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
9. City Lights (1931)
10. Some Like It Hot (1959)

Well, I've never even seen most of these films, so it's almost impossible for me to draw any commonalities or trends from this list. More importantly, this list is only based on average ratings, so this explains the appearance of an Indian movie with just over a thousand votes and two Charlie Chaplin silent films.

Here are the rank and vote totals on the imdb.com top comedy list that have over 50,000 votes:
1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) 99,335
2. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) 88,092
3. Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le [Amélie] (2001) 90,868
7. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) 85,699
16. Vita è bella, La [Life is Beautiful] (1997) 53,447
18. Forrest Gump (1994) 132,678
20. The Incredibles (2004) 61,193
23. Finding Nemo (2003) 68,055
29. Back to the Future (1985) 96,852
39. Toy Story 2 (1999) 56,680

So what does this tell us about popular sense of humor?
Three of these films are cartoons (20, 23 & 39). One is a silly Monty Python production (7). Another is a goofy time travel movie (29) and another a goofy romp through time (18). One is a surreal bit of French optimism (3). Have things dumbed down?

Well, the other three suggest otherwise. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is at least as much drama as comedy, set in a mental institution, and tackles the hard issue of healthcare for patients with mental disorders. Dr. Strangelove is satire by Stanley Kubrick that tackles the hard issue of nuclear warfare and the absurdity of it. And Life is Beautiful dramatically poses its plot within a concentration camp. The key though is whether or not to regard these three films as comedies or primarily something else. Well, the objective source (imdb) cites them as comedies as so I cannot diverge from listing them with the other seven.

There is a sort of commonality I believe found among most of these films. That is absurdity. A stark contrast in the expected and the perceived. As Immanuel Kant stated so long ago:

"In everything that is to excite a lively laugh there must be something absurd (in which the understanding, therefore, can find no satisfaction). Laughter is an affection arising from the sudden transformation of a strained expectation into nothing."

What is the absurd?
1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Insane men do sane things.
2. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Military commanders actually play out Mutually Assured Destruction, but in an improbable series of events.
3. Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le [Amélie] (2001) A young woman tries to make everyone happy by supterfuge.
7. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) King Arthur and the knights of the round table are silly and anything bu heroic.
16. Vita è bella, La [Life is Beautiful] (1997) A concentration camp is a game.
18. Forrest Gump (1994) A mentally challenged man plays a role in many major events in American history. Almost entirely by accident.
20. The Incredibles (2004) Superhero family lives in witness relocation program to avoid lawsuits.
23. Finding Nemo: Fish talk. They have adventures and feelings.
29. Back to the Future: A teenager travels to the past and his actions alter the present so he then struggles to restore the life he knew.
39. Toy Story 2: Toys talk. They have adventures and feelings.

This conveys that much popular humor arises from absurdity. The Yahoo online dictionary primarliy defines absurd as: "Ridiculously incongruous or unreasonable." The key here is the difference in the anticipated and the delivery of something apart from a logical succession. That's apparently very funny. I can think of many examples where this is true, but looking at the list of top comedies it appears this is an extremely popular mode of humor.