RESEARCH 19/2006/E 55

Elke Schlote Pigeonholing comic elements in children’s TV

TV producers employ certain stra- been established. Many humour ty- tegies in a conscious effort to evoke pologies are based on (adult) jokes laughter from their target audi- or funny conversations, e. g. Berger ence. While watching, it is up to the (1993), Röhrich (1977), and Kotthoff recipients to respond to what is on (2003), and even typologies of hu- offer, to get involved with the com- mour techniques in psychotherapeuti- edy or to reject parts of the pro- cal interventions exist (Schreiner, gramme or the whole of it. In this 2003, p. 260-262). An account of article, we want to present a syste- schoolchildren’s conversational hu- matic account of elementary “in- mour and joking is presented by gredients” of humour communica- Bönsch-Kauke (2003), who extracts tion strategies, in short: humour 14 categories from content analysis techniques in children’s comedy.1 of humorous interactions, e. g. chil- dren’s behaviour (grotesque-clown- from (internationally known) comic esque/parodic/satirical), quality of programmes for children. omic elements are the focal humour (irony, jest, teasing or mock- The elements can be grouped on dif- points for humorous commu- ery); function of humour, e. g. par- ferent levels of complexity of the fun- Cnication. They are con- ticipants and location of the humour ny text while they do not occur mu- structed on different levels of the communication, and so on. tually exclusively. The most basic le- media text, and may build on each The only typology of humour in au- vel of incongruity is the aesthetic le- other (Mikos, 2003, p. 141). Since a diovisual media to date is that by vel which can be perceived straight- perception of (subjective) humour is Buijzen, and Valkenburg (2004) who forwardly via the actual image or evoked by a discrepancy between the refer to Berger’s categories and ex- sound, followed by the level of funny perceived content and the expecta- pand these by categories drawn from action in a short scene. In a next step, tions derived from one’s own experi- the analysis of humorous TV commer- there is the level of language, word- ence, our criteria for determining cials directed at children and adults. plays or jokes in one sentence or a little comic elements is “potential funni- They elaborate seven main categories chat. The level of narration typically ness” of an element in terms of in- of humour in TV: slapstick, clownish comprises several connected scenes congruity (cf. McGhee, 1977, and humour, surprise, misunderstanding, where characters are shown in Kotthoff, and Lyon for an account on irony, satire, and parody comprising relationship with each other. Two more how humour relates to incongruity, in in total 41 humour techniques. levels deal, respectively, with character this issue). We approached the issue Our classification of comic elements and intertextual correlations. of humour in media texts not only originates from a sequential content from a reception perspective (cf. analysis of children’s animation and Götz, and Götz et al. in this issue) but live action programmes.3 This typo- Level 1: Aesthetics also from the text itself which pro- logy has so far proved to be effective vides offers for humour communi- for analysing children’s humorous On the most basic level, the properties cation.2 The research question was: programmes from different cultural of objects are a major source of hu- How is humour written into the text? contexts. We now move on to describe mour: images or sounds that display a In philological, psychological and the different levels and categories of clear deviation from the (expected) media research, some typologies of comic elements and elaborate on this norm. What differs from an expected strategy for invoking humour have list by giving characteristic examples standard can be a still or a single sound RESEARCH 56 19/2006/E or a single noise. The recipient con- lected home-videos of minor acci-
Irony (a character says one thing, structs the meaning as funny on the dents). means the opposite, and to every- basis of the seen/heard object. Comic
Juicy issues are (for children) love, one it should be clear the contrary elements on an aesthetic level are: kissing, sex in the sense of intima- holds true, e. g. Squidward Ten- cy (e. g. Pucca who is constantly tacles frequently uses irony on
Technical effects (like fish-eye ca- chasing her crush and trying to kiss SpongeBob and Patrick although mera, slow motion), him). they never understand it).
Sound and/or background music
Toilet humour/scatological hu- (comic voices, comic score, mour: displaying genital body parts, canned laughter), belching, farting, throwing up, etc. Level 4: Narration
Comical sounds or noise (e. g. the (e. g. SpongeBob ripping his un- sounding of a gong to a hit on a derpants or blowing soap bubbles On the narrative level, humour is character’s head), which produce fart noises when generated in the course of consecu-
Exaggerated movements, they burst). tive scenes that bring objects or cha-
Temporary body deformation (e. g. racters into a relationship or a context. a woman turning into a hurricane Possible comic elements are: in Pink Panther), Level 3: Language/
A funny still/visual humour (e. g. wordplay/joke
Practical jokes in form of de- Pucca: little hearts symbolise be- liberate teasing, a prototypical ex- ing in love) and Deviations from the norm are based ample is Tom & Jerry.
A spectacular picture (like an ex- on speech, usually occurring in form
Play with expectations: The viewer plosion or a stunt). of a sentence or a small portion of is anticipating a certain action. In- speech. Normally, something would ferring from preceding scenes, he/ be expressed differently, and this she is prepared for a special event. Level 2: Action deviation constitutes fun. Comic ele- If the expected event happens, it ments based on speech are: is funny. But if the actual event Funniness on the level of action is does not correspond to the expec- created by deviation from the stan-
Repetition of the same words (e. g. tation of it, this happens to be even dard at the smallest unit of action. Angela Anaconda is dreaming of funnier. In the animation series Usually, this is a short scene of a few breaking all fishing records in fish- Pink Panther, a woman digs a pit seconds duration. The humour here ing) to catch the Pink Panther and he is is based on the relation between
Alliterations (e. g. Angela Anacon- expected to fall into it, but doesn’t. several objects. Relevant comic ele- da commenting: “Oh, my brainless Instead, the woman herself is ments are: brothers seem to be snared up in shown falling into her own trap. some seaweed.”) This scene serves as a good ex-
Absurdity: The action runs counter
Ambiguousness and double mean- ample for another comic element, to our everyday experience (al- ings (e. g. SpongeBob telling his too: though it is not a lie), e. g. Looney friend on the beach: “Hey Sandy,
Restoration of justice: Harm set, toon characters who run over the I am sandy!”). harm get! An innocent character edge of an abyss without imme-
Taking something literally (e. g. experiences an awkward situation, diately falling down. the human animated character and suddenly there is a loophole
Exaggeration: the displayed action Wallace says to his dog partner and/or the bad character who had is clearly over- or understated (e. g. Gromit after his successful set the trap gets punished. Justice Angela Anaconda who dreams of jailbreak: “They are gonna hunt is restored because the “good” catching a great fish with a fishing you down – like a dog!”). character wins out in the end. rod suddenly hooks a whale-sized
Catachresis/illogical metaphor
Play with hierarchies: a little hero fish). (e. g. SpongeBob: “What a great challenges his/her seniors, authori-
Kidding/jabberwocky: The action day! The sun is shining, the water ties, or a stronger person. Examples is (amusing) nonsense (e. g. the is clear, and scallops twitter,” in- are the main protagonist Andy of dog Gromit from Wallace & Gro- stead of swallows). What’s with Andy? who plays his mit is shooting porridge instead of
Jokes (a character/presenter tells a tricks on adults and on stronger bullets from a gun). joke, e. g. a little narration with a peers, and Roseanne’s children who
Little mishaps in the sense of slap- punch line that usually plays with are constantly struggling against stick (e. g. TV shows featuring se- the expectations of the audience. their mother’s authority. RESEARCH 19/2006/E 57

Failure of a plan: A scheme is ren-
Aesthetics (e. g. a parody on the five minutes were analysed by splitting up the dered unsuccessful from the point Teletubbies: the protagonists are story line in sequences of different length which contained the smallest unit of action. These of view of the main character of dressed up like – tubbies but have sequences were then evaluated in terms of the scene who has hatched the beards), elements of humour.
4 An example for a transgression of the comic plan. Action (e. g. cross-medial refer- universe passing into horror is the animation ence of Gromit in jail reading a programme Happy Tree Friends which is explicitly copy of Crime and Punishment by not directed at children. In the programme, comic Character framing (sound, animation style) is mixed with Fido Dogstoyevsky), strong graphic violence.
Language, character or narration A comic character displays incon- (e. g. play with expectations: threat- gruities which makes him/her look or ening a person with a rolling pin, REFERENCES sound especially funny (e. g. Sponge- which alludes to other films where Berger, Arthur A. (1993). An anatomy of humor. New Bob Squarepants, or Doug in King people get hit with a rolling pin). Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. Bönsch-Kauke, Marion (2003). Psychologie des of Queens) or act funny (e. g. irreve- In a parody, comic elements on dif- Kinderhumors. Schulkinder unter sich. Opladen: rent prankster Andy of What’s with ferent levels can add up to increase Leske & Budrich. Andy? or the supernatural powers of comedy. An example is the above- Buijzen, Moniek; Valkenburg, Patti M. (2004). De- veloping a typology of humor in audivisual media. the female teenager Raven which lead mentioned Teletubbies parody: not In: Media Psychology, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 147-167. to amusing entanglements in That’s only do the protagonists look odd Kotthoff, Helga (2003). Lachkulturen heute. Humor so Raven). Character traits of comic or amusing, they also behave in Gesprächen. In: Klingler et al. (eds.). Humor in characters are likely to be exagger- contrary to the manner of the den Medien. Baden-Baden: Nomos, pp. 45-74. McGhee, Paul E. (1977). Humor. Its origin and de- ated or little quirks and/or tics over- innocuous Teletubby characters in velopment. San Francisco, CA: Freeman. emphasised to increase funniness that they are trying to rob a bank. Mikos, Lothar (2003). Film- und Fernsehanalyse. (e. g. Pippi Longstock- Konstanz: UVK. ing who is virtually Generally speaking, co-occurring Röhrich, Lutz (1977). Der Witz. Figuren, Formen, fearless and com- comic elements (on different levels) Funktionen. Stuttgart: Metzler. Schreiner, Joachim (2003). Humor bei Kindern und pletely unaf- in a sequence can reinforce one Jugendlichen. Eine Reise durch die Welt des kind- fected by another and add to the overall hu- lichen Humors unter Berücksichtigung entwick- adult authori- mour. Furthermore, comic elements lungspsychologischer, pädagogischer, psychothera- peutischer und diagnostischer Aspekte. Berlin: ty). What is on different levels provide a humor- VWB. more, comic ous framing of a programme, assuring programmes the audience in that it is safe to re- frequently spond to the offer of humour commu- feature two main characters with nication and to laugh.4 opposed physical and/or character traits (e. g. Tom & Jerry, Stan and Ollie, Ernie and Bert of Sesame Street) and spark gags out of this encounter. Comic elements applying NOTES THE AUTHOR to a character have to be detailed 1 Based on the results of several years of research work conducted by the IZI team: Head of research: individually in the categories “phy- Maya Götz, main contributors: Carolina Gollner, sical appearance,” “behaviour,” “cha- Ralf Schauer, Elke Schlote. racter traits,” and “dramaturgical A first compilation of elements of humour was extracted from analyses of interviews with chil- conflict(s).” dren and producers for the IZI Humour Study in 2002 (cf. Götz, and Gollner in this issue). The list of comic elements has since been extended and systematised by media analyses of children’s pro- Intertextuality grammes used in the International Humour Study (cf. Götz et al. in this issue). 2 Comic elements are offers, and thus appreciated Elements of a particular programme differently by individuals. are often related to elements of other 3 Country-specific and international children’s pro- Elke Schlote, doctoral candidate, programmes/media texts (e. g. paro- grammes were chosen as specimen for children’s degree in German Literature and TV: Angela Anaconda (USA), a homevideo show Linguistics, Biology, and Education dies of genres). Intertextuality can be (Israel), Wallace and Gromit – A Close Shave from the University of Konstanz, affiliated on either level of our ty- (Great Britain), Pink Panther (USA), Open a Door in South Africa (South Africa), Tabaluga tivi is scientific editor and project ma- pology, i. e. (Germany), Der Schuh des Manitu (Manitou’s nager in the IZI, Munich, Germany. Shoe) (Germany). From each programme, approx.