In her essay "Dead Man Laughing", Zadie Smith explores the roll that comedy played in her life and in the life of her father. For him, comedy became a way to deal with his problems and shortcomings. It was easy to laugh and commiserate with the characters that his favorite comedians played because he could relate to them. It was a sort of cathartic experience for him to be able to laugh at something that was really bothering him.
As bleak as it sounds, the darkest moments of his life were the funniest because they were just so absolutely ridiculous. This was true of his death, as well. As he watched his daughter running around trying to make everything perfect for him, he just smirked. In the end, all her worrying was for nothing anyway, and he was able to see the humor in it.
I totally get that. I have a real problem making snide comments in really awful situations. I feel so uncomfortable and awkward in traumatic events, that I just kind of laugh and make fun of people. If anyone tries to get emotional when I die, I will probably just laugh at them. Honestly, who wants to be sad when they die anyway? Being serious is just for squares.
I think that humor is really good way to deal with serious issues. It provides a very non-threatening platform to talk about class, race, or the trauma of being shorter than all your friends. If you can laugh about something, how bad could the problem really be?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
good analysis...i like the part of being serious is just for squares lol
ReplyDeleteI think the problem can be awful and you can still laugh. When people i Know and cared for had passed we laughed because some memories of them brought us to it, that doesn't mean it did not hurt like hell that they were gone. The problem can be catastrophic and people will still chuckle because that is how they cope. we can not tell others how to deal with their emotions but it would be nice if most could laugh everything away i think the world would be a happier place
ReplyDeletei feel the same way. humor is the best way to cope with serious situations. i mean whos serious anymore...seriously
ReplyDeleteNice. I like the fact that you want to have a good time while dying (as in not being too serious. Not having an ACTUAL great time dying). Celebrate the life you had, not the one you're leaving.
ReplyDelete