I don’t consider myself a funny person, the kind that jokes a lot and entertains other, but I do love to laugh. Humor is often a mystery to me, why exactly do we laugh? What makes something funny? Why do we tell funny stories?
The Netflix tv show “Wednesday” came up in a conversation recently in connection with Emmy awards nominations. I don’t like horror and scary stuff, and having never watched “The Addams Family”, I had delegated “Wednesday” into the thriller/horror/suspense category. I was supposed that it was considered a comedy.
I watch the first episode (S1), and I didn’t laugh once. Not even a chuckle. Only the occasional raised eyebrow. The episode left me surprised and almost bewildered. Wednesday’s one-liners are supposed to be dead-pan, dark humor. Her roommate says, “You should really get on Insta, Snapchat and TikTok.” Wednesday answers, “I find social media to be a soul-sucking void of meaningless affirmation.” I agree with that statement, so I don’t find it funny. To have humor, something needs to be contrasted against another, against our expectations.
When Wednesday sends piranhas after a classmate for revenge, my reaction is “This is horrible, I’d never do anything like that, and no one should.” Again, not funny. I find myself either fully agreeing with her or completely opposing her. None of those make me laugh.
I reached YouTube for clips of the 1960s tv show. The 8 minutes I watch made me laugh. Sixty years later, something significant has changed in our storytelling. Something significant has changed in our perception of reality.
Art and the Invisible 