ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the author analyzes how any joke or funny situation deals with painful stimulation or forbidden instinctual impulses, "but pain has been transformed into some pleasure, the danger has been transformed into some kind of joy; the painful has become pleasurable, and this is what provokes laughter." He took as his topic the psychoanalytic view toward laughter and tears. Laughter, hearty laughter, is a real involuntary emotional discharge. A good deal of the body is involved in laughter. It is a joyous expression of emotion, it is not just a satisfying discharge like other discharges might be, but it is a joyous one, and there is something playful about laughter. Tears also evoke sympathy, and there are people who can turn them on. There is no greater tear jerker than any movie where there is a big bad one and a nice little one who gets hurt.