ABSTRACT
For the latter, laughter, comedy and humour prove to be a mere safety-valve that all the while continues to ensure the status quo. In fact, when false comedy seeks to reveal the comedy of humanity, it simply replaces social hierarchy with abstract authority. The comedy sequence approaches, but also uses, the potential misfires that underscore human interaction and which serve as a constitutive feature of David’s interactions with Oliver and his colleagues. By exploring comedy’s ability to expose the inherent ‘gap’ or inconsistencies of the symbolic order/big Other, this approach has considered the various ways in which certain universal notions can be concretely performed through comedy. As a result, comedy reveals those instances where our social norms, values and politically correct standards prove illusive and impotent. The application of the concrete universal posits the scenes’ true comedy, repeating the Real via a form of reflexive mobilisation that critically exposes the inconsistencies in political correctness.
