Devil’s Advocate and Humor

Social media has spawned an entire genre called memes and 'viral video' content. Why are memes and ‘silly’ videos so popular?  People like to laugh and poke fun at themselves. A simple way of understanding the purpose of a meme, or the kinds of videos voted on during the America's Funniest Video program prove that stupid humor has appeal.

According to the 1stwebdesigner site, “An Internet meme is a cultural phenomenon, spreading like a virus, traveling from one person to another swiftly unit it takes on a life of its own.” That same understanding can be applied to a video that’s gone viral, on the platform that seems synonymous with ‘viral,’ YouTube.

I believe the popularity stems from a few qualities, like shock value, or that it’s fun to see mishaps happen to others. Maybe it makes the viewer feel better, that the accident couldn’t happen to them. Or maybe they see stupid behavior and it triggers a release that involves relating to the mishap and being able to laugh by sheer disassociation from the mishap.

Humor is subjective. What's funny to you may be insulting to me. Take this video for instance. What would you say is amusing about it? The idea of a grown person sitting on a child's swing? Can you tell what's going to happen before it does, and does the idea of the inevitable, (fall, crash, kapow) make the clip funny?

There's no regard for safety in this kind of content. What about liability? Did the swing manufacturer warn about weight limits? If the user disregards the warning, and gets hurt, what then? Oh, I know, I'm a bummer being so serious. It's just a few kids just having a little horseplay.

One aspect of accident or 'fail' videos shows people their most vulnerable. Why that is amusing is beyond me. It's not a new phenomenon.  The Three Stooges or the cartoon, Road Runner and even Warner Brothers Looney Tunes Tweety and Sylvester always featured bullying and beating up between the two. Perhaps seeing the worst case scenarios viewers appreciate the safety of their own remote position and could laugh at the absurdity of such intentional acts of attack and self inflicted harm.

I couldn't very well end this post on a down note. Here's a sample of a meme-like video. Funny?