What Did the Psychoanalyst Say to the Comedian?
Written: Sep 03 '07 (Updated Sep 03 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Freud tackles an interesting part of being human
Cons: A bit aimless, Freud uses loads of bad jokes to try to make his point
The Bottom Line: I wouldn't want to watch Freud do stand up.
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| meagandowney's Full Review: S. Freud - Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconsc... |
Relief from psychical expenditure that is already there and economizing in psychical expenditure that is only about to be called for - from these two principles all the techniques of jokes, and accordingly all pleasure from these techniques, are derived.
It isn't difficult to find a comedian who ventures into psychological territory, but psyhoanalysts who take up the issue of comedy are a rare breed. Perhaps that's because Freud's right in his assertion that things are funny because they relieve us of the kind of psychical pressure analysis generates. In general, people don't want to know why they're laughing. They just want to laugh more - until they find themselves laughing in response to something completely inappropriate.
For me, that moment came when I was sitting at a stoplight in a car with an ex-boyfriend at a busy three-way intersection on the west side of Chicago when a small white car came careening at at least 40 miles per hour into a truck right in front of us. The car, filled with people, crunched up and bounced off a third car like a wad of office paper missing the trash can. The people in the car had obviously perished (that fact was later confirmed on the evening news) and my response shocked me. In the face of such tragedy, I laughed. I don't mean I giggled, I mean I laughed and continued laughing until tears rolled down my cheeks. My beau looked at me in disbelief. "What are you doing?" he said. "I can't help it. It's just so funny to me."
Freud is Brave.
One of the things I love about Freud is that he won't let you get away with anything. You can run (and he'll gladly watch you run), but you can't hide. The very things you struggle to forget - that illicit dream, that embarrassing slip of the tongue, laughing at something you shouldn't - are likely things he became most interested in at some point or another. Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious is his attempt to find the purpose of humor and fit it into his larger, widely-challenged theoretical structure of the human psyche. The problem is that he is less adept with the nuances of joke-telling than he is with psychological jargon, making for a tedious read.
It doesn't help that many of the jokes Freud dissects are usually dated, or that the humor doesn't always translate cleanly from the German. His opening number, used in a different author's attempt at defining jokes, is a pitiful play on the words "familiar" and "millionaire." The footnote admits that it "can only make its precise effect if the German words are given," and this is true of many of the jokes that follow. I was often too perplexed by how convoluted the jokes were to stay focused on the point Freud was trying to make with them, but once I moved past the jokes relying on word play I found the text easier to digest.
Freud makes a distinction between "verbal" and "concept" jokes, and discusses various "joke-techniques." In a somewhat circular argument, Freud avers that more satisfaction or "psychical relief" is found in those jokes that succeed in their intention of evoking pleasure in its listeners. Even problematic statements like this have value though - in this case, to do away with the philosophical idea of aesthetics. Freud believes that the comic must exist for a reason, so it isn't enough to revel in the pleasure derived from it. As he writes, "I doubt if we are in a position to undertake anything without having an intention in view."
I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours.
And Freud wouldn't be Freud without a little sex and a little sexism. In fact, he relies on dirty jokes or "smut" to unravel the mystery of the purpose of a joke. According to Freud, looking often replaces touching and dirty jokes allow listeners to enter into a kind of menage a trois with the teller and the subject. We all want to see each other's privates, and dirty jokes serve as a nice stand in for the real thing. A good joke solves the problem of any obstacle - in this case, civilization - and so the type of smut enjoyed by the more civilized but repressed psyche is slightly more refined than the coarser version enjoyed by the peasant. "We can only laugh when a joke has come to our help," and a joke doesn't really help us if we aren't permitted to laugh at it because of societal restrictions. The sexism is introduced into the argument by way of discussions on the differences between men and women and their corresponding sexual needs.
Fulfillment of the libido is achieved through dirty jokes, while hostile jokes "will allow us to exploit something ridiculous in our enemy which we could not, on account of obstacles in the way, bring forward openly or consciously." They help us not only to avoid the obstacles to our aggression, but also to bring those who take pleasure in the joke to our side. In all cases, we yield what we save in psychical expenditure, so a joke about my enemy's hair is not nearly as pleasurable as one which assails her intellect - unless of course her hair is the real threat. And if it takes me 10 minutes to tell it, it isn't funny because I could have spent that 10 minutes undercutting her in more direct ways. Economy is integral to overcoming obstacles and gaining psychical relief.
If I'm flailing around in my attempts to relate the arguments in this book to real life, that's because they suck the life out of what's funny - and that's no fun. What they also do though is provide interesting branches off of broader discussions about Freudian theories on dreams and the libido, and the footnotes give hints at branches off of those branches. He maintains consistent with earlier efforts at (de)constructing the unconscious, so a basic knowledge of Freudian concepts, such as his defense mechanisms, will help you in your reading. This certainly isn't Freud's best work, but it isn't touted as such. My guess is that if you're picking it up, you're like me and have already read the greater essays and books by Freud.
If he would have been just slightly more economical with his own language, this book would have garnered another star from me. The arguments are still valid, but many of the jokes with which he illustrates them are dated and bland, making for an average read overall.
A Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis
Recommended:
No
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