The Conditions
A basic set of conditions must be met in order for this joke to tickle us into laughter-- we must recognize that horses are not usually identified as a gay or lesbian, we must know that horses eat hay, we must know that "hay" sounds like "hey," we must understand that there are stereotypes about how gay and lesbian people speak, and so on. If we trace the outline of these conditions, the pattern of a community emerges. Depending on the joke, this community might be ethnic, religious, etc..., but in the case of gay and lesbian horses, the community is cultural. In order for this joke to be evoke laughter, the listener and teller must be a part of the cultural community that fulfills the conditions set forth by the joke.
What's so Funny?
I told this joke to a lesbian friend of mine and instead of laughter I got a stern: "not cool." So we're not laughing at horses when we tell this joke, but maybe we're laughing at people. It's funny to imagine a limp-wristed horse chowing down on some hay, and after laughing at that image, it's funny to imagine a horse in leather attire stomping the ground in defiance while it eats. But maybe this is only funny to those of us who have never been stereotyped in these ways.
Ted Cohen, a professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago, claims that a successful joke "brings us to the recognition of our common humanity." Because it makes us laugh, this joke must resonate with something within us, and in telling the joke and receiving laughter we are confirming that that something is also within another human being. So what is that something? Do the gay and lesbian horses stir up our own misunderstandings about gays and lesbians? Does it highlight our role in in furthering what some might consider harmful stereotypes? Is that funny?
I keep getting stuck on the words "harmful stereotypes". It really depends on whether the audience thinks these stereotypes are harmful.I wonder if they are and (if so) how they are? Your lesbians friend's reaction makes it seem like they are harmful in some way. It also seems to me like this joke would be acceptable between homosexuals, but maybe not acceptable outside of that community.
ReplyDeleteYour friend is also an individual and not necessarily a representative of the entire community. What she might find offensive, another homosexual might find it hilarious.
ReplyDeleteThis might be going in a different direction, but I found the gay horse portion funnier than the lesbian portion. Maybe because I was not as familiar with lesbian stereotypes as I am gay stereotypes? Obviously not all gay men are feminine, but it is a well-known stereotype that some are. Was one part of the joke funnier than the other to you guys?
ReplyDeleteI wasn’t offended by this joke, but I could see how your friend was. If I was a lesbian, I wouldn’t like people thinking I was curt and angry. In fact, that would probably make me curt and angry.
ReplyDeleteI think how this joke is interpreted in part depends on the sexual orientation of the teller. If the teller is strait, the joke could be interpreted as an attack or judgment. If I were gay, I might not laugh because laughing would be like saying, it’s OK to laugh at us, it’s OK to perpetuate that stereotype. Whereas if the teller was gay, I would know that the teller I had a shared understanding of the stereotype. In this scenario laughing at the joke would clearly be laughing at the ridiculousness of the stereotype.
Your friend's reaction to this joke makes me hesitate to argue that sometimes the anatomy of the joke is what makes it funny, not that it is targeted at a race or culture or that we are stereotyping or judging the targeted group. But I am going to do it anyway...
ReplyDeleteJokes rely on word play, punchlines, certain sounds, and often absurd, unrealistic comparisons to make us laugh. For example (and along the lines of homosexual jokes) "What do you call a lesbian dinosaur? A Lick-alotta-pus." "What do you call a gay dinosaur? A Mega-sor-ass." These two jokes depend on the word play and the comparison of dinosaurs to sexually oriented humans to be funny. Without a doubt they are still commenting on the lifestyles of homosexuals and stereotyping and judging them, but the jokes would not be funny without the characteristics that make them what they are, same as your dissection of the imagery in your horse joke. I cannot say that I am offended by these jokes, but I am not the target. It was my gay friend who told me these jokes, so that is a whole different situation to analyze... who is authorized to tell these jokes? What is his intention each time he shares these jokes?