Open AccessET ZEBRASTRIBET CIRKUSNUMMER: Om latterens scenarium
Author(s) -
Helle Ploug Hansen
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
antropologi
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2596-5425
pISSN - 0906-3021
DOI - 10.7146/ta.v0i35-36.115271
Subject(s) - laughter , phenomenon , absurdism , social phenomenon , cultural phenomenon , zebra (computer) , aesthetics , psychoanalysis , psychology , sociology , art , literature , epistemology , humanities , computer science , philosophy , operating system
Helle Ploug Hansen: A Zebra-Striped
Circus Performance. The Scenario of
Laughter
This article looks at humour and laughter as
a complex social and cultural phenomenon.
It is based on a description of a circus
performance in Copenhagen in which a
plastic zebra, after having read a zebrastriped
book, lay down on the scene in the
performance hall. The performance is first
analysed as a parody of a traditional circus
performance and as an absurd form of
humour. The article then focuses on laughter
as a spontaneous answer from the body to an
unknown and unpredictable phenomenon.
Finally Bateson’s theory of communication
is introduced in order to understand humour
and laughter as a meta-communicative
manifestation, that comments upon and
challenges the social order.