http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/29/AR2007072901386.html
"I like turtles." Such simple three words swept throughout the United States as one of the funniest humor. People around the world watched the video of a boy saying those words for so many times on youtube. The boy in the video became so famous that he even stunned his sister with is fame. However, the words themselves, "I like turtles", are not that funny at all. Suppose you heard a man introducing himself and saying "I like guitars." Are you going to laugh out for his words, regarding the words as the best humor? I guess you won't, because that will seem to be a kind of mocking and can even spoil the man's mood. In this case, what is the point of the humor of a boy? The boy became so famous because of the situation he was in, not because of the words he made.
The case of Homer Simpson shows how a situation can change simple words into a joke. Homer is a character that seems a bit stupid, and he continues to say something that does not fit to the situation at all. For example, Lisa blames Homer for eating up the whole sausages for breakfast, but Homer replies to Lisa by saying “Hmmmm, breakfast…….” Which can not be the answer for the blame at all. Moving to the case of the turtle boy, we can easily find the similarity between Homer and the boy. The point is that their replies did not fit to the situation. The question given to the boy was not about his preference of turtles, but about his zombie costume. However, the boy answered to the reporter by saying something that is not related to the question. This changed the simple three words into a non sequitur, and caused the watcher of the video to laugh.
The fact that a boy likes a turtle is not an interesting humor. The funny part is the situation that does not fit to the answer of the boy. If the boy was in school and was talking about which animals he likes, the words “I like turtles” would not be so humorous. The boy became famous throughout the U.S because he was being interviewed by a news reporter and spurted out a non sequitur, not because he said that he likes turtles.
Thank you Sun Woo for introducing this term: non-sequitur.
답글삭제http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non_sequitur
Indeed, this concept does apply, and truly describes what makes the humor work. I also like that you've included another example of this with Homer Simpson. Coincidentally, Zombie Kid looks a bit like Bart.
I do think there is also some humor in the concept of liking a turtle. What is there to like about turtles? Why does this kid like them? I think that's also part of the fun, and also representative of childlike innocence, which the boy became a symbol of. Are we laughing AT the boy, WITH the boy, or because of the boy? I think, for the most part, we are immediately empathizing with him, rather than sympathizing. We are all kids once, and liked things we may have lost touch with.
Good writing.