Please consult the Introduction if you haven’t already. Thanks!
A humor event occurs whenever an observer finds something funny.
Clash Theory divides all aspects of all humor events into three very broad categories.
At the heart of every humor event is a distinct cognitive experience present every time humor is perceived and not present every time it isn’t. This mental experience is the humor kernel. And while the humor kernel is the thing that makes humor humor (see The Heart of Humor), it’s frequently only a small portion of an overall humor event. The first broad category, Kernel, groups together four humor event components that describe kernels themselves.
Every part of a humor event that isn’t the kernel falls into the second category: Context. Within Clash Theory, context is divided into six components that directly improve or hinder kernel perception (the ‘humor context’) and three components that do so indirectly (the ‘full context’). If you’ve been keeping track, the full component count for any and all humor events is thirteen (4 + 6 + 3). If you haven’t been, it’s also thirteen.
The third and last category is Culture, which covers those cultural preferences over and above the particulars of a single humor event that influence how that humor is perceived. Ordinary cultural preferences contribute to many kinds of humor, and beyond these are the particular cultural preferences governing the expression of humor. It is within Culture that Clash Theory explores many familiar humor forms like satire, wordplay, ridicule, and pranks.
Continue with the first category Kernel
Why Funny Is Funny 