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We're all aware that there are stereotypes. The British are sharply sarcastic, the Americans are great at physical comedy, and the Japanese love puns. But is humour actually driven by culture to any meaningful extent? Couldn't it be more universal – or depend largely on the individual?
There are some good reasons to believe that there is such a thing as a national sense of humour. But let's start with what we actually have in common, by looking at the kinds of humour that most easily transcend borders.
Certain kinds of humour are more commonly used in circumstances that are international and multicultural in nature – such as airports. When it comes to onoard entertainment, airlines, in particular, are fond of humour that transcends cultural and linguistic boundaries for obvious reasons. Slapstick humour and the bland but almost universally tolerable social transgressions and faux pas of Mr Bean permit a safe, gentle humour that we can all relate to. Also, the silent situational dilemmas of the Canadian Just for Laughs hidden camera reality television show has been a staple option for airlines for many years.
These have a broad reach and are probably unlikely to offend most people. Of course, an important component in their broad appeal is that they are not really based on language.
Humor is no laughing matter. Levity can kill. But can it also bind us together?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 05 2017, @11:23AM
What's with this article? This is just because the sources of humor are heavily rooted in knowledge and socialization. Different cultures have different standards because of different shared backgrounds. You see the same things with censorship- different standards because of different cultures (Americans hate sex in their media, Germans hate violence, etc).
In Japan, racial stereotype humor is often much more stinging/stereotyped than in the US (where it is often more self-depreciation or flat-out insults). They are less racially diverse so there's less pushback against this kind of thing; you wouldn't get away with it as easily in the US. You think Americans are good at physical comedy - look up a Boke and Tsukkomi routine, considered a classic setup. The British have Punch and Judy routines which are a vaguely similar classic.
Americans really like parodies, a lot, as well. We sort of inherited it from the British I guess. Stuff like the Onion being an actual "newspaper" has baffled the Chinese a few times; or at least the people running their media were baffled. They've had state papers/politicians quote it like it was real. The Chinese prefer wordplay-driven humor and don't like their mass media being goofy. American presidents have been known to make inappropriate jokes from time to time in the public eye by contrast.