Anthropology of humor paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Anthropology of humor - Research Paper Example The general mindset, though not in so many words, is â€Å"Hey, life is tough. I need a good laugh!† That’s because laughter has power. Humor is a force that can take life’s trials and cast them aside for a few moments. As such, when times are tough, people come to rely on humor more and more to add some color to their hum-drum world. The humor itself takes many different forms, and in that we can see its easy applicability. Between absurdity, hypothetical situations, religious humor, hate humor, and more, there is really no situation that cannot be touched by and enlivened with humor. True, there is some concern that perhaps humor can take Freedom of Speech to an inappropriate level, but the actual risk is minimal as we will see. Then, at the opposite end of the spectrum from Freedom of Speech is the refusal of some to indulge in humor. Unfortunately, there are those who feel that they must hold themselves back, or â€Å"self-censor,† in order to not dama ge their social standing with others. In such cases, it is debatable whether or not humor could improve the situation, but we will explore both sides of the argument. In essence, this paper will walk the gamut of humor, and will hopefully impart upon readers a more thorough understanding of humor and its uses. We begin with violence in humor. In American culture, violence permeates humor to an astounding extent. From one-liners to short-story-type jokes, many comedy bits have a violent tone to them. For example, there is the one-liner â€Å"The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it’s still on the list.† Then there is the much longer CIA joke (â€Å"Angel Fire†): A few months ago, there was an opening with the CIA for an assassin. These highly classified positions are hard to fill, and there's a lot of testing and background checks involved before you can even be considered for the position. After sending some applicants through the background checks, train ing and testing, they narrowed the possible choices down to 2 men and a woman, but only one position was available. The day came for the final test to see which person would get the extremely secretive job. The CIA men administering the test took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun. â€Å"We must know that you will follow your instructions no matter what the circumstances" they explained. "Inside this room, you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Take this gun and kill her." The man got a shocked look on his face and said, "You can't be serious! I could never shoot my own wife!" "Well", says the CIA man, "You're definitely not the right man for this job then." So they bring the second man to the same door and hand him a gun. "We must know that you will follow instructions no matter what the circumstances", they explained to the second man. "Inside you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Take this gun and kill her." The second man looked a bit shocked, but nevertheless took the gun and went in the room. All was quiet for about 5 minutes, then the door opened. The man came out of the room with tears in his eyes. "I tried to shoot her, but I just couldn't pull the trigger and shoot my wife. I guess I'm not the right man for the job." "No" the CIA man replied, "You don't have what it takes. Take your wife and go home." Now they're down to the woman left to test. Again they lead her to the same door to the same room and handed her the same gun. "We must be sure that you will fol

Art and the British Empire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Art and the British Empire - Essay Example Art has been defined in an amorphous way because it has always been in a state of becoming. This has been emphasized by the emergence of new form of art in the new media era with digital technology replacing the traditional art forms. In Britain, art is a combination of visual art that forms part of western history, and it is usually strong in portraiture and landscape. The prosperity of the British in the early 18th century led to the British art recapturing the place it had taken in the middle ages because of a surge in the production of decorative art and fine arts. In fact, the decorative art became an export commodity in the early 18th century. The romantic period was famous for artists such as William Blake, J. M Tuner, John Constable and Samuel Palmer displaying their remarkable talents in their artworks (Barringer, Quilley & Fordham 2007). There came the Victorian period when art was diversified and a larger quantity was produced compared to former times. At this time, there was a preference of Victorian art with interest on Pre-Raphaelites and the innovative movements that arose towards the end of 18th century. The end of the 18th century brought about intensified training of artists with the initiatives of the government and in the early 19th century, and there were museums opened to display works of art to the public. The display of religious art in the 19th century became popular and this led to the emergence of academic art. The contribution of British to the art at this time was minimal, but it gained impetus after the Second World War when artists emerged with contemporary art. They produced figurative artworks and since then, Britain is a key hub of an increasingly globalized art. This has increased the global audience for the British art, but some visual art remains low profiled and Britain has been attempting to raise the profile.