Hobbes

 Joshua Singh

Dr. Ellis

EN 346D

Hobbes and Superiority Theory

Hobbes’s theory of laughter and humor stem from what we know as Superiority theory. It is the theory that laughter is the human response to triumph over others as well as finding oneself superior to others when they find themselves in misfortune. He believes “men laugh at mischances and indecencies, wherein there lies no wit nor jest at all” in which “sudden glory, is the passion that which makes those grimaces called laughter” (19). Hobbes’s version of superiority theory describes laughter as merely a response to a feeling of victory that one feels from the imperfections of another or their mistakes.

This idea serves to caution those who do use laughter to self-deprecate in order to relate to a broader audience or talk about a broader topic. For example, many comedians first tell a joke that is somewhat demeaning to themselves in order to get a crowd laughing and feeling comfortable. Although superiority theory is a stretch, it does hold some truths. If a comedian only tells jokes that are self-deprecating and demeaning, the crowd will start to believe that his jokes have no wit and the initial humor found in the comedian’s misfortunes will start to fade. They will subscribe to the comedian’s portrayal of himself and find it harder to find the wit in the comedian’s jokes because their laughter is only stemming from a place of superiority. It would be similar to a clown who kept falling for 30 minutes. It’s funny at first, but loses its charm quickly.

This somewhat resembles my experience with Irby. I felt as if Irby’s initial jokes and humor came from presenting herself to the reader as someone who is not afraid to show her faults. She opens many of her chapters about her skincare or her diet and is not afraid to let others know that she is not perfect. However, when the same self-deprecating jokes kept being the punchlines instead of leading to a wittier punchline, she felt somewhat redundant. I did find her funny, but I felt as if a lot of her humor was mainly centered around self-deprecation; it was as the poor image she presents the reader was the center of her humor. 

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