According to Descartes, the emotions
of joy, hatred, and wonder play a major role in laughter. He points out that
the feeling of joy only leads to laughter when it is “moderate and has some
wonder or hate mingled with it” (Descartes 22). His theory reminded me of an
SNL comedy routine, in which Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon preform as Trump
and Clinton in a town hall debate. In the routine, it is evident that an
element of wonder in union with the elements of hatred and joy creates a
humorous situation.
A
layer truth plays a major role in this SNL skit, but it is worth noting that
truth alone would not evoke laughter from an audience. It is truth combined
with criticism and surprise that makes the mock debate humorous. The skit
clearly makes fun of the ways in which Trump and Hilary communicate their
points during a debate. Trump is notorious for being blunt and overusing hand
gestures and Clinton is known for being robotic and scripted. The skit hones in
on these small details and exaggerates them. When Clinton is answering a
question from the audience she marches forward saying “let me start by walking
over to you just as I practiced, right, left, right, left, plant, speak.” While
the fact that Clinton is robotic is a relatively minute detail, it is emphasized
to ridicule her entire persona.
The
humor of the skit rests largely on the audience’s belief that she is
non-genuine and their subsequent hatred for her. While it doesn’t seem like
hatred and humor add up, Descartes discusses how hatred functions with joy and
wonder to produce laughter. He explains that scorn is a combination of joy and
hatred, in which the audience perceives “some small evil in a person whom we
consider to be deserving of it; and when that comes upon us unexpectedly, the
surprise of wonder is the cause of our bursting into laughter” (Descartes 24).
In this case the audience perceives an evil in Hilary, so they are joyful when
she faces derision, and they laugh when they are surprised that her flaws are
exaggerated and mocked.
A few minutes later in the skit, Bill
Clinton’s affair is brought up by Trump when he says his past sexual assaults
are “nothing compared to what Bill Clinton has done. Okay? And Martha,
Anderson, hold on to your nips and your nuts, because four of these women are
here tonight.” Clinton’s marriage failure is brought up to not only criticize
her, but to ridicule her and the audience laughs because they believe that she
deserves it.
At
the same time, SNL is cleverly redirecting the audience’s laughter toward
Trump. Hilary gives an expected response: “who’s here? Mistresses?... How will
I go on with the debate? I will never be able to remember my facts and
figures!... Get real, I made a steal. This is nothing. Hi girls!” her response
is not only surprising, it redirects the laughter toward Trump to restore the
balance of ridicule. Trump responds “Martha, she is trying to silence these
women, but they need to be heard” then Martha says “what about the women
accusing you of sexual assault?” and Trump responds “They need to shut the hell
up.” SNL equally ridicules both Trump and Hilary to keep a balance. This
balance is discussed by Descartes as necessary for keeping the laughter
rolling. He makes it clear that “this evil must be small, for if it is great we
cannot believe that he who has it is deserving of it” (Descartes 24). The
ridicule of Trump and Hilary is not too large and it is limited by simultaneous
ridiculing of the other.
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