humor and pictures

Ashley’s post about her boyfriend, Jeff, caught my attention instantaneously for several reasons. One is that my friend’s mother had an aneurism yesterday and is currently on life-support so I am feeling uneasy about hospitals, and think that hospital scenes should be treated with seriousness. Of course, this is only a thought because my friend’s mother is in such a critical condition. At the same time, I also realize, as we discussed in class, that humor can be used to debunk stereotypes and discrimination, and to deal with tough times— but can humor also be used to deal with devastating and traumatic situations such as a mother’s death? In such as case, is it even appropriate to laugh or try to make people laugh as a “coping” method? I guess, I am throwing out the same question which many other class members developed during our class conversation which is, where is the line of “appropriateness” for humor drawn? Personally, I have a strong support for people such as David Chappelle, George Lopez and the other minorities who do use humor to show how ridiculous racialized stereotypes are and to deal with their oppression as discriminated minorities. However, I am uneasy with the idea of using humor to cope with the death of a loved one, especially a mother – would it really hurt to shed a tear or two for the woman who carried you for nine months?

Secondly, the image of Jeff with two thumbs up while hovering over an elderly man with tubes running in and out of him is very unnerving – it is almost as if he is celebrating the man’s near death condition. However, as Ashley’s post explains, the young man is merely showing his joy over the fact that the elderly gentleman has survived a dangerous surgery. I guess what this image really reminds me that even pictures can lie and that we should not judge books by their covers. But, can an image really lie? In a sense is an image not the most honest thing since it just ? They always say that a picture is worth thousand words, perhaps the meaning behind this clichés is that a picture has a thousand stories behind it, and each viewer can take the image of what they see and interpret it in their own way.