Horrific Humor and the Moment of Droll Grimness in Cinema

Sidesplitting sLaughter

Edited by John A. Dowell and Cynthia J. Miller - Foreword by Molly Merryman - Contributions by Ben Betka; Thomas Britt; Iain J.W. Ellis; Moritz Fink; Ann Larabee; David Misch; William Quiterio; Don Tresca; Ben Urish; Colin Yeo; Cynthia J. Miller and John A. Dowell

When evil clowns menace the screen, do we scream or laugh? When zombies converge to tear a victim limb from limb, do we cringe and hide our eyes, or shriek “What??! Play that again!!”? What about those instances when these seemingly opposite reactions happen at once? This is the phenomenon known as sLaughter.

Horrific Humor and the Moment of Droll Grimness in Cinema: Sidesplitting sLaughter presents the first focused look at the moment in audience reception where screams and laughter collide. John A. Dowell and Cynthia J. Miller bring together twelve essays from an international collection of authors across the disciplines. The volume begins with an examination of the aesthetics and mechanics of the sLaughter moment, then moves closer to look at the impact of its awkward frission of humor and horror on the individual viewer, and finally, broadens its lens to explore sLaughter’s implications for the human condition more generally. The chapters discuss such box office hits such as A Clockwork Orange (1971), Fargo (1996), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Cabin in the Woods (2012), as well as cult classics such as The Toxic Avenger (1984) and Dead Snow (2009).

Engaging and thought provoking, Horrific Humor and the Moment of Droll Grimness in Cinema will be of great interest to scholars of both humor and horror, as well as to those working in reception studies and fans of cult cinema.

Lexington Books

Pages: 198 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-4985-6499-1 • Hardback • December 2017 • $105.00 • (£81.00)

978-1-4985-6500-4 • eBook • December 2017 • $99.50 • (£77.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Popular Culture, Performing Arts / Film / Genres / Comedy, Performing Arts / Film / Genres / Horror

Horrific Humor and the Moment of Droll Grimness in Cinema

Sidesplitting sLaughter

Hardback

eBook

Summary

When evil clowns menace the screen, do we scream or laugh? When zombies converge to tear a victim limb from limb, do we cringe and hide our eyes, or shriek “What??! Play that again!!”? What about those instances when these seemingly opposite reactions happen at once? This is the phenomenon known as sLaughter.

Horrific Humor and the Moment of Droll Grimness in Cinema: Sidesplitting sLaughter presents the first focused look at the moment in audience reception where screams and laughter collide. John A. Dowell and Cynthia J. Miller bring together twelve essays from an international collection of authors across the disciplines. The volume begins with an examination of the aesthetics and mechanics of the sLaughter moment, then moves closer to look at the impact of its awkward frission of humor and horror on the individual viewer, and finally, broadens its lens to explore sLaughter’s implications for the human condition more generally. The chapters discuss such box office hits such as A Clockwork Orange (1971), Fargo (1996), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Cabin in the Woods (2012), as well as cult classics such as The Toxic Avenger (1984) and Dead Snow (2009).

Engaging and thought provoking, Horrific Humor and the Moment of Droll Grimness in Cinema will be of great interest to scholars of both humor and horror, as well as to those working in reception studies and fans of cult cinema.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 198 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-1-4985-6499-1 • Hardback • December 2017 • $105.00 • (£81.00)

978-1-4985-6500-4 • eBook • December 2017 • $99.50 • (£77.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Popular Culture, Performing Arts / Film / Genres / Comedy, Performing Arts / Film / Genres / Horror

Author

John A. Dowell is an independent scholar. He is also the Technology Specialist for Michigan State University's Neighborhood Student Success Collaborative.

Cynthia J. Miller is senior faculty at Emerson College's Institute for the Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies.

Table of Contents

Foreword: From “Stairway to Heaven” to “I Hate Mondays”: Is Understanding sLaughter Essential?
Molly Merryman
Introduction: The Hilarity of Terror: Toward an Understanding of sLaughter
John A. Dowell, with Cynthia J. Miller
Part I: The Aesthetics and Mechanics of sLaughter, or Welcome to the Funhouse of Carnography—Please Watch Your Head
1. Troma-tized by Punk
Iain J.W. Ellis
2. “Must I Remind You of a Little Movie Called Deliverance?”: sLaughter and the Postmodern Pastiche
Don Tresca
3. Phallic Noses, Blood-Filled Balloons, Exploding Popcorn, and Laughing-Gas-Squirting Flowers: Reading Images of the Evil Clown
Moritz Fink
4. The Mechanical sLaughterhouse: Horror, Humor, and Repetition in American Psycho and Fight Club
Colin Yeo
Part II: Bodies in the sLaughterhouse, or You Might Feel a Little Pinch
5. “Michael Eat Your Meat”: Trauma, Satire, and Nostalgia in Bob Balaban’s Parents
William Quiterio
6. Ha!/Aaah!: The Painful Relationship between Humor and Horror
David Misch
7. Igniting the Fuse of Destructive History: Nation and Ablation in the sLaughterhouse
Thomas Britt
8. sLaughter as Existential Epiphany
Ben Urish
Part III: Beyond Mere War, or So Long and Thanks for All the Jokes!
9. Surfing Fascists and the Masses: (Non-)Evolving Images of the Cinenazi
Ben Betka
10. In the UnDead of Winter: Humor and the Horrific in Dead Snow
Cynthia J. Miller
11. Too Soon?: Laughing at Disaster on the Cinematic Titanic
Ann Larabee
About the Editors
Notes on the Contributors

Reviews

Horrific Humor is, ultimately, a fascinating read.... The reader will find one’s self looking at aspects of cinema they’d never before considered.
— Cinepunx

John Dowell and Cynthia Miller’s collection of essays, Horrific Humor and the Moment of Droll Grimness in Cinema: Sidesplitting sLaughter, is one of the finest examinations of the horror genre published in the past decade. The theory of the intersection of horror and humor in popular film is transcendental in its profundity. For the scholar of film or for the general reader who loves to watch horror films, the book absolutely deserves a place on your shelf.
— Gary Hoppenstand, Michigan State University

Only recently the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock to two-and-a-half minutes to midnight, the closest it’s been to heralding a man-made global catastrophe since 1953. Our popular culture abounds with dark and sardonic narratives, with stories and fictions that oscillate uncannily between the shocking perspectives of literary realism and the uncontrollable emotions that erupt in laughter, leaving us with the uncomfortable realization we find what is horrifying is simultaneously humorous and enjoyable. Here Dowell and Miller have collected a seminal series of essays that explores the typology and mechanics of that dark underside of popular culture that we love to laugh at from the comfort of our post-truth reality. If the real function of humor is in speaking the truth to power, then this volume offers insight into the critical import of popular culture in all our contemporary lives; sLaughter speaks a truth of the human condition!
— Steve Webley, Staffordshire University