![]() In the case of Sparkle Hair Scully, the character’s seriousness is undermined (Oh Scully, you’re a buttoned down person of science where’d you get that sparkle hair!), but the violation simultaneously fits with her seriousness (Oh Scully, you do indeed not suffer fools shine on and let ‘em hate). ![]() In these examples, appropriate incongruity occurs as the expectations of those familiar with the characters are both violated and validated. Shared and reblogged by countless users on Tumblr starting in 2015 the truth of its origins remain out there In the case of X-Files play, participants have to have some existing knowledge of who Mulder and Scully are before they can decode why it’s funny, for instance, to augment the ever-serious Scully with ostentatious sparkle hair and an IDGAF FBI badge and the ever-paranoid Mulder with suspicions about a cat. Elliott Oring underscores this point in his theory of appropriate incongruity, which frames humor as a clash between juxtaposed elements, between what is expected in a given social context and what is actually experienced. Posted by Megan Resig to the Berry on Septemas part of a “meanwhile on the internet” listicle precise origins are unknownĪnother point of online/offline connection is that humor, regardless of era or media, presupposes shared cultural experiences. This content-from Dana Scully sparkle hair GIFs to Fox Mulder cat interrogations-helps connect the countless thousands of people around the globe, ourselves very much included, who enjoy playing with, sharing, and remixing lore about the paranormal FBI superteam. One of our favorite examples is the vast constellation of humorous X-Files-focused imagery and commentary posted across social media. The first point of continuity is humor’s constitutive nature the fact that online, humor helps build and sustain social worlds across a variety of collectives for a variety of reasons. It also helps underscore what, exactly, is so new about humor on the internet and why, exactly, that matters. An understanding of these connections helps conceptually ground discussions of humor. There are a number of through lines connecting humor across era and media. This isn’t to say that the contours of online humor are wholly unprecedented. This essay addresses a new wrinkle in that old problem: the fact that online, it’s not just difficult to describe what humor is and how it functions, it is difficult, and in some cases outright impossible, to know if the word “humor” even applies. Although easily recognized and intuitively experienced-the ultimate in “you know it when you see it”-humor is notoriously difficult to pin down.
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