British Humour as the Art of Contemporary Homo Ridens: Based on an Exploration of the Comedy Series Fawlty Towers

• Main Author: Agata Figiel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Bucharest Publishing House 2015-11-01
• Series: Styles of Communication
• Subjects: humour; theory of humour; irony; incongruity; superiority; British humour; Fawlty Towers
• Online Access: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzdHlsZXNvZmNvbW18Z3g6NzdmNDljM2I3M2Q0ZWM0NQ

Humour may ridicule both − the old and the new: something that is old may be attacked from a new position, and equally, something that is new, modern, dangerous for the status quo. The weapon in such confrontations, since the beginning of time, has been laughter. During primitive folk ceremonies or ancient peoples’ rites – from the beginning of humour – one function was supreme, the elimination through ridicule of all elements of social life that may threaten a given society or the harmonious whole or particular groups, or units. The sample of linguistic analysis of incongruity and superiority, from an episode of the comedy series Fawlty Towers, has been used throughout this paper. The conclusion makes it clear that the aim of humour was and still is to ridicule certain attitudes or forms of behaviour, which since early ages have sought to object to or overthrow established rules.