The Last Laugh

“The Last Laugh” taken from IMBd

"Tragedy plus time equals comedy."

It has been a while since my last post, over a year more or less. My original intent for my website was to help in search of jobs but as I am allowed more time to dwell in my thoughts I have realized the importance of following through in expression in search of answering my own questions and jotting down my ideas properly.

Recently I have received much joy in watching documentaries particularly ones that seem more precise in practice (arts, architecture).

The recent one I enjoyed was "The Last Laugh" on Netflix.

In this documentary writers, comics, authors, and Holocaust survivors were invited to share their thoughts on whether jokes about catastrophic events (mainly Holocaust in this case) were acceptable.

We have seen many comics that are known to drop ‘dark humor.’

In fact, comics seemed to believe that it's okay to deliver these jokes because it seems to invoke happiness in shedding light on the dark corners in which these traumatic events are stored.

At first, it was mainly Jewish people saying these jokes and there were even survivors claiming that humor was used to help them through it.

There was even footage of cabarets and entertainment being displayed at concentration camps!

There was much to learn from this doc.

For example, you learned that it's acceptable to venture and explore these dark memories but only if was tread carefully and humorously.

One person even said that if you did do this then it has to be funny.

However, I did not quite find an answer to whether all of this was acceptable.

It seems that the question is split into how people remembered the Holocaust - those who want to dwell on bad memories and those who want to move on and laugh off the pain.

One survivor mentions how laughter was constantly used throughout her experience (reminds me of how people will laugh off pain and memories from hazing, boot camp, and even in the office).

Others claimed they couldn't imagine such a thing yet entertainment was held at the camps at the time where even German soldiers would park themselves in seats to be entertained.

Gottfried said, "Tragedy plus time equals comedy."

In short, it seems as if you were to deliberately make fun of a tragic event or time then time must be given sparingly in hopes of healing and ultimately forgetting the raw details of such an experience. Only then can such an attempt be made.

Think about the next time you get angry and someone laughs at you at that moment.

It's frustration x10!

But give it a day, week, or even a year and when you quote-unquote "look back on it" it seemed like your reaction was simply an overreaction.

Why?

Because in the moment we make sense of experience whether familiar or not in chaotic or rehearsed manners or a mix of the two.

Once time heals things only then can we establish a proper assessment of an event with a beginning, middle, and end to judge the result and potentially create a more appropriate response accordingly.