Funny Contrasting

I wanted to see what could actually be a good comparison when witnessing personal fails. When you see a fail picture you can’t help but wonder if that person is hurt or just simply embarrassed. Now for those who get ever so slightly confused, being hurt involves getting physically or damaged. Being embarrassed are those in the heat of the moment times. It involves crying uncontrollably, and those moments when you want to take something back, but everybody has seen it so, you can’t really do anything about it.


Here are a few photo examples of what I’m actually trying to explain for the visual listeners.

HURT

   

Available at   http://www.lolcaption.com/funny_pictures_tags/crash-into-tree/ , November 6, 2010.


EMBARRASSED
 
Available at  http://slumz.boxden.com/f610/fat-fail-lmao-1700487/ , February 7, 2012.


As I’ve clearly illustrated in the picture you can clearly see that there is a big difference between the two, but there are also many similarities. Of course when we look at these fail pictures we can all agree that they are hilarious. You can try your hardest not to laugh, but even the most serious person will at least crack a smile. With both I have learned there is a few major concepts why we laugh when people get hurt or embarrassed. The two major concepts are play frame and incongruity according to William F. Fry, of Stanford University.




Play Frame- the physiological reaction we have when we see events occur. For instance if someone gets hurt or embarrassed, no matter if we want to laugh or not, that play frame is the main controller of how things how occurred in our minds.



Incongruity- is that moment when an incident happens unexpectedly and you’re not prepared for it, so your immediate reaction is to laugh. Such as when you fall all of a sudden and you know that you’re embarrassed, but instead of the walk of shame you laugh it off.

Either way whether you’re hurt or embarrassed, it’s always best to have a good laugh in the end.

Available at http://teachtheyoungerwomen.wordpress.com/page/5/, January 26, 2011.