Early Titanic jokes : A disaster for the theory of disaster jokes?
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14210%2F19%3A00108852" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14210/19:00108852 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/humr/32/2/article-p201.xml" target="_blank" >https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/humr/32/2/article-p201.xml</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/humor-2018-0090" target="_blank" >10.1515/humor-2018-0090</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Early Titanic jokes : A disaster for the theory of disaster jokes?
Original language description
This paper contributes to our understanding of the inception of disaster humor by refuting the position of 'technological determinism' that is central for the theory of disaster jokes. This view, developed by Christie Davies, ties the emergence of this form of humor to the visual presentation of disaster events on television. The paper reports on the discovery of several contemporary instances of pre-television disaster humor on the topic of the sinking of the Titanic from 1912, thereby explicitly challenging the premise that prior to televised coverage, there were no disaster jokes. While the data come from a culture that was cognitively very distant from the disaster (and, thus, more likely to give rise to instantaneous disaster humor creation), the paper suggests that a modification to the original theory is possible, arguing that disaster humor can be interpreted as a reaction to the more general process of mediatization, whether televisual or exclusively verbal, which constructs a shared body of knowledge that people can draw upon as a resource when constructing humor. That is particularly the case with iconic disasters, such as the sinking of the Titanic, which can be seen symbolically as an epic fail of modernity rather than a mere tragic disaster.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
60203 - Linguistics
Result continuities
Project
—
Continuities
S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach
Others
Publication year
2019
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Humor - International Journal of Humor Research
ISSN
0933-1719
e-ISSN
1613-3722
Volume of the periodical
32
Issue of the periodical within the volume
2
Country of publishing house
NL - THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS
Number of pages
25
Pages from-to
201-225
UT code for WoS article
000471869200006
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85064389532