Why Superiority Is Superior

I continue to find the superiority theory to be the most convincing theory explaining why we laugh in comedy. Even though Lippit and Hutcheson both attempted to disprove the theory, superiority remains to me to be the most logical and consistent.

Hutcheson’s essay made me question the superiority theory the most. His example of the wealthy man seeing the pauper and feeling pity rather than laughing was convincing and made me question superiority. But what Hutcheson does not understand is that humor and laughter is always tentative regardless of the theory. Something can be too sad or too cruel to be laughed at. That is why humor is so special; it is so complicated to get right.

The “McKayla Maroney is not impressed” memes are an example of how sometimes humor is not obviously superior, but if you study people’s reactions, you can see how the superiority theory works well.  McKayla Maroney was a 2012 Olympic gymnast. After setting high expectations on the vault, Maroney only won silver in the finals. During the medal ceremony, the young gymnast had a grumpy smirk on her face that social media would take to the next level. For the next few months, Maroney’s unimpressed was photoshopped into impressive moments of history like the moon landing. She even smirked her way to the White House, taking a picture with President Obama.

Seeing this meme at first, one cannot find something that clearly proves that this supports the superiority theory. No one really gets hurt or fails miserably; she even gets a medal! If you compare Maroney to yourself though, the superiority theory begins to shine through. If we had won second place, we would be thrilled, and we would have been good sports about it and at least smiled. We can all agree that we have better manners and sportsmanship than Maroney. thus making us feel superior to her.