Black Humor
Black Humor? Well, this non-conceivable genre for most people, was visualized in 1935 to make a sub-genre of comedy and satire in which the laughs come from an attitude or situation that reflects a faithless and hopeless state of mind, frequently using themes such as death. It essentially manages the work to still be funny in the atmosphere of, and actually in response to, a hopeless, stressful, traumatic, or life threatening situations, as said, often used in contexts such that death is perceived as approaching and inevitable. In other words, it’s ridiculous and gloomy humor used to express the irrationality, paradox, inconsiderateness and cruelty of the modern world.
Black Comedy allows us to foresee the faceless-ness of the emptiness and yet be able to laugh rather than be hopelessness. Entropic humor, which in the end is understood as a simply intensification of the disturbing dynamics common to all humor, comes in many shapes and forms, and our laughter may contain many steps of bitterness and hollowness, mirthlessness, parody and pain, but in the end we do laugh, and while we laugh we are making an impression of hope.
Beyond its role in literary works, Black comedy also serves a purpose in society and the overcoming of adversity and distressful events, giving black comedy a more tangible, practical role than other types of humor. In the words of Sigmund Freud, renowned sociologist, regarding black humor and its derivative “Gallows humor”, "The ego refuses to be distressed by the provocations of reality, to let it be compelled to suffer. It insists that it cannot be affected by the traumas of the external world; it shows, in fact, that such traumas are no more than occasions for it to gain pleasure." Freud supports the idea that the mockery of adversity can be used as a tool in its overcoming. The ability to laugh at the prospect of challenges or general difficulties is perhaps the greatest display of superiority over them. In this sense, black humor does not only offer a clever use of comedy at moments where laughing, a display of joy, comes almost at complete odds when juxtaposed with the sorrowful events it is used in, but also proves useful at strengthening the morale of the challenged, as well as undermining that of possible challengers, making it stand out amongst simpler forms of comedy.
One must not look far to find the reason behind the complexity of black humor, for it becomes apparent in its very definition. I would agree, as you will if your wits are about you, that successfully turning a dismal situation in to something comical is more challenging than bringing about laughs while regarding already cheerful subjects.