Gargantua and Pantagruel (The Elements of Laughter)
Today our world is filled with laughter: thousands of comedy shows are on television everyday, and hundreds of movie comedies are being released every month. Before the media had developed, people enjoyed going to theaters or reading books to kill their boredom. According to Rabelais in the History of Laughter, the four-hundred-year of the understanding, influence, and interpretation of Rabelais is closely linked with the history of laughter itself. Rabelais, Francois (circa 1493~1553), French writer, whose boisterous work, with its emphasis on individual liberty and its enthusiasm for knowledge and life, is a vigorous expression of Renaissance humanism (Encarta). His novel, Gargantua and Pantagruel, is considered as his premier work, and it is about the adventure of two giants, Gargantua and Pantagruel. It was very popular in France in the sixteenth century. In the story, he made fun of the vices, foolishness of people, institutions, and Roman Catholic Church, although he was a priest. Moreover, broad humor was mingled with keen social satire, political insight, and pedagogic wisdom, and his writing style and attitude influenced twentieth century writers, such as Henry Miller and James
Joyce. I will discuss the elements of laughter by relating to Rabelais’s “Gargantua and Pantagruel” and compare Rabelais’s days to those of the present. Rabelais’s premier work, Gargantua and Pantagruel, is considered to be the history of laughter itself. His irony and humor were widely appreciated in his time and influenced many writers, especially, the twentieth century contemporary writers. Although Gargantua and Pantagruel was written in the sixteenth century and the cultural values were different from today’s society, by understanding the context of its ironies, the story will continue to provoke laughter and be appreciated. It is these cultural values that keep us interested in comedy. The joke teller is the dominant one; the joke is his weapon; his laughter is the sign of his victory (Fry 1963, P108). By using his lethal weapon, pen and ironies, Rabelais attained triumph, enchanting millions of readers. According to William F. Fry, Jr., the joke must be understood as being a joke for it to be funny. Many practical jokes result in anger, fear, sadness - all sorts of inappropriate emotions - until the joke angle is revealed. Then the possibility of laughter becomes available (Fry 1963, p32). For instance, “Cheech and Chong” was considered one of the most popular comedy movies in the United States in the seventy’s. It poked fun at the drug culture, especially about smoking marijuana. Since it is very difficult to find Americans who have never smoked marijuana, this joke is widely understood and appreciated in the US, and it is still a very popular movie: smoking dog *censored* is very hilarious for them. However, some cultures consider smoking marijuana as evil. If people have smoked or possessed marijuana in those cultures, they would have to go to prison for a long time or might be executed. Thus, the movie is never shown in those countries. In Gargantua and pantagruel, Rabelais hilariously portrayed about eating beef tripe: “A few moments later she began to groan, lament and cry out. Suddenly crowds of midwives came rushing up from all directions. Feeling and groping her below, they found certain loose shreds of skin, of rather unsavory odor, which t
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Approximate Word count = 1499
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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