Did you laugh at the movie ‘Joker’?

Started by Stupot, Sat 06/11/2021 15:39:29

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Stupot

My wife and I got onto the topic of how people from different cultures behave during a movie while at the movie theatre. I’m led to believe it’s not unusual for American audiences to even cheer and whoop at certain parts.

In England, there’s rarely any cheering or whooping, but we do let ourselves laugh out loud at the funny bits. In Japan, it’s quite common to watch a movie, even an MCU blockbuster, in pretty much total silence.

Then, my wife decided to mention that she actually gets a bit embarrassed when I laugh at parts of movies that no one else is laughing at. And she was particularly ashamed when I laughed at parts of the 2019 movie Joker, which was a serious, dark, drama about somebody’s mental breakdown.

A lot has happened since 2019 and I can’t much remember the exact bits I supposedly laughed at. But, I mean, come on. It’s a movie about a clown who even tries his hand at stand-up. And all good films have moments of levity, don’t they?

Cast your minds back. Did you laugh at all watching the film? How about the people you were with? Can you remember the parts that made you laugh (if you did).


dactylopus

I do laugh, it's instinctual.  I do find the whooping and hollering can sometimes be distracting and can break immersion, but a bit of laughing and cheering can be nice.

I cackle at dark humour and black comedy.  I was definitely laughing during Joker.  His own attempt at stand-up made ma laugh at the awkwardness and absurdity, but that's just the most obvious example and I can't remember too much either.

My wife doesn't laugh as much as I do, but will cry at anything!

Danvzare

#2
I can't remember ever laughing during Joker, but I probably did knowing me. I laughed at the beginning bit of It Part 1 when Georgie got his arm ripped off.  (laugh)
Hmm... if I did laugh during the Joker, it probably would've been at the part when The Joker shoots that host in the face.

EDIT:
And before anything thinks I'm a psycho, my mother shares my same sick sense of humour. As a matter of fact, we watch Slashers together just to laugh at them.
We just find absurdly over-the-top fictional violence to be funny. My dad strongly disagrees though.

Crimson Wizard

#3
Watching "Joker" I think i might have chuckled at the scene where Gary was not able to open the locked door (right after the murder in the Joker's appartement), but it was not a "funny" kind of chuckle, but rather an aknowledgement of a dark irony and awkwardness of the situation. Maybe couple of times more somewhere, but I cannot remember now.
EDIT: oh, remember now, it was when the Joker's famous dance was interrupted by the detectives and he started running away, instantly turning from an energetic and confident character into the silly and scared one.

I found that i am not a "physically" laughing person, I rarely actually laugh when watching the movies, regardless of whether I'm in a company or alone, but I tend to "laugh" inside or smile. In movie theatres I'm always sitting silent, maybe smile a little when other people are laughing.
That said, I haven't been awfully alot in the movie theaters in my life, but from what experience I have, the audience here is mostly silent, except for some climactic episodes. Watching with a small company at home is of course a different thing.

In regards to dark or horror genres, I definitely tend to find funny moments in unexpected situations. I recall laughing alot on Steven King's short stories, as I found most of them whimsically funny rather than scary. But tbh I never liked slasher movies, and rarely found them funny, but rather stupid and obnoxious.

TheFrighter

Quote from: Stupot on Sat 06/11/2021 15:39:29
My wife and I got onto the topic of how people from different cultures behave during a movie while at the movie theatre. I’m led to believe it’s not unusual for American audiences to even cheer and whoop at certain parts.

In England, there’s rarely any cheering or whooping, but we do let ourselves laugh out loud at the funny bits. In Japan, it’s quite common to watch a movie, even an MCU blockbuster, in pretty much total silence.


About italiani audience I have to admit that we laugh easily even if it is not strictly a comedy movie.  :P

_

LimpingFish

#5
I can recall seeing "Terminator 2" at the cinema with my father in 1991, and both of us being quite perplexed about the amount of laughter among the audience. Sure, Arnold takes the sunglasses from the dudes shirt, an obvious humorous moment. But the one-handed shotgun cocking? The T1000 melting through the prison bars? The liquid nitrogen scene? All got laughs. And, quite uncomfortably, when the creepy dude licks Sarah Conner's face in the mental hospital? Apparently that was really funny.

...

People are weird.
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Danvzare

#6
Quote from: Crimson Wizard on Sat 06/11/2021 16:53:37
But tbh I never liked slasher movies, and rarely found them funny, but rather stupid and obnoxious.
And that's the exact same reason why I like them.  :-D
It just goes to show how preferences can differ.

Quote from: LimpingFish on Sun 07/11/2021 01:15:50
I can recall seeing "Terminator 2" at the cinema with my father in 1991, and both of us being quite perplexed about the amount of laughter among the audience. Sure, Arnold takes the sunglasses from the dudes shirt, an obvious humorous moment. But the one-handed shotgun cocking? The T1000 melting through the prison bars? The liquid nitrogen scene? All got laughs. And, quite uncomfortably, when the creepy dude licks Sarah Conner's face in the mental hospital? Apparently that was really funny.

...

People are weird.
Ok, now that is weird. And this is coming from someone who admits to laughing at weird times in movies. But that... really? People laughed at the T1000 melting through the bars? Not to mention those other things?
That's weird, and just a little bit creepy.



Speaking of people laughing in cinemas. Since I live in Britain, as previous stated in this thread we're usually quite quiet in the cinema. But I do distinctly remember everyone laughing at the "Puny god." scene in The Avengers. I don't tend to go to the cinema much though.

Stupot

Thanks for the comments. It seems I’m not the only one here who found something to laugh at when it came to Joker.

Interestingly, I put out a Twitter poll asking this question and the results are a little different.

“Did you laugh at all during the movie (Joker)?”

Yes, I did laugh â€" 0
I think so â€" 1
I don’t think so â€" 3
I did not laugh at all â€" 5

9 isn’t exactly a good sample size but I think we can safely say Twitter has sucked any sense of humour out of anyone who uses it.

Mandle

I think the media overhyped how "deep and meaningful" the film was and really pushed that a comic-book movie was making a "powerful statement about mental illness" and all that.

So people were programmed to go into it and watch in a thoughtful and chin-stroking-and-murmuring-mmhmm manner, and missed that the movie was also a dark tragedy/comedy as anything about The Joker should be.

Even Alan Moore's "The Killing Joke" had a lot of darkly funny moments, especially the ending, while also being one of the most shocking and depressing comic book stories of all time.

Ponch

I chuckled a couple of times. There are some darkly comedic moments in the film, but I didn't have a good belly laugh or anything.

KyriakosCH

This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

Mandle

Quote from: KyriakosCH on Wed 08/12/2021 18:37:54
Comedy is subjective, Stupot  :=

This comment made me laugh a lot, proving your point.

milkanannan

I remember watching The Exorcist with my wife maybe 15 years ago or so (I grew up in a largely Christian environment; she grew up in post-Mao China, with only very mild Buddhist influence). I've always found that movie scary, but my wife thought it was stupid/boring and pointed out that very little imagery is actually scary (ok ok the running down the stairs scene, the spinning head, but not much else!) To find it scary, you sort of need to be of a religious perspective where you recognise that an evil is gradually capturing this child, otherwise it's just the sad story of a girl getting very sick.

N0ra8

I didn’t want to laugh even once while watching the Joker. However, I wouldn't mind at all if someone laughed. People are different, and thus they might laugh at pretty much different stuff

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