coping with horror through comedy...
Gore et Uma is the name of a Russian play that translates as Woe from Wit; it was produced in London about 10 years ago as Chatsky or the Importance of Being Stupid.

Theodor Adorno declared that it is barbarous to write a poem after Auschwitz. but isn't that precisely when we need poems, and comedy too. consider Benigni's film Life is Beautiful, or Brooks' The Producers (with its "Springtime for Hitler"). and for the spectacular how about the destruction of the world in Dr. Strangelove....

unspeakable horror can, in the healing process, become fertile soil for comedy. this need not be a trivialization of victims and survivors' reactions, but an adaptation and a renewal in the face of death. the heart of comedy is often fed by outrage and deep sadness.

G.W. Bowersock writes of September 11:
"Like the phoenix, comedy can emerge unscathed from the flames and the ashes. Right now, in the midst of smoldering rubble, it may be hard or even impossible to discern this magical creature through our present nightmare. But it is not dead. It will re-appear...."

some weeks ago, i posted some of the "gallows" humor that is going on in NY--We live with the tragedy-- it is our norm now.. and humor is part of any normal life..

We thank the fire fighters from all over who are still coming to assist.. (Yesterday, i thank FF's from Seattle WA, today, Ashland VA) and tease them as they gawk at the Woolworth building--It looms large again in the skyline.. but it was dwarfed by WTC-- by pointing out they have come too late in NYC life to see the really big buildings!

They are always surprised we can identify them.. but shock and horror do not wipe away wide eyed innocence.. and they apologies instead of pushing on to already crowded subway trains.. Like Monty Python's rural folk, they all but nod their heads, and tug at their for'locks!

we NY'ers respond by pushing them onto the trains-- and when they worry they have no hand hold-- we teach them on the spot the secret of riding the subways..

at the beginning of the month-- my son got lost on his way to downtown Manhattan -- we were going out to dinner, and made a point of going down town to eat.. he stayed on the FDR drive, with a plan of getting off at point X-- only to find himself being forced onto the Brooklyn bridge.. Oh Yeah, traffic patterns had been changed.. you no longer could turn and go west!

yes, some topics are still to painful to joke about.. but humor is coming back..

coping with horror through comedy...
Well, my Dear, I can't quote any titles, but I do know the term comic relief. There seems to be something in most of us that cannot tolerate "wallowing" for very long. This brings to mind the expression 'laughing through tears'.

Brooks' The Producers (with its "Springtime for Hitler")

I was amazed at the lack of shocked dismay that greeted the recent success of the Broadway adaptation of this hilarious movie. I thought for sure people would be boycotting and demanding apologies left and right.

Even now, as of Troy mentioned, humor becomes a way to deal with our difficult feelings.

A Joke

An elderly woman lines up for the security check at the gate as she prepares to fly to California to visit her grandchildren. Upon finding knitting needles and skeins of yarn in her carry-on bag, security personnel immediately arrest her. Why? They were afraid she was planning to knit an Afghan.

After the extreme compulsion to watch every bit of news I could relating to Sept. 11th, I spiralled into a deep depression, but couldn't stop watching TV. This continued for days and days until a friend sent me an email attachment, the photograph you have probably seen of the New WTC, a five-towered structure with the centermost tower highest. It looked the old WTC redesigned and constructed to suggest giving the bird. Hard to describe that photograph, but seeing it with its with irreverent, high-storied bird brought me back to myself again. I saved it to my desktop photographs, but think it'll be lost by the Compaq techs who are repairing the computer. A picture is worth a thousand birds...

BirdWind