Obscenity

This entry describes the nature of humorous obscenity and outlines the recent history of obscenity in popular culture, including the backlash to it, particularly in the United States. Etymologically, obscenity can be derived from the Latin obscenus, meaning “from or with filth,” or from obscaena, meaning “off stage.” Thus, obscenity has to do with what is deemed not fit to be seen or talked about. Its phenomenological core is feelings of revulsion associated with the breaking of norms about what is morally prohibited. Consequently, there is large social and cultural variation in what is deemed to be obscene, because what is taboo in one group or culture may not be in another. Nevertheless, topics like body parts and functions, bodily deformity, death, ethnicity, mental illness, politics, and religion are often found to have strong moral force in many societies and cultures and therefore are closely associated with obscenity. Also central to obscenity is sexuality, which can be combined with many of these other topics to produce strong feelings of revulsion. It is no exaggeration to say that the most common source domain of obscenity is sex and the body. This helps explain the ready connection between humor and obscenity, as a great deal of humor circulating in everyday life has sexual themes.

The production of humor from obscenities can have both visual- and language-based components. A good example of the former is the 2005 “Bloody Mary” episode of the animated sitcom South Park, which featured a statue of the Virgin Mary bleeding out of its anus. This image attracted vociferous protest, particularly from Catholic groups, but attempts to ban the episode were only partly successful. The protestors' claims that the episode was obscene and/or blasphemous only created more viewer attention. Similarly, the 1979 Monty Python film Life of Brian was banned in some places for blasphemy and for mocking Christianity, but the bans created so much attention that they served as free advertising. In Sweden, Life of Brian was marketed as “the film so funny that it was banned in Norway.”

The fact that sex is often treated highly seriously makes it a ready candidate for the incongruity device frequently at the heart of humor. The graphic visual depiction of sexual acts in pornography seems deadly serious in its focus on body parts and their sexual connection, but it is not difficult to make a gestalt switch and see the awkward thrashings of people copulating as hugely comical. The spasms and release of orgasm can resemble the whole body in laughter, making a connection between humor and sex easy to make. Philosophers have grasped this idea to argue that breaking moral prohibitions can lead to both thrill and repulsion, with a judgment of obscenity occurring where there is an excessively depersonalized portrayal or perception of human sexuality. Even the language we use to talk about sexuality partakes of this dynamic tension. Alongside the proper vocabulary of sex and the body (including euphemisms) is a vast array of improper words (or dysphemisms) that can be judged obscene, depending on the context in which they are used.

...