Tuesday, February 9, 2010

You don't bring up Christmas around Batman.

Since this image can be found on Flickr, Wikiuploads, Digg, etc. I assume it's in the public domain.

This image is obviously intended to reflect the deep, raw emotion of Batman's orphanhood. Or maybe the way we all want to see Robin get the beat down.

It alludes to a story with which most of us are familiar--that Batman has a sidekick and his parents are dead--which forms the basis of the humorous effect. If we didn't know anything about Batman, this image would still be sort of whimsical and Dadaist, but it wouldn't be as funny. Actually, a dude in a cape with glowing white eyes and bat ears smacking another dude in a cape for mentioning his dead parents may be funnier.

It's abrupt, unexpected, and removed from any explanatory context. That's why jokes are funny. When you have to explain them, they're not funny.

7 comments:

  1. I found this outright hilarious.

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  2. Holy blonde cheerleader, Batman! This is so funny! I love how he's going absolutely crazy, even to the point of unnecessarily drawing out the word "dead".

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  3. i wonder what the preceding comic scenes were. wether there is an explanation of what led to this.

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  4. Well, I think Batman really did slap Robin at one point, but I believe the dialogue is shopped in.

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  5. Poor Batman, he still isn't over his parent's death. Oh wait the fact that he is Batman should have given it away in the first place. he really screamed out the word dead, huh?

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  6. I've come to realize that I have a surreal sense of humor. If you think about the photo in any degree of depth, it's not not that funny. But alone, it's absurd. I guess I'm so logical that only the blatantly illogical is funny to me. Example:

    Q: How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb?
    A: Fish.

    Ha! Haha!

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  7. @Jake: I think jokes in general just aren't funny when you deconstruct them. But yeah, maybe it's the whole "you're so logical" thing. ;)

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