Schadenfreude

Or, Fuck you, Lady, that's what stairs are for... *



Last night, after meeting with my Shakespeare reading group, a few of us stayed over and watched Jackass: the Movie on TMC. Four guys, two gals. The guys, of course, enjoyed every minute of it. The girls, less so, shaking their heads often declaring the whole exercise stupid (duh), the same way most women will when forced to sit through a Three Stooges movie. I enjoyed it greatly, but rather less well, and rather more guiltily, than an average episode of MXC. This last, for those unaware is a Japanese import called Most eXtreme elimination Challenge, in which average japanese folks bang themselves up battling ostentatiously silly yet painful obstacle courses. For some reason watching the above is absolutely hilarious to me, and am fully aware that, when the people aren't Japanese, it's less so. Probably because, looking different from me, I don't identify with them as much, don't feel empathy for their physical discomfort, and can therefore enjoy comedy of the pratfalls.



I'd venture that the same would be true of people of any race not my own, which may be why Jackass didn't sit as well with me. Then again, the Three Stooges are white, and watching them slap the crap out of each other is just as funny. Maybe I didn't like Jackass quite as much because it's grosser: involving eating a snowcone soaked with piss and things of that nature. Then again, I seem to recall laughing when that happened. I don't know...



What is it, this schadenfreude, this deliberate enjoyement of another's pain and misfortune? I suspect it's quite closely related to the humor impulse, which some anthropologists say, may have been an early threat-denial system for humans, a way of saying "It's okay, don't worry about it" to the rest of the tribe. I also suspect that, contra the ladies watching the movie last night, that women have the same impulse, but, as in all things, it's more emotionally oriented, whereas men are more physically oriented. Men love physical humor; women less so. But women will get sadistic enjoyment out of torturing the girl that doesn't belong; not physically, but emotionally and psychically. Women know how to get inside someone else's head, and when engaged in combat, they'll work to that advantage without much in the way of remorse.



Then again, when Mary Kay Letourneau, the teacher sent to jail for sleeping with her 12-year-old student, got out of prison this morning, there were crowds waiting outside, and among them were teenage boys waving signs that said "I'm 18, Baby" and "Take Me Home". Mean, not physical, but funny. Approve or disapprove?



This analysis is getting nowhere. Where's Camille Paglia when I need her?



*"Avenue Q" reference