I've been obsessed by my research topic these days. I decided to write about humor because Lindsey told us to write something that really interests ourselves. Then I chose humor which sounded very interesting. However, it doesn't follow that to write a research paper is also interesting.
The first problem I came across was my question on the topic. I searched on Google and found lots of topics on humor. Then I came up with a question myself whether people could understand humor from different cultures well, and my hypothetic answer was “No” definitely. However, Lindsey said that it was too obvious to be a question. Yes she’s right. So I kept thinking about how to modify my question.
I turned to the library for help, and that’s where I got my second problem. I searched for all books that were related to humor and society, but none of them talks about feelings of people from different cultures towards humor. What’s more, I found that humor was in fact a so broad topic that I could write a book on it. However, I have to start reading a book, so I chose “Humor and Society”.
I scanned the book, and I found little useful information for my research topic. The first twenty pages kept talking about the nature of humor and why it was important, and the other parts of the book are mainly about the content of humor and the relationship with society. I don’t want such knowledge! I tried to modify my research topic into a more practical one so that I could use the book, but I failed.
After that, I decided to go to the library again to search for more books. Fortunately, I found one with the name “Good Humor and Bad Taste”. It focuses on the sense of humor of people of different genders, ages and cultures. Yes! Sense of Humor! That’s what I mean! What I care about is people’s feelings towards humor, not humor itself. More specifically, I mean humor within jokes.
Finally I get my research topic clear enough.
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1 comment:
I love reading your essay very much. Your essay reminds me of you and your struggle. It is kind of charming and funny.
When I read your passage, I imagined your struggle with the topic, which was a kind of humorous to me. The other day I heard about the topic you chose and the types of humor, I thought you had chosen the very tough topic. When I was a university student, I learned about humor from a teacher, whose major was about irony, it was very difficult for me to distinguish humor from wit and esprit. The sense of humor is different from culture to culture. When we think of laugh, it gives completely different meanings to those who don't understand it. We, Asians sometimes laugh to hide our embrrassment, sometimes laugh to imply "no", which are difficult to understand for them. Humor is also different very much. I think you should narrow the topic, for example "Is it possible for people in toronto to understand a Chinese joke?" "Why aren't the American jokes funny for Asians?"
Iam looking forward to reading your next report. Good luck!!
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