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12 November 2018 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin
Laughter is a serious business
Prof Julian Hanich shared twelve types of laughter that you can find in the cinemas
Did you know that there are 12 types of laughter at the movies or that we laugh in relation to others? After attending the So funny! So ridiculous! On Laughter in the Cinema public lecture by Prof Julian Hanich, it becomes apparent that laughing is not a laughing matter.

The Department Art History and Image Studies hosted acclaimed German film studies academic, Associate Professor Julian Hanich on Monday 5 November 2018 at the Visual Media Hub on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS). There was also a screening of the German comedy Welcome to Germany after the lecture. 

The visit was made possible through the Marco Polo Fund at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. “It is an opportunity for researchers to engage and build relationships with other universities,” Martin Rossouw, Head of department, said. 

Prof Hanich research includes, film phenomenology, cinematic emotions and effect and film styles and collective cinema experience. 


Cinematic laughter bring viewers together

The laughter in the cinema is a more comic type of laughter and the group experiences it differently. “Collective laughter groups the audience together for a brief period,” Prof Hanich said.

Here is some food for thought. Have you ever realised why you laugh or even how you laugh when watching a movie at a cinema or at home? It is often the comical and humorous situations that make us chuckle for sure, but your laughter has more meaning than just being a reaction to what you saw on the screen.  

“Laughing out loud is sometimes a humourless business. We have to take laughter seriously,” Prof Hanich said at the start of his lecture. 

“We laugh with others even though it may not be funny, or we laugh against others because they do not find it funny,” he said. 

In film studies scholars tend to look exclusively at the relation between a single viewer and the film but rarely discuss the relationship between viewers. 

Different types of laughter 

Some of the 12 types of laughter include; eruptive comic laughter. which is a response to a comical incident that overwhelms the viewer; distancing relief laughter for shock or disgust; ironic rededication laughter, which a slightly condescending reaction. Then there is also delighted recognition laughter when the viewer recognises something within the film, and narcissistic joyful laughter, which is when a viewer understands a complex joke that was made in the film.

The aim of this talk was to widen the discussion concerning laughter within film studies. 

News Archive

Teacher training key to democracy and freedom
2011-12-06

 

MEC Mr Tate Makgoe (left) with Faculty of Education’s Prof. Dennis Francis, holding the inaugural SURLEC Award. With them is Dr Dipane Hlalele.
Photo: Thabo Kessah

Universities have the responsibility to respond to the challenges that the South African education system is faced with.

This is the view of the Free State MEC for Education, Mr Tate Makgoe, during his address at the three-day First Sustainable Rural Learning Ecologies (SURLEC) Colloquium, which was recently held at the Qwaqwa Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS).
 
“Our universities must not only research the failures of our system. They must also come up with solutions.
 
“One of the questions that demand answers in our country is whether we produce quality teachers at our universities, considering our learners’ performance internationally. Our children lack the basics like grammar and yet we are 17 years into democracy. Why is their performance so poor in comparison to children in poorer countries?” asked Mr Makgoe.
 
“We must work together as a Government and universities to change this. Universities must be anchors of democracy and freedom, which is meaningless if our children cannot read and write. We must also focus on Mathematics and Natural Sciences, not forgetting to value our indigenous knowledge and games to enhance learning, especially in Mathematics,” he said.
 
According to Dr Dipane Hlalele, Head of the Faculty of Education at the UFS Qwaqwa Campus, the colloquium was held to search for best practices and success stories relating to the theme, Creating sustainable rural learning ecologies in the 21st century.
 
“Our objective was to tap into experiences and wisdom of policy makers, researchers, scholars, teachers and students in order to map a new direction in research as well as to make an indelible mark on the revitalisation of this campus,” concluded Dr Hlalele.
 
The UFS Dean of Education, Prof. Dennis Francis’ efforts to improve rural education were honoured with the first ever SURLEC Award.
 
Over 70 research papers from the universities of the Free State, South Africa, Venda, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology were delivered and learners from the local schools like The Beacon, Mafube, Qwaqwa and Clubview presented their winning projects at the Science Expo.

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