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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

Launch of the Africa office of the IIDE
2006-05-25

Attending the launch of the Africa office of the IIDE were from the left Prof Sytse Strijbos (Chairperson of IIDE Europe), Rev Kiepie Jaftha (Chairperson of the IIDE in Africa’s Board of Directors and Chief Director: Community Service at the UFS) and Prof Frederick Fourie (Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS).

 

Attending the launch were from the left Prof Lucius Botes (Director: Centre of Development Support at the UFS), Dr Samuel Kareithi (Head: Community Development at the Cornerstone Christian College, Cape Town), Rev Kiepie Jaftha (Chairperson of the IIDE in Africa’s Board of Directors and Chief Director: Community Service at the UFS), Prof Sytse Strijbos (Chairperson of IIDE Europe) and Dr Ezekiel Moraka (Vice-Rector:  Student Affairs at the UFS).

Africa office of IIDE launched on UFS main campus 

The Africa office of the International Institute for Development and Ethics (IIDE) was today (26 May 2006) launched on the Main Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein.

“The IIDE specialises in the studying and research of general questions of developmental theory and practices and provides services and support in education, strategic planning, policy formulation, advocacy and capacity building of development agencies,” said Rev Kiepie Jaftha, Chairperson of the IIDE in Africa’s Board of Directors and Chief Director: Community Service at the UFS.

According to Rev Jaftha the IIDE in Africa will focus on the conceptual and normative aspects of developmental processes in Sub-Saharan Africa.  “We want to foster local and international partnerships with various relevant role-players in civil society, the private sector and public sector in the SACD region and later expand our operations to the rest of Africa,” said Rev Jaftha.

The IIDE in Africa cooperates with a similar foundation in Europe, functioning as the IIDE Europe.  This institute was founded in 2003 and its head office is situated in the Netherlands.  The UFS is a funder of the IIDE in Africa together with the Paul Foundation and private sponsors from the Netherlands.

“We have already started with various projects which are in various stages of implementation,” said Rev Jaftha.  Some of these projects include, among others, the broadening of the master’s degree in Christian Studies of Science and Society (MACSSS) which is currently housed at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam to tertiary institutions in South Africa such as the UFS, the University of Stellenbosch and the Potchefstroom Campus of the Northwest University.

“Another project is an investigation into the possibility of initiating a broad development initiative in the poverty stricken Qwaqwa area.  This initiative will attempt to concentrate on issues like the training and empowerment of prospective entrepreneurs in the region, the identification of prospective entrepreneurs for the rendering of development support and the monitoring of the impact of information and communication technology on local communities during the implementation of sustainable development initiatives,” said Rev Jaftha.

“The establishment of the Africa office of the IIDE on the UFS Main Campus is an indication of one of the aims of the UFS to play a role in South Africa and Africa.  It also signifies our aim to contribute meaningfully to research and development and to establish links between the academe and practice,” said Rev Jaftha. 

 

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
26 May 2006

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