The semiotics of humor in cultural trauma: a pilot study on digital methodology concerning the evolution and overcoming of trauma through humor on the example of Rick and Morty

Abstract

This pilot study on humor in cultural trauma uses innovative digital methodologies in speech recognition and social media analysis via Postman and Python in the Twitter API v2 to propose different forms to gather and analyze empirical data on semiotics and humor to be used in a broader context. The given example of humorous instances on the cultural trauma of 9/11 in the fictional sitcom Rick and Morty is limited but corroborated by a second example that is structurally different from the first: humor about 9/11 in stand-up comedy by Louis C.K. Based on the data, humor in trauma seems to undergo a 5-phase-typology related to the Kübler-Ross model of grief, which is mended by the (digital) participation of society. Society, we argue, both shapes the discourse on humor in trauma and overcomes the traumatic effects through humorous discourse.

Keywords

• cultural trauma
• humor theory
• kübler-ross model
• collective memory