Can death be funny ?

[krazykidd]

In real life i mean. Not in Videogames/comicbooks/movies or whatever other thing you can think of. People always say laughter is the best medicine, and how you can't take everything seriously. How it's good to laugh at life and so on and so forth .

However, Death is a part of life, is it possible, to make it funny, without being a sicko and/or psychopath ? Just to lighten the seriousness of Death . Now i don't mean going around laughing at every person that dies , that would be terrible, but just a way to take away the sting when someone you know have passed away or if you yourself are dying , with laughter.

This is just a random thought i had while reading on suicide. I was also wondering if people who attempted suicide, and then saw the foolishness of their ways, laugh about it every once in a while thinking back on how they did something pretty stupid.

Anyways, what do you guys think.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Occasionally. There are plenty of ironic or otherwise silly death stories out there, its inevitable that at least one or two might illicit a chuckle. There are lots of cultures which don't do the whole "Death=doom and gloom" thing, preferring instead to see funerals and such as a celebration of the person's life rather than mourning their death.

That said, it would probably be in bad taste to go up to a recent widow or something and try to make jokes about the situation. Laughter may be the best medicine, but you gotta know the dosage.

 

[Goofguy]

Sure, it's okay laugh at death, under the right circumstances [http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin]

 

[DrWilhelm]

I'd say that death can be plenty funny, as long as it's handled right. Though I'm by no means an expect on the nature of humour, my unresearched guess would be that Black Humour and Gallows Humour derive their laughs partly through the subversion of expectations. As in, you expect death to be a serious and sombre affair, so when we're presented with an amusing take on death, we laugh. That is by no means a satisfying answer, but I think it's pointing in the right direction.

I heard a theory a while back that suggested that we laugh at dark subjects because in a way it calms us down; it's an evolutionary survival trait. Imagine some proto-human wandering the serengeti. He sees a nearby bush rustle and he freezes, thinking it's a lion. Instead out scurries a mouse, and our proto-human laughs (causing his brain to release the happy chemicals) at what could have been a near death experience to calm himself, so he doesn't become a bundle of jittery nerves. Similarly, if a lion does jump out, but instead chows down on his rival, he laughs because "hey, at least it's not me." If it were to eat his friend though, it would probably strike to close to home, reminding him of his own mortality.

 

[DarkRyter]

There's no reason it can't be funny.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

There was a death at my school recently (last year) which involved someone falling 5 stories down an open elevator shaft.

It's terrible and all, but I laughed my ass off. I mean really, who the hell falls down an elevator shaft in real life? It's a freaking GAG DEATH!

 

[danneloid]

Yes there are funny deaths(i feel horrible saying that) and the funniest ones receive something called a Darwin Award.

Well the stupidest get that. But i think it goes hand in hand.

 

[The Mighty Stove]

-Snip-

Almost as bad as the Vending machine deaths that kill 13 people a year... I just, don't even...

Spoiler

13 people....a year... by that..How?!

 

[ToastiestZombie]

I'm just going to leave this here:


I went to the cinema to see Titanic 3d (since I missed out on the original) and my god I laughed so much at that scene. The whole place looked funny. So yeah, death can be funny. Not just normal death though, I wouldn't of laughed at that if I had actually seen it in real life. Nor would I laugh at say a person being run over, but if it's in a film or game or TV show and it's meant or unintentionally funny then I find it funny.

 

[Rastien]

Last year i read in the paper a man fell off his step ladder into a water butt (its like a big barrel of water used for storing rain water from gutters/roofs) was so fat he wedges himself into the barrel and drowned.

My god i laughed my tits off when i read that and all i could think about was darwinism in effect.

Fail beavers gonna fail:

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

Sure, it's okay laugh at death, under the right circumstances [http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin]

This, so much this.

Like the guy who eletrocutes his pond to kill all the fish for a sizable meal and/or storage meats...

Then goes in after the fish without removing the electricity from the pond.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Sure, it's okay laugh at death, under the right circumstances [http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin]

Heh. Clicked the random button, and got a story about a man who put a firecracker between his cheeks (not the eating ones) then stumbled and well...Fell on it. Then it exploded. I thought it was pretty funny, and until I got to part about his exploded pelvis and ruptured urethra. I no longer find it funny. I'm also finding it difficult to uncross my legs.

Although the bit where the police sargeant "strongly discouraged others against this act" was still pretty funny.

Anyway, I guess my answer is "no". At least, it really shouldn't be.

EDIT: Just realized the guy lived and thus has nothing do with any of this. Oh, well. My answer remains unchanged.

 

[The Mighty Stove]

-Snip-

I understand that but I mean... I just... over 1.50$? Imagine how they tell their relatives how they died. "Ma'am/Sir your son/daughter was flattened by a giant metal box filled with goods, I'm sorry for your loss."

Oh and @ OP: Yes death can be funny, look at the Darwin awards =P

 

[King of Asgaard]

Only if you tell a good joke afterwards.
For instance, a man (named X to not offend anyone) dies while sailing. Two guys are talking about it, and one says, "Well, I guess that's the last we'll 'SEA' of X."

 

[Gabanuka]

http://www.darwinawards.com/

Yes. Very much so.

If we dont laugh at death then the tiki gods win.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

I laughed when Whitney Houston died. Im not sure if thats weird or wrong. I just found that fact her death was so cliche quite funny.

 

[Elate]

If I ever have a terminal illness, I'm going out with something amusing, maybe one of those guys that suffocates doing..- Yeah, something like that. So people after I'm dead can just be all "OH YOU."

 

[Powereaver]

Of course.. thats what the Darwin Awards were invented for... stupid deaths Some of those stories i just shake my head and then laugh a bit because its like.. how can people be just THAT stupid?