Mizah Teorilerinin Sınıflandırılması Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme

Year 2020, Volume: 16 Issue: 126, 52 - 62, 24.06.2020

Selami Fedakar

Abstract

Edebiyat araştırmaları tarihi içerisinde mizaha bağlı türler büyük bir yer tutmaktadır. Öyle ki özellikle Batılı araştırmacılar, mizah ve mizaha bağlı edebi türler konusuna özerk bir disiplin gibi yaklaşmaktadırlar. “Üstünlük”, “zıtlık” ve “rahatlama” ana teorilerine bağlı olmak üzere, mizahın ortaya çıkması konusunu teorik boyutta ele alan yabancı kaynaklı çalışmalarda bu ana teorilere bağlı farklı alt teoriler ortaya atılmıştır. Mizah merkezli ortaya atılan bu teorik yaklaşımlar bütünü tarihi bakımdan, mizah yaratma şekli açısından ve ortaya atıldığı disiplinler bakımından bir tasnife muhtaçtır. Bu ihtiyaçtan hareketle, makalemizin konusunu bahsi geçen mizah teorilerinin tasnifi ve tanıtımı oluşturmaktadır. Günümüzde sistematik hale gelmiş olan mizah araştırmalarının en dikkat çeken özelliği, çalışmaların çoğunun belirli teorik çerçeveler dâhilinde ortaya konulmuş olmasıdır. Söz konusu teorik yapının ortaya çıkmasının en önemli sebebi mizah ve gülme hakkındaki çalışmaların kökeninin Antik Çağ’a kadar uzanması ve zamanla teorik anlamda büyük bir bilgi birikiminin elde edilmiş olmasıdır. Erken dönemde daha çok filozoflar gülme konusu üzerinde durmuş ve gülme hakkındaki ilk teorik yaklaşımlar bu dönemde ortaya çıkmıştır. Modern dönemde ise pek çok düşünür ve araştırmacı gülme ve mizah hakkındaki bakış açılarıyla farklı teorik yaklaşımlar ortaya koymuşlardır. Bu teorik zemin üzerinde kurulmuş olan günümüzdeki gülme ve mizah çalışmaları; edebiyat, eğitim, halk bilimi, antropoloji, sosyoloji, felsefe, tarih, iletişim, tıp, ekonomi, güzel sanatlar, bilgisayar vb. gibi farklı disiplinlerdeki bilim insanlarının katılımıyla disiplinler arası bir çalışma alanı haline gelmiştir. Tarihi gelişim seyri içinde yürütülen gülme ve mizah çalışmaları sonucunda farklı bakış açıları ve yaklaşımlar çerçevesinde gülme ve mizah teorisyenleri pek çok mizah teorisi oluşturmuşlardır. Söz konusu mizah teorileri kendine özgü bazı özellikleri bakımından bilim adamları tarafından farklı dönemlerde sınıflandırmaya tabi tutulmuştur. Bu makalede, bilim adamlarının yaptığı mizah teorileri sınıflandırmaları benzerlik ve farklılıkları bakımından; “Tarihi Dönemlere Göre Yapılan Sınıflandırmalar”, “Teori Aileleri Sınıflandırmaları ve Mizaha Yaklaşım Tarzına Bağlı Sınıflandırmalar” ve “Akademik Disiplinlere Bağlı Sınıflandırmalar” başlıkları altında gruplara ayrılmış ve bütüncül olarak değerlendirilmiştir. 

Keywords

mizah, gülme, şaka, teori, sınıflandırma

Supporting Institution

TÜBİTAK

Project Number

2219-International Postdoctoral Research Scholarship Programme

An Evaluation on Classification of Humor Theories

Abstract

Humor-related literary genres occupy a significant place in literary research and history to the extent that western scholarship in particular, often treats humor and related literary genres almost as an autonomous discipline. Although certain studies that address the emergence of humor focus on the three main theories, namely “superiority”, “incongruity” and “relief” they may be divergent in creating interdependent sub-theories. Therefore, these theoretical approaches as a whole require classification pertaining to the history of humor, to the modes of creating it, and to the disciplines that interpret it. Based on this, the subject of the present essay is the classification of the humor theories in terms of historical periods, style of humor conception, and academic disciplines. Moreover, introduction of these classifications to Turkish scholars is the aim of the present study. Current studies on humor have been mostly put forward within certain theoretical frameworks. The most important reason for the emergence of this theoretical tendency in the current studies on humor is that a large amount of knowledge has been obtained in the theoretical sense over time since the ancient age when the origins of studies on humor, and laughter emerged. In the early period, philosophers focused more on laughter, so the first theoretical approaches to laughter emerged during this period. However, many thinkers and scholars of the modern period have introduced different theoretical approaches through different perspectives on laughter and humor. Moreover, the current laughter and humor studies based on this theoretical background have become an interdisciplinary field of study with the participation of scholars from various disciplines such as literature, education, folklore, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, history, communication, medicine, economics, and fine arts. As a result of the laughter and humor studies carried out in the course of its historical development process, laughter and humor theorists have established many humor theories. Aforementioned humor theories have been classified by scholars based on some of their unique characteristics. This study reclassifies the humor theories in terms of their similarities and differences under the titles “classifications according to historical periods”, “classifications of theory families and classifications due to the style of humor conception”, and “classifications according to academic disciplines” and evaluate these theories and classifications as a whole.

Keywords

Humor, Laughter, Theory, Classification, joke

Project Number

2219-International Postdoctoral Research Scholarship Programme

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