Serious laughter

ENThe work of the Lithuanian researcher Neringa Klumbytė, who lives in the United States, may arouse jealousy. Several times I have tried to write something about laughter, jokes and situations that become comical, even unintentionally. And each time I put these plans aside for later. This was not only because of my embarrassing procrastination but more out of a certain helplessness at the need to write seriously about laughter. Indeed, about one of the most serious human activities and reactions to the world, the emotional expression characteristic of the human species. Klumbytė took the subject very seriously. She saw it as an excellent opportunity to examine how culture emerged under the conditions when its content was shaped from the top down by the Soviet authorities. In her reflections, she concentrates on the problem of humour, directed laughter as a tool for managing society and forming worldviews. In considering laughter, she focused mainly on the didactic and propagandistic levels of its influence.