Humour Assignment Reflection/Analysis

               For me, inventing my own humorous creation was extremely difficult, and most of the times, very frustrating. I had no idea what type of comedy my peers would be amused by, let alone Ms. Piovesan. But as I continued to brainstorm, I decided to create something in which adolescents of my age are familiar with, and something that they can relate to with their own experience. However, since I am not a girl obviously, I had to approach it from a boy’s point of view. But still, there were hundreds of different methods for me to approach this assignment. Knowing that a vast majority of the boy’s population in Collingwood like to play video games, and that they play these video games that are often rated Teen or Mature excessively, I decided that violent video games would be my topic for my “humorous” creation. And as a teenager who plays video games myself, I was able to relate back to my own life, and was knowledgeable of how detrimental video games can be in a student’s life, and how worse it can get when the game involves violent content, like shooting zombies. Deciding to take a satirical approach at this assignment, I wrote a satire of how video games benefit the lives of children and adolescents, resulting in my creation of VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES; POSSIBLE SURVIVAL GUIDES TO A POST-APOCALYPTIC FUTURE.

              

               In my satire, I say that the type of comedy I used is comedy of ideas. I regarded the whole paper as a comedy of ideas for it is an argument between the so-called professionals of how video games benefit the lives of young children. I satirized the opinions of the professionals and their thoughts on violent video games, by exaggerating the advantages of the video games that will possibly help adolescents survive a post-apocalypse future. The listing of the advantages is also an example of comedy of ideas, as everyone knows that playing video games is harmful to people’s health, and that it often downgrades the children’s potentials to do good in school.

               My creation is funny because of the nonsensical supporting arguments of the professionals, like the fact that violent video games will teach young children important survival skills, such as finding gun ammunitions inside buildings. To further develop this into a comedy, the satire takes an issue concerning many families of the 21^st century, that is, children playing too much violent video games, and presents the opposite of what really should be said. For instance, most readers will expect a full-out lecture from a Harvard professor on why video games are bad. However, what is displayed to them is rather the opposite: the professor encouraging violent video games among children, for they will supposedly help the youths brace themselves for a post-apocalypse future. Mainly, the extensive use of reversal that is included in every argument is what makes this satire so comedic. The fact that the professionals are just a group of ordinary people, who in reality, should not be asked how violent video games benefit the lives of children, is something to smile about. Take the Harvard professor for example. He may be a teacher at one of the most prestigious schools in the world, but still he states nonsense arguments, and thinks that violent video games will one day help teenagers lead a squad of super soldiers against terminator robots. Lastly, the exaggeration that is incorporated in the ending, saying that playing video games alone all day long is the best way to prepare children for their future, is the ultimate reversal of this satire. When parents are scolding their children for playing video games too much and not getting many activities done, these so-called professionals are inspiring adolescents to continue playing video games friendless, and lonely. All these factors contribute to making my creation a funny comedy.