Humor in the Filipino Culture

Often people find themselves running on autopilot, doing a routine, and just being where they are supposed to be without even noticing it. Human beings consist of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social aspects. Therefore, from time to time everyone needs a break from reality to fulfill not only their tasks, but also their wants and needs to survive. Through humor, human beings could take a break from the serious, day-to-day activities in life. Humor serves each person tendencies to laugh to provide amusement. From a student whispering a funny comment about the teacher to his/her seatmate, to stand-up comedians throwing knock-knock jokes in front of the audience, humor serves as entertainment and amusement to people. Though the intent of humor is amusement and laughter, others may tend to disagree like Peter Hyman in his essay “Stop Before They Joke Again,” in which he argues that humor is only used in a negative manner nowadays. Although it is true that there are some who uses humor negatively, there are still cultures alive that still make use of humor in a positive manner, and an example of that is the Filipino culture. Within the Filipino culture, humor is used to ease tragedies, to lessen conflicts, and to help socialize.

Filipino culture is also known as the “happy culture.” Despite the natural calamities, economic crisis, and other problems the Philippines face, how do Filipinos manage to have a happy culture? One of the best examples is during calamities like typhoons, floods, landslides, and earthquakes; the media try to capture footages from the scene of the incident. And as soon as cameras appear, Filipinos affected by the calamities jump up and down to be seen in the camera and give all their biggest smiles....

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...le because he did not know anyone in class, he was able to find ease and comfortability when he thought that Juan’s jokes are funny. Because of the presence of humor, they started to relate to one another and began to build the foundation of their friendship. In the book of James Miller titled Acting Out Culture: Reading and Writing’s introduction, he explains that the way we talk is affected by how our culture taught us. He argues, “Talk, like so many other aspects of our daily lives –is something defined and constrained by particular norms.” (Miller, 566) Using humor in communicating is something Filipinos have been doing through the years, generations after generations, which is why Filipinos still find humor as a common ground within the society

Works Cited

Acting Out Culture: Reading and Writing by James Miller

Stop Them Before They Joke Again by Peter Hyman