What's the definition of comedy? Banana. - Addison Anderson

喜劇的定義為何？喜劇演員 - 阿迪森．安德森 (Addison Anderson)

譯者: Geoff Chen 審譯者: Marssi Draw

What's the definition of comedy?

喜劇的定義是什麼？

Thinkers and philosophers from Plato and Aristotle

從柏拉圖、亞里斯多德 到霍布斯和佛洛伊德

to Hobbes, Freud, and beyond,

等等無數的哲學家、思想家

including anyone misguided enough

包括那些被誤導

to try to explain a joke,

而試圖解釋一則笑話的人

have pondered it,

都思考過這個問題

and no one has settled it.

但卻沒有人能替喜劇下定義

You're lucky you found this video to sort it out.

你很幸運地看到 這段影片為你理清

To define comedy, you should first ask

若要定義喜劇，你得先問

why it seems comedy defies definition.

為什麼喜劇似乎無法被定義？

The answer's simple.

答案很簡單

Comedy is the defiance of definition

喜劇是對於定義的挑戰

because definitions sometimes need defiance.

因為定義有時需要挑戰

Consider definition itself.

考慮定義本身

When we define, we use language

當我們下定義時，我們用語言

to set borders around a thing

來界定我們認為

that we've perceived in the whirling chaos of existence.

存在混亂之中的一件事

We say what the thing means

我們說出那件事的涵意

and fit that in a system of meanings.

並將它置於與意義系統 相符的脈絡之中

Chaos becomes cosmos.

混亂成為體系

The universe is translated

宇宙被翻譯成

into a cosmological construct of knowledge.

完整體系的知識結構

And let's be honest,

老實講

we need some logical cosmic order,

我們需要一些有邏輯的宇宙秩序

otherwise we'd have pure chaos.

否則我們只會有混亂

Chaos can be rough,

so we build a thing that we call reality.

混亂可能很糟糕

所以我們建立了 稱之為現實的這件事

Now think about logic and logos,

現在想想邏輯和語法

that tight knot connecting a word and truth.

它們將字詞與事實 緊密連結在一塊兒

And let's jump back to thinking about what's funny,

讓我們回過頭來 想想有什麼是好笑的

because some people say it's real simple:

因為有些人說得很簡單

truth is funny.

真相很好笑

It's funny because it's true.

好笑，因為這是真的

But that's simplistic.

但這過於簡化了

Plenty of lies are funny.

很多謊言都很好笑

Comedic fiction can be funny.

喜劇小說可以很好笑

Made-up nonsense jibberish is frequently hilarious.

胡謅的火星語常常讓人捧腹大笑

For instance, florp --

例如，florp

hysterical!

歇斯底里！

And plenty of truths aren't funny.

很多實話一點都不好笑

Two plus two truly equals four,

二加二等於四

but I'm not laughing just because that's the case.

但我不覺好笑，因為這就只是事實

You can tell a true anecdote,

你可以說一個真實的趣聞軼事

but your date may not laugh.

但你的約會對象可能不會笑

So, why are some untruths and only some truths funny?

所以，為什麼只有一些謊言 和一些真話好笑？

How do these laughable truths and untruths

這些好笑的事實和謊言是如何

relate to that capital-T Truth,

和那個真理 (Truth，大寫 T)

the cosmological reality of facts and definitions?

也就是事實與定義的 宇宙現實相關呢？

And what makes any of them funny?

是什麼讓其中任何東西變好笑呢？

There's a Frenchman who can help,

有一位法國人可以幫忙

another thinker who didn't define comedy

他是一位沒去定義喜劇的思想家

because he expressly didn't want to.

因為很明顯地 他不想去定義

Henri Bergson's a French philosopher

亨利．柏格森是位法國哲學家

who prefaced his essay on laughter

他用笑話為文章開頭

by saying he wouldn't define "the comic"

說他不會定義「滑稽」

because it's a living thing.

因為它是活的東西

He argued laughter has a social function

他認為笑聲具有社會性功能

to destroy mechanical inelasticity

能紓解人們在態度

in people's attitudes and behavior.

和行為上的機械性疲乏

Someone doing the same thing over and over,

有人反覆做同樣的事情

or building up a false image of themself and the world,

或建立本身和世界的虛假形象

or not adapting to reality

或不去迎合現實

by just noticing the banana peel on the ground --

而只注意地面上的香蕉皮

this is automatism,

這是自動現象

ignorance of one's own mindless rigidity,

對自己的下意識死板毫無感知

and it's dangerous

這很危險

but also laughable

但也很好笑

and comic ridicule helps correct it.

而喜劇的荒謬性有助於改善它

The comic is a kinetic, vital force,

喜劇是種生動且重要的力量

or elan vital,

非常有幹勁

that helps us adapt.

可以幫我們適應生活

Bergson elaborates on this idea

柏格森詳述了這個想法

to study what's funny about all sorts of things.

去研究各種各樣好笑的東西

But let's stay on this.

讓我們停留在這兒

At the base of this concept of comedy is contradiction

喜劇的基礎概念是

between vital, adaptive humanity

介於生動、適應人性

and dehumanized automatism.

與毫無人性自動現象之間的矛盾

A set system that claims to define reality

這個聲稱能定義現實的系統

might be one of those dehumanizing forces

可能是那些喜劇往往會摧毀

that comedy tends to destroy.

失去人性的力量之一

Now, let's go back to Aristotle.

現在，讓我們回到亞理斯多德

Not Poetics, where he drops a few thoughts on comedy,

他並不是在《詩學》裡 留下一點兒喜劇的想法

no, Metaphysics,

是形而上學的觀點

the fundamental law of non-contradiction,

非矛盾的基本規則

the bedrock of logic.

是邏輯的基石

Contradictory statements are not at the same time true.

相互矛盾的敘述 不會同時正確

If A is an axiomatic statement,

如果 A 是不證自明的陳述

it can't be the case

就不可能出現

that A and the opposite of A are both true.

A 和其相反敘述都是對的

Comedy seems to live here,

喜劇似乎存在於此

to subsist on the illogic

以邏輯矛盾與其衍生物的

of logical contradiction and its derivatives.

非邏輯概念持續生存

We laugh when the order we project on the world

我們笑了 當我們投射於世界的秩序

is disrupted and disproven,

是中斷而無法證明時

like when the way we all act

就像我們的一切行為模式

contradicts truths we don't like talking about,

與我們不喜歡談論的事實牴觸

or when strange observations we all make

或當我們有奇怪的觀察

in the silent darkness of private thought

在無人知曉的個人想法中

are dragged into public by a good stand-up,

卻被說笑話高手帶到公眾殿堂

and when cats play piano,

還有當貓彈鋼琴時

because cats that are also somehow humans

因為某種程度上 貓也具有人性

disrupt our reality.

擾亂我們的現實

So, we don't just laugh at truth,

所以，我們不只是嘲笑真理

we laugh at the pleasurable, edifying revelation of flaws,

我們嘲笑令人愉快 且有啟發性的缺陷、

incongruities,

失衡、

overlaps,

重疊、

and outright conflicts

和直接衝突

in the supposedly ordered system of truths

當這些事出現在 我們定義世界和自身

we use to define the world and ourselves.

所謂真理有序的系統中

When we think too highly of our thinking,

當我們對自己的思維期許太高

when we think things are true

當我們認為事情屬實

just because we all say they're logos and stop adapting,

只因為我們都說 他們是事物的邏輯而停止適應

we become the butt of jokes played on us

我們就會被混亂中瘋狂古怪的小騙子利用

by that wacky little trickster, chaos.

而成為笑柄

Comedy conveys that destructive, instructive playfulness,

喜劇傳達的是具破壞性、 有啟發性的嬉鬧

but has no logical definition

但毫無邏輯可言

because it acts upon our logic

因為它跨越了規範

paralogically

不按牌理出牌

from outside its finite borders.

Far from having a definite definition,

沒有明確的定義

it has an infinite infinition.

因而有了無限的可能

And the infinition of comedy

而喜劇的無窮在於

is that anything can be mined for comedy.

使任何事物 都可成為喜劇的題材

Thus, all definitions of reality,

因此，所有現實中的定義

especially those that claim to be universal,

尤其是那些自稱是普世性的、

logical,

合乎邏輯的、

cosmic,

有秩序的

capital-T Truth

絕對真理

become laughable.

都變得可笑