From the Desk of Bob Mankoff -- December 7, 2011

sexta-feira, 9 de dezembro de 2011

From the Desk of Bob Mankoff -- December 7, 2011

Dear Laughter Lovers,

My column about the perfect cartoon, not surprisingly, brought forth many other candidates, as well as some debate over my choice of Chon Day's captionless 1946 drawing. On newyorker.com, PennyWhistler commented,

I cannot concur in the description of "perfect." For one thing, the clerk's face is too ambiguous, and it takes a while for that black lump in his hand to register as a gun. I could have used a little more dowager mouth, as well. Then again, it certainly is quite funny.

Another reader, IntenseExcitement, replied:

PennyWhistler: the fact that it takes a while for the black lump to register as a gun made it perfect for me! Gives one the chance to wonder what's going through his head before the punch line is delivered.

I'm with IntenseExcitement on this one: the delay increases the tension and makes the gag funnier. But research shows (yes, there is research on such things) that, for maximum effect, the tolerable delay is about half a second. Cartoonists want to use as much of that half-second interval as we can, but there is always the danger of stretching it too far. For example:

It takes too long to notice that the door has no knob, and so most people don't get that you have to figure out how to get into the Acme Puzzle Co. without one. Puzzling—and not funny for that reason.

Getting a cartoon sometimes seems like solving a puzzle, because of similarities between the "aha!" and "ha-ha" phenomena. But the sudden insight of "aha!" is most satisfying when the problem-solving comes after a struggle, while "ha-ha" works best when it feels effortless.

Day could have ensured that everyone would get his cartoon right away by making the salesman look angry and eliminating the misdirection provided by the two black shoes:

But without the ambiguity, without the interval before we resolve the contradiction between normality and the urge to violence, it would be a much inferior cartoon.

But hold on half a second! Shouldn't we be ashamed of the sexist and ageist stereotypes this cartoon employs, not to mention the depiction of shoe salesmen as murderous psychopaths?

My short answer to this is no. My long answer will appear next week.

Meanwhile, if you would like to see some very good—perhaps even perfect—cartoons, you can find them in our second annual "Cartoons of the Year" special edition, which is, as they say, "ON NEWSSTANDS NOW!" That is, unless it's fallen off, in which case, please pick it up off the floor, then buy it.