Feeling Tone Interpretation
To start off, I think John did a great job explaining the humor in this clip. I've never heard of "feeling tones" before, and with the examples I can definitely see how they can play into comedy and especially in this clip.
In the clip, the head chef gives conflicting reviews to a dish he was just served. He says its bad, but explains that it's Michael Jackson Bad, but again clarifies that it's Michael Jackson at the end of his life bad. This back and fourth leaves the audience and the competing chef both confuses and on the edge of their seat to hear the final verdict. It is a great example of this new concept of feeling tone interpretation because both the audience and the competing chef cannot discern his opinion because he is using words and phrases that can have polar opposite meanings depending on the context of the sentence and situation.
I think it was a good choice to add the concept of feeling tones because it plays into and strengthens the incongruity theory in relation to this clip. Alone, incongruity tells us how the clip is humorous because you expect the chef to eventually say definitively whether he liked it or not. Felling tones tells us why this set up pays off by explaining the audiences expectations for the phrases used.
The funniest part of the clip to me is when the head chef reveals he thinks the dish is "meh" while giving a so-so motion with his hand. This is again incongruous because the audience expected a final verdict of "great" or "terrible" but instead received an answer that made all that came before so much more dramatic than it needed to be. (Although I suppose it is because they are making fun of dramatic shows such as Top Chef and Cutthroat Kitchen.)
In the clip, the head chef gives conflicting reviews to a dish he was just served. He says its bad, but explains that it's Michael Jackson Bad, but again clarifies that it's Michael Jackson at the end of his life bad. This back and fourth leaves the audience and the competing chef both confuses and on the edge of their seat to hear the final verdict. It is a great example of this new concept of feeling tone interpretation because both the audience and the competing chef cannot discern his opinion because he is using words and phrases that can have polar opposite meanings depending on the context of the sentence and situation.
I think it was a good choice to add the concept of feeling tones because it plays into and strengthens the incongruity theory in relation to this clip. Alone, incongruity tells us how the clip is humorous because you expect the chef to eventually say definitively whether he liked it or not. Felling tones tells us why this set up pays off by explaining the audiences expectations for the phrases used.
The funniest part of the clip to me is when the head chef reveals he thinks the dish is "meh" while giving a so-so motion with his hand. This is again incongruous because the audience expected a final verdict of "great" or "terrible" but instead received an answer that made all that came before so much more dramatic than it needed to be. (Although I suppose it is because they are making fun of dramatic shows such as Top Chef and Cutthroat Kitchen.)
While reading this response, it had me thinking a lot about how the comedic effect could have been different if the ending had been different. You focused a lot on the ending in the last paragraph, and I wonder how you would have reacted if it had a more definitive Great! or Terrible! verdict in the end.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The funniest part was at the end. The whole clip was building to a point where the audience would finally know what the chef thought. And then he just gives it a "meh." it was os unexpected!
ReplyDeleteI agree that feeling tones applies to the incongruity theory in a way but i think it would be hard to tell or figure out feeling tone without the music in this clip.
ReplyDeleteIn thinking more about our discussion, it seems that feeling tone or affect is about the sum total of the possible feelings--all the shifting possible emotions. So as you point out, the fact that he can't decide how to respond is a good sign that we are working at the level of affect.
ReplyDelete