TheExpressionofBritishHumorinDowntonAbbey-最新文档

1、The Expression of British Humor in Downton Abbey【】The British humor is of unique traits and it is a little difficult to understand for people who do not have enough knowledge background. There are four characteristics of British humor ： implicit while profound ， absurd and exaggerated ， complicated

2、while understated. As for its formation reason， it will beanalyzed from three parts ： the Englishmen s personality ， British culture and British economy.British humor has been applied in a large number of TV works. In this thesis ， The Downton Abbey has been chosen as the object of the study for its

3、 popularity at home and abroad. First， itsexpression techniques to show the British humor have been analyzed ： satire ， self-deprecation， understatement andfigure of speech. Because of these skills， thecharacters personality has been vividly performed in this play and it has attracted large audience

4、s ， so British humor has contributed greatly to the dramas success.British humor is difficult to identify and understand.On one hand， what Englishmen find amusing may not be funny at all to others from other locations as theydont share the same style of humor.On the other hand，British jokes probably

5、 will not provoke the listeners into opening their mouths and bursting into laugh as the point of British humor lies in its profound connotation but not its function of laugh trigger.These contribute to make British humor a unique one.Not like usual jokes， explicit and closed to life，British humor i

6、s extremely implicit and filled with profound cultural connotations.Englishmen attach great importance to their manner of behavior even when they are telling jokes or blowing up.In order to achieve that，British humor has to be showed in a underlying manner.The British film True Love is a typical rep

7、resentative of this kind of implicit humor. Ten love stories unfold in this film.Once this prime minister had to take down the domineering American in an official conversation with the president of the United States.He implicitly described Britain as a country of Shakespeare ，Churchill ，the Beatles

8、， Sean Connery ， Harry Potter and David Beckham. His true meaning was that English never fell behind in history，literature ， arts and sports.His implicit while profound statement boosted the morale of British and broke themomentum of American.British culture is not afast-food culture ，and neither is

9、 the British humor.It lays emphasis on implication and realizes it through pun，absurd ， witty irony and self deprecation. British humor sometimes turns into another mode which is absurd and exaggerated. The main characters in this type of humor are usually nobody，not like the omnipotent heroes in Ho

10、llywood movies.These people have a lot character defects like selfishness ， jealousy ， paranoid ， cynic and irritating.The Mr. Bean series of films are typical of this type. In this play ，the main character Mr. Bean was a stupid man who aroused disorder everywhere.However ，in the meantime， he took v

11、arious crazy adventures and would finally save the day.He brushed his teeth in the supermarket to see if the toothbrush was suitable or not and then put it back.He dived naked into the swimming pool.Even though he dressed like a common middle-class man ， his behavior was absurd and exaggerated.Briti

12、sh people behave ridiculously to satirize social ills.The decline of country and the unfair phenomenon in society put high pressure on British people.They need this nonsensical humor to give full sway to inner feelings.Thatis why British humor needs to be absurd and exaggerated.British people are in

13、clined to control the expression of enthusiasm ， the burst of passion and the reveal of discomfort ， which leads to the frequent use of understatement.Understatement can produce satiric and humorous effects.For example ，in the sentence “He had five sandwiches and a quart of milk for his snack. ”The

14、speaker understates five sandwiches and a quart of milk as snack，which should be a pair of contradiction.This dramatically contributes to a satiric effect and drives us to laugh.In addition to understatement， Englishmen utilizecomplication as well.An episode in Three Men in a Boat is cited as a clas

15、sic example of complication. The leading character J diagnosed scarlet fever on the base of following process. For one moment， he could not feel hispulse.For another momen，t he felt the heart beating quickly. He pulled out his watch and timed it，counting it as ahundred and forty-seven to the minute.

16、 He patted himself form waist to head but heard nothing.He stuck his tongue out as far as ever it would go， and shut one eye，and tried to examine it with the other ， but could only see the tip.He felt certain about his scarlet fever on the base of this illogical course.The complicated detail descrip

17、tion demonstrated the anxious condition and ignorance of Jplicating simple things means the strengthening of emotions and emphasis of the statement. Understatement and complication are thought-provoking and both of them are important features of British humor.The tacticlanguage that British humor ap

18、plies employs four main techniques concluding four parts： satire ，self-deprecation ， understatement and figure of speech. Satire can be seen as a performing art， which aims atridiculing individuals ，events ， government or society for vices ， follies andshortcomings. Satire is the synonym ofhumor.It

19、makes use of satiric or aggressive words to shame the target ， forcing the readers to think deeply about the truth and the nature of things.Besidessatiric words ， italso employs repetition and exaggeration to achieve the goal.There is a funny description of Turkish ambassador from Mary，the first dau

20、ghter of Lord Grantham.“Hes rathera dandy. A funny little foreigner with a wide ， toothy grin and hair reeking of pomade.”Mary used these satiric wordsto tease a man that she had never met， creating an imagelike geek.Similar examples about satiric words are ubiquitous in Downton Abbey.In addition to

21、 satiric work， British also userepetition to emphasis and make ironic utterance.For instance ，Violet once complained about her daughter-in-law Cora that she had not gave birth to a boy.Cora said “Well ， I didn t. ” Then Violet repeated “ No， you did not. ” The repetition emphasized the fact that Cor

22、a didnt have ason ，which led to the transference of Lord Grantham sinheritance and caused a great pain to their family.Repetition strengthens the tone and the statement.Exaggeration is another essential method for satire.Once Mrs. Patmore asked Daisy to go for a drink，but Daisy delayed and did not c

23、ome back quickly， so Mrs.Patmore shouted at Daisy “I said you could go for a drink of water ，not a trip up the Nile. ”The time for a drink was exaggerated as the time for a long trip.The exaggeration demonstrated the anger of Mrs.Patmore as well as her acridness.Satire is the core of British humor.I

24、ts satiric，emphatic ， hyperbolic effects injure endless vigor toBritish humor. Self-deprecation is a unique and exclusive method for British to relieve their true feelings.Actually ，they mock themselves to pity themselves or laugh at others implicitly.Mary usually mocked herself for her hard-heart.W

25、hen her fianc dead ，she said she was sad because she was not as sad as she should at the funeral.When the Turkish ambassador dead because of her ， she said that s he didn t have a heart and that s why she didn t feel guilty.On the surface ， she was a callous and snobbish girl ，but in fact ， she was

26、just unwillingly to show her gentle and fragile heart.Self-deprecation is a way for her to numb herself and stay strong. Noble members and servants， regardless oftheir social class， all of them can convey British humorthrough self-deprecation. What behind the self-mockery maybe sorrow and maybe indi

27、gnation.Understatementis a figure of speech which applies lesser strength of expression than expected.It is often associated with British culture.Sometimes it is used for creating comic effect ， sometimes used for dealing with extreme situation. Lord Grantham and Lady Cora quarreled for the inherita

28、nce of the legacy.The scene was caught by their mother Violet ，who was dissatisfied with her American daughter-in-law. She joked that she hoped she do not hear sounds of a disagreement and New Yorker should call it discussion. A quarrel was weakened as disagreement or even discussion. The weakening

29、of the tone makes a comic effect.Old lady Violet was amused by watching them fighting and she made use of it to scoff at American.Other than making comic effects ， understatement is also used for coping with extreme situation. At the beginning of the drama，the news of Titanic disaster spread to Down

30、ton Abbey. Lord Grantham made a profound remark at this time.“Every mountain isunclimbable until someone climbs it， so every ship isunsinkable until it sinks.”Almost one thousand and fivehundred people dead in Titanic disaster.Lord Grantham just used unsinkable to describe a miraculous ship.However，

31、what beneath the calm voice was heavy heart.When things happened are too heavy to stand ， Englishmen tend to conceal their sorrow and create a relatively relaxing atmosphere.Englishmen do well in making a comparison ，especially through literary charters and historical figures.Thomas was supposed to

32、be promoted as the valet of Lord Grantham but the position unexpectedly taken by a crippled man，Bates.Thomas was not reconciled at all and regarded Bates as his rival.He complained to Obrien that he couldntbelieve that he had been passed over for Long John Silver.Thomas compared Bates to Long John S

33、ilver ，who was a fictional character in the novel Treasure Land written by Robert Louis Stevenson.Thomas insisted that Bates was a cunning and opportunistic villain just like the lame pirate Long John Silver.He used a literary character to show his dissatisfaction about Bates.Besides literary charac

34、ters ， Englishmen also makeu se of historical figures to conduct a comparison.For example ， William compared Thomas and Obrien to Guy Fawkes and his assistant who tried to bomb the capital and assassinated King James I but failed.When Thomas and Obrien talked in whispers，theyseemed to conspire something harmful.Thomas utilized this metaphor to satirize this scheming couple.Metaphor make the expression of British humor more vividparison also promotes the cultural connotati