Humor in U.S. films as perceived by the Puerto Rican ESL spectator.

摘要

This dissertation applies the verbal theories of humor and Constructional Analysis to film scenes to explore the challenges the Puerto Rican English-as-a-second-language (ESL) spectator contends with when processing non-native humor. The analysis focuses on three categories of aggressive-type humor interactions (violent, immoral, witty) found in the following U.S. films: GoodFellas, The Wolf of Wall Street, August: Osage County, Fargo, Being John Malkovich, Burn after Reading, Annie Hall, Hannah and her Sisters, and Inglourious Basterds. Field-dependent and field-independent (FD/FI) styles were chosen to show the variability of humor comprehension among Puerto Rican ESL spectators.;Three scientific fields: linguistics, psychology, and cognitivism are used as the theoretical framework to analyze aggressive-type humor. The linguistic approach describes the semantic incongruity of the joke. The psychoanalytic approach explains the beliefs of superiority in the aggressive character, as well as the reward of impulse gratification in the spectator who enjoys the pleasurable effect of aggressive humor. The cognitivist approach addresses the shifting perceptions (voyeur, visceral, vicarious) of the spectator regarding feelings of distanciation, empathy or sympathy toward the characters.;It is hypothesized that positive transfer from the first (L1) to the second language (L2) and that explicit manifestations of violence facilitate Puerto Rican ESL spectators' processing of humor. An important variable that is gauged is the Spanish subtitles that sometimes benefit but mostly disrupt successful humor comprehension.;The findings indicate that films in the violent category direct spectatorial focus on the superior character. This motivates a voyeur's eye or disengaged feelings toward the inferior character. Films in the immoral category direct a visceral spectatorial focus on the victim, as empathetic feelings are shared with the target of the attack. Difficulties in ESL humor appreciation and more negative transfers are noted in the witty category, where scenes emphasize sophisticated dialogue and manifestations of violence are not explicit.;This dissertation contributes to film-linguistic science or film semiotics and serves as a theoretical methodology that may be used to test ESL spectatorial perceptions of humor in future studies.