After reading the Klosterman text about the use of laughtracks in sitcoms since the '50s, I'll admit I can't help but agree with his central point. He claims that the use of laughtracks in sitcoms is as stupid as we get as Americans. They essentially re-wire the way we think by making us not have to worry about what is or is not funny by having it done for us. A point he made regarding the Germans and their lack of laughter stuck out especially to me. Klosterman said while in Germany he noticed how they don’t laugh unless genuinely amused, unlike Americans who’s laughter is purely conditioned. He would say 51% of our laughter has no relation to how we feel or the humor of the situation, but is just part of our dialect as filler, just like laughtracks. After considering this myself, I definitely notice this phenomenon in daily life during interactions with a number of different people. I’m guilty of this myself. “We mechanically laugh at everything, just to show that we know what’s supposed to be happening. We get the joke, even if there is no joke.” This direct quote best summarizes the point of the entire article to me. It really gets me to consider how much the media really does affect and change the values present in our lives.
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