The power of LOL
Life is strange. There we were last week, writing about the power of laughter and fun, when all hell broke lose in our beloved Brussels. What is the power of lol, when faced with horror as Belgium did on march 22? It might be the only answer we have.
Already in 1938, cultural theorist Johan Huizinga described how play is a sheer necessity in fostering culture and society. Yet humour and play are no longer considered a useless pastime. In fact, both qualities are increasingly deemed desirable, presumably more than ever, not just on a personal, but also on a societal level.
The attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January of 2015 made the whole world aware of the provocative potential of humour and propelled a discussion on censorship. The heatedness of this debate pointedly illustrated how deeply people appreciate and value humour as a means of freedom of speech. The reactions of fellow cartoonists and other people on social media emphasized the power and multiple functions of humour.
Since Charlie Hebdo, we saw humour as a weapon, a shield and psychological salve. Cartoons and memes are used as a means of expressing criticism about injustices, arrogance or hypocrisies that can’t socially be expressed otherwise. But as well as a coping mechanism and a natural stress-reducer. Remember #BrusselsLockdown? After the attacks in Paris in November 2015, an official request to the Belgian citizens not to disclose details about the police operation on social media, resulted in a national outbreak of pet pics.
As the world dealt with the news of the Brussels attacks on Tuesday, messages of solidarity, shock and sadness flooded social media.
French cartoonist Jean Plantureux, who goes by Plantu, drew an emotional cartoon for French newspaper Le Monde. A crying person draped in a French flag hugs a crying person with a Belgian flag, suggesting solidarity between the two countries. The dates beneath each figure signify the November 13 Paris attacks and the March 22 Brussels attacks. An image of famous cartoon figure Tintin, which hometown is Brussels, appeared with black, yellow and red tears rolling down his face.
Shortly after this first wave of shock however, some dots of humour started to leak into social media. A fuck-you in french fries (which happens to be a Belgian speciality) with the colours of the belgian flag in the background was shared over thousand times as a response of combativeness and resilience.
That’s because humour is a most powerful tool to digest sadness and shock. It’s a means to find comfort in a difficult and challenging world.
That’s why the internet is bulking with zillions of silly jokes, black humour, grumpy cats, funny not so funny memes, crazy gifs, strange websites, daring pranks, and useless fora. Lol is the answer to challenging times.
We happen to be working on a website dedicated to lolology and the art of fun, laughter and play. A website that we’re launching today, in celebration of April Fool’s Day. If you need a smile after the negativity of last weeks, have a look.
This blog is written by Trendwolves, a trend agency with a focus on youth and young family culture. We’ve dedicated a lot of our time to the role of humour in today’s society, which we share on https://trendreport.trendwolves.com
