All Right Let's Do This One Last Time

As we watched  Sarcasm 101 by SNL in class this last week, I got to thinking about when sarcasm is funny, and when it crosses a line. There seems to be a couple of must-haves: 1 ) Everyone is in on the joke 2 ) There is one common target (preferably a dislikable or oblivious person) 3 ) The jokes stop when the target becomes pitiful  In the skit, the two targets were Kevin and Marissa (might have butchered that spelling but she's not a real person so it's okay). When Kevin (the one that constantly repeats jokes as if they will get funnier) is ridiculed, it's funny because he seems unaffected by it and there is a collective sense of impatience everyone shares towards him. Basically, everyone is in place where they feel safe to comment on how stupid they think Kevin is. Isn't that what humor is about? Saying everything that's on your mind and sharing that with other's in the form of irony and wittiness that shows nothing is ever THAT serious? Additionally, the...

     The short story memento follows a pattern: a reminder by the main character, Earl, to himself of his purpose, followed by a glimpse into a 10 minute frame of clarity in what seems to be his present life. However, the story ends with the incompletion of the pattern. It ends with ominous and ambiguous instructions that fail to clarify what the past or present is or whether his purpose has been fulfilled or not, and leaves the story open to a feeling of inadequacy. By structuring the story in this manner, author Jonathan Nolan succeeds in portraying the fractured mind of his character and presenting the broken fragments of his life in a way that fits together to form a puzzling yet intriguing story of the after effects of a neurological traumatic accident mixed with the sudden loss of a loved one. The repetition of the pattern parallels Earl's memory loss and the lack of clarity at the end of the story reflects the lack of fulfillment he experiences in his life after ne...