A laugh, as Julian Hanich points out in his chapter on the phenomenology of cinematic laughter, doesn’t have to come from finding something funny. It can, in fact, be a response expressing relief “in the sense of a feeling that something distressing is over” (196). Enter the jump scare. Or perhaps, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, enter Game Changer.
Dropout’s Game Changer, as is expressed in its introduction, is a “game show where the game changes every show.” Contestants take their places behind podiums and in front of cameras with no idea what they will be asked to do in order to earn points and win the game. In this instance, the game being played is Simon Says (or Sam Says, since it is named after its host). Players are told not to flinch just before a life-size mannequin is dropped from the ceiling. They flinch, obviously, and points are taken away accordingly.
The laughter from the players as well as from the audience is Hanich’s relief laughter about a distressing event being over and, in this case, realizing there was never any tangible danger. The audience is not expecting the body to fall any more than the players were, causing the type of laughter elicited from players and audience to be the same. For the audience, it is doubly surprising, as we watch this show expecting our laughter to be one of amusement (as defined by Hanich) and are instead momentarily shocked. There is also a hint of schadenfreude to our laughter after the fact of the body, as we are laughing not only at “the triumph of having overcome the distress” (197) but also at the fact that the contestants are now losing points for having a purely physiological reaction to an initially distressing sight.
The fact that Game Changer weaponizes relief laughter in this way is a testament to its creativity and mutability not only as a game show but as a comedic work. The episode moves seamlessly between modes of laughter in order to create something which makes us laugh because we recognize the game being played, because we are surprised or scared, and, at its core, because we are watching funny people react to unpredictable but ultimately lighthearted situations. Even when that involves being told not to swear and then watching a body fall from the rafters.
Works Cited:
Julian Hanich, “Chuckle, Chortle, Cackle: A Phenomenology of Cinematic Laughter,” The Audience Effect: On the Collective Cinema Experience (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017), 189-216.
Manel, “Sam Says ‘Don’t Flinch’ 3”, 0:30. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UDN9m9oPgc.