*Content warning: mentions of suicide
Freud believes that melancholy thinkers are able to achieve a level of self-awareness that can result in humor, or rather, laughing at oneself. According to Simon Critchley, “…the melancholic has deeper self-knowledge than other people…” (98). He discusses how the splitting of the ego allows for the melancholic to speak about himself as if it were someone else, and is thus able to self-deprecate. Critchley remarks that “The narcissistic splitting of the ego does not only produce the alternating pathologies of melancholia and mania…but also produces humor – dark, sardonic, wicked humor” (101). This reminded me of the character of uncle Frank in the film Little Miss Sunshine. Frank is mentally ill (certainly melancholic) and has attempted suicide. In a darkly comedic scene, Frank’s young niece, Olive, asks him why he wanted to commit suicide.
Frank answers that it was because the man he loved loved someone else, and Olive says that it was “silly” for him to have fallen in love with a man. Instead of being angry or offended, sad or scolding, Frank instead concurs that it “was silly, it was very, very silly”. Frank clearly acknowledges the irony of his situation – one such ironic twist of fate being that the second most respected Proust scholar was chosen both romantically and scholarly over him, the first – and responds with dark, sardonic humor. When Rich asks Frank who the first most respected Proust scholar is, Frank doesn’t miss a beat and responds drily, “that would be me, Rich” with a raise of the eyebrows – as if to say, isn’t it ridiculous how cruel and sad my situation is? He sarcastically underplays how devastated he was by saying understatements such as “I was a little upset”. This humor may be lost on Olive, but works for the adult viewer of the film.
Critchley writes: “Humor has the same formal structure as depression, but it is an anti-depressant that works by the ego finding itself ridiculous” (101). This fits in with Freud’s belief that those who are melancholic are better disposed to this sort of humor. Perhaps dry humor is Frank’s only way of coping with the twisted tragedy that had just unfolded in his life. He invites the audience (and his family) to see how sad and despondent he is, by using humor. It may not be the type of humor to which you laugh out loud, but Frank’s witty responses to the questions being posed at him instead of rage or despair show how his introspectiveness lends itself to dark humor.
I really like your point about how Frank’s humor mirror’s Freud’s idea of melancholy. It also reminded me of Crichley’s comments about super-ego acting as a parental figure to ego, and how that aligns with Frank acting as a parental figure to Olive in this scene.
Some really cool points here, I’ve always loved Frank’s frankness and honesty (pun definitely intended) when approaching such difficult concepts, even to younger audiences like Olive. It makes for a really amusing watch.
The absurdity of the Olive asking Rich about his suicide attempt is very funny simply because of the lack of normal conventions observed in this conversation. In a considerate adult version of a conversation like this, it would not be addressed so openly. In this scenario, that is not an issue because Olive is not old enough to have learned these conventions yet.
The example of Frank’s dry, self-aware responses really captures the idea that humor can be a coping mechanism, turning melancholy and sadness into something reflective, even if it is a more internal comic relief.