All of Western civilization needs to lighten up. These are the findings of "Laughology," a Canadian television documentary that takes laughter, um, seriously.
A more accurate title for the DVD would be "How Albert Got His Laugh Back," as the framing device here is filmmaker and self-described "serious journalist" Albert Nerenberg's quest to laugh again after a family tragedy. To start, Nerenberg poses an interesting question: How do babies learn to laugh if they don't hear it at home?
Cue neuroscientist Robert Provine, who argues that laughter far predates and is in fact unrelated to humor. His argument that laughter is part of how mammals bond socially gets a fascinating test as we see caged and agitated shelter dogs calm down when played a tape of dog "laughter."
A cardiologist then confirms what we all know: High stress constricts human blood vessels, and laughter relaxes them, which is why people under pressure sometimes just lose it in giggles. (Footage of a TV newsroom cracking up during an Iraq war broadcast is rather alarming in that respect.)
One of the film's most poignant moments comes as Nerenberg interviews a group of "professional laughers" hired for sitcom audiences — who've now been rendered useless by reality TV. "The whole time I was working I was never depressed," says one. "Now I'm on antidepressants."
Nerenberg covers a lot of ground in his 66-minute "Quest for Laughter," so it isn't surprising that the result is maddeningly scattershot. There's enough fodder here for several docs: A "laughing disease" epidemic swept Tanzania in 1962, and it turns out it never really died out. An Indian physician named Dr. Kataria, who calls himself "The Laughing Yogi," has stayed happy even after the 2008 Mumbai terrorist bombings (which occurred during Nerenberg's visit).
Kataria makes an intriguing case that "excessive seriousness" is a stress-related disorder, one Western medicine hasn't accepted yet. His solution: "If you laugh, you change. When you change, the whole world changes around you."
Written by Express contributor Paul Stelter. Reprinted from HERE.
Photo courtesy Disinformation Company
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