After reading the Wipers Times articles I thought it was kind of funny that there was so much comedy in the articles. These articles range from a variety of things like classifieds, responses to letters, and poetry. I thought that the use of comedy of some of these articles was a good way to lighten up the mood of citizens during the war. I liked the article or part of the paper that is titled "People We Take Our Hats Off Too". The first thing they take their hats off too is the person who re-introduced the sale of whisky in Pop. The following are soldiers that they take their hats off too. This light humor is a way to make the reader laugh even in a time of war. It makes it better because the reader is not just reading about the horrors of war.
The classifieds advertise a large quantity of second-hand furniture that is slightly damaged. You just imagine a couch full of bullet holes on sale. The advertisement for building a house on Hill 60 where that battle of Ypres was fought around. Using a battle as a way to promote property. It is like what we do to political leaders now and aspects of government decisions. We find a way to make bad decisions or bad events humorous, to a certain extent. We do not say much or create much humor about the soldiers fighting in the Middle East. I think it was almost necessary for these articles during WWI because the war was in their backyard and not on some foreign land. Citizens were experiencing battle everyday and the effects of it. We do not experience this everyday because the war is not being fought in our backyards. The humor in some of these articles and classifieds was necessary for the normal citizens to help deal with the horrors of war.
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I think laughter is a very powerful medicine, and in a way I bet it helps soldiers (then and now) keep their heads on straight when the world is spinning in a seemingly out-of-control manner. I feel like a lot of times when people are put in to such high stress, do-or-die areas your options are 1) break down mentally and emotionally or 2) find a way to laugh about it.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably why the onion is so popular now. They find a way to take subjects (even controversial ones) and make them funny.
I think you are exactly right that the Wipers Times offered soldiers a sense of black humor to help them cope with the stresses of the war. It was a way for soldiers to communicate with each other and to express their concerns about the war, their own mortality and the terrible situation they found themselves in.
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