She was on the stage. Watched by the world – well, at least a live audience. And then suddenly in the middle of a dramatic sequence in her performance, she stumbled and had a nasty fall.
Within hours, she became a social media trend – not that this was Madge’s first time. But the opinion was largely polarised. Some supported the singer’s resilience, some empathised, some were shocked; while some laughed.
Although Madonna, a woman in her fifties was in agony following the fall, she still continued her performance. The YouTube video of her fall, by Hollywood Life has had 2 million views since it happened.
This is not the first time someone falling has had such viral views.
YouTube ‘Epic Fails’, Wipeout Show and Takeshi’s Castle
Anyone familiar with YouTube slang will know that there is a sub genre on the website called Epic Fails. A video of beautiful, well heeled models stumbling on the ramp has close to 15 million views on YouTube.
The ‘falling’ highlight of the US show Wipeout, produced by Endemol USA is another hit – it has given the show seven seasons, multiple awards for best ‘Kid’s Choice Awards - Reality Series’ for three years, and 40 international editions, one being Indian, anchored by none less than Shahrukh Khan - Zor Ka Jhatka: Total Wipeout by NDTV Imagine.
Most kids will also know of Takeshi’s Castle, a show on Pogo TV, which again gives us the guilty pleasure of watching people fall – along with commentary by Javed Jaffrey, who takes hilarious pot shots at the plight of the ‘fallers’.
So, what is the psychology behind it all? Why can’t we stop ourselves from laughing when someone ‘falls’? A few pointers make it clearer:
They Are Unexpected
Falls are differing in the normal narrative of life, in that they are unexpected, says http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ask-the-brains-why-do-we-laugh/The Scientific American.
The ‘Fallen’ Doesn’t Get Hurt
A fall is funny if first, someone loses balance. Second, no one gets hurt. This is proposed by the benign violation theory.
Who Falls Is Important
It won’t be funny if your grandmother falls – it has to happen to someone you don’t know. The more proximate a relationship, the less funny it gets. We also derive sadistic pleasure from those who can ‘take it’. So if your younger brother stumbles, by all means, crack up.
We Laugh At Careless Behaviour, Because We’re Glad It Wasn’t Us
The philosopher Henri Bergson is of the opinion that we learn to laugh at careless behaviour – in this case falling – as it makes us more conscious of the rules of society, a study in Cambridge University pointed out. Nobody likes being laughed at during a fall, and while we laugh at other Humpty Dumptys’ great falls, we secretly thank God it wasn’t us.