At the end of Disney's "Aladdin" (1992), the evil Jafar, the hero of our hero in love, discovers Aladdin's secret identity and steals his magic lamp. Jafar's wish to become the most powerful magician in the world is quickly realized, and then he uses his powerful magic to deny Aladdin to the ends of the earth. Then a close-up of Ja'far, leaning forward and holding his grip with a brutal look on his face, then explodes in uncontrollable chants that echo in the scene. It's a genuine evil laugh.
These public displays of joy in the miseries of others are found in children's movies around the world, and many of the thriller and horror movies for adults also. Remember, for example, the thrill of the movie "Predator" (1987) when he was about to blow himself up, taking actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Or the terrifying Jack Nicholson laugh in The Shining (1980). Or the crazy wary of Mario whenever Mario is defeated in the game.
A recent article by Jens Kildegard Christiansen in the popular culture magazine questions the psychological explanation behind this wicked laugh. Kjildgard Christiansen is a researcher at Aarhus University in Denmark and is qualified to provide an answer after using evolutionary psychology in the past to explain the behaviors of heroes and villains in literature more generally.
There are degrees of evil and inferiority, the most dangerous and most despicable are those who are not only beneficiaries and cheaters, but sadists
In this work, he argued that one of the basic qualities that a villain must show is the low rate of "social benefit sharing"; villains are beneficiaries who cheat and steal, take from their community while not contributing anything. Such behavior is undesirable for societies today, but it would have been a greater catastrophe in prehistoric times when the survival of the group itself depended on the contribution of each individual. As a result, Kildegard Kristiansen argues that we are instinctively disgusted by cheating users, to the extent that we can feel that being removed from the group, or even killed, is justified.
But there are degrees of evil and inferiority, and the most dangerous and most despicable are those who are not only profiteers and cheats, but sadistic sadists who engage in savage acts for pure pleasure. Certainly, previous studies have shown that those who conform to this description are those who consider them truly evil (since there is no other way to explain or express their morals) and thus deserve the harshest punishments. Kildegard Christiansen says decisively that the wicked laugh is one of the clearest signs that the villain is such an evil. Arthur Schopenhauer has the "frank and overt enjoyment" of the suffering of others, as the book of literature knows this sense in advance, To identify the most evil characters.
Part of the power of the wicked laugh comes from its clarity; Kildegard Christiansen says that it is very intense on the visual and vocal level (as in Jafar's scene), and its slow, sequential rhythm can have a profound effect. In addition, laughter is difficult to falsify. The real, involuntary laughter depends on the rapid fluctuation of the internal larynx muscles, movements that seem to be difficult to do without our own will. As a result, they are generally a reliable social sign of a person's reaction to an event, which means that we have full confidence in what we hear. Unlike dialogue, even the genre in children's movies, sadistic or malicious laughter does not leave room for ambiguity, leaving no doubt about the real motives of the villain.
The chills are such a laugh especially because they contradict the usual social function of laughter; the way they spontaneously arise during chats, for example, strengthens social ties. There are also practical reasons for the giddy laughs in children's animation and the first video games, as explained by Gildegard Christiansen. Preliminary sketches of the oldest Super Mario or Kung Fu games in Nintendo games meant that it was very difficult to provoke a passionate reaction, With a sinister laugh that helped create a kind of moral conflict between good and evil, which prompted the player to wear the mantle of the hero and confront the bad guys. "This is the only communicative profile that these hypocritical opponents and unclear pixels carry, and they are doing the job," he says.
There is a limit to the use of evil laughter in storytelling; however, as Gildegard Christiansen admits that her power will be devastating to more complex storytelling, because showing the enjoyment of others will prevent viewers from looking for more precise motives or the role of context and circumstances behind personal behavior. But for clear-cut stories, either white or black, such as those aimed at young viewers who have yet to develop a precise understanding of the world, their excitement will be second to none.
The article by Gildegard Christiansen is certainly one of the most interesting research in a long time, and his psychological theories are still stimulating to think. It will be interesting to see more experimental research on this subject, such as comparing the vocal characteristics of the laughter, for example, to learn the most evil laughs. But in my opinion, Jafar's laugh will always be the best.
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Translated by Sarah El Masry
This report is translated by: Aeon and does not necessarily reflect the location of Medan.