Responding to Police Line Up
Welcome back, friends! The end is quickly approaching. But, for now, I have yet another response post for you all!
This week I will be responding to Rebecca's lead blog post. Rebecca used a clip from a TV show that she enjoys called Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The name does sound familiar to me, but I honestly have no clue as to the plot of the show. Here is the clip Rebecca referenced.
That is what makes the clip funny! Who would expect a singing detective, seemingly enjoying himself, in a situation such as this? I know I wouldn't!!
This week I will be responding to Rebecca's lead blog post. Rebecca used a clip from a TV show that she enjoys called Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The name does sound familiar to me, but I honestly have no clue as to the plot of the show. Here is the clip Rebecca referenced.
Rebecca addresses a lot of different topics revolving around the video in her blog post, but for this response post, I want to focus on the incongruity aspect.
More specifically, I want to discuss the incongruity between appropriate behavior in this situation vs. inappropriate behavior. In case you missed it, this situation is a police line up.
This woman is trying to identify who killed her brother. She is trying to identify a murderer who has personally affected her and her family in deep and terrible ways. This is far from a pleasant situation! Her reaction, in this situation, would be the expected. After all, isn't that how you would react in her situation? It is how I would react, I feel sure.
Then, you have the police detective. In this situation, he is a professional. You would likely expect, in this situation, for the woman to be struggling with her emotions, given what she has been through (though she does keep herself extremely well-composed), and you would expect the detective to act, well, like a professional! You would expect him to maintain a very composed and serious disposition, right? But that couldn't be farther from what happens.
He starts singing! He starts hooping and hollering! He really gets into the music in a very amusing way. But how unprofessional! And thus we find the incongruity.
That is what makes the clip funny! Who would expect a singing detective, seemingly enjoying himself, in a situation such as this? I know I wouldn't!!
Until next time,
Cops being goofy is a classic trope in comedy policy shows. Do you think this pushes it to a slightly darker area by linking in murder? Or is this standard police humor?
ReplyDeleteI agree that the incongruity theory was a big part in this clip! I think another incongruity in this clip could be the reaction of the women trying to find who murdered her brother. Instead of getting upset at the cop she remains calm and unfazed about his behavior and the suspects singing a song from the backstreet boys. In a normal situation maybe that person would call the cop out on their inappropriate behavior? What do you think?
ReplyDelete