SEMIOTICA ȘI FIZICA GAGULUI
The Semiotics and Physics of Gags

Summary/Abstract: Gags are cultural events endowed with strong logical structures, a logic that is emancipated by the pragmatic constraints dictated by the prevailing rules of the cultural context. Clowns often perform parodies of classical plays, operas and ballets, rendering them in condensed and simplified forms without much respect for the original versions. Revered symbols of refined culture are mocked; famous characters and easily recognisable scenes are interpreted in a grotesque way. Breaking cultural taboos through visual metaphors generates effective gags at the edge of psychological and moral acceptability. There are obviously also forms of cultural resistance. In general, the stronger the similarities, the greater the resistance to associating a cultural model with its parodic form. Gags have always accompanied the long tradition of slapstick comedy. Their brutality and frivolity became over time the triggering factors of a process of renewal of clown culture, by detaching from traditional schemes and by focusing attention towards a strong form of self-irony. Gags manufactured and tested in public must deliver surprise information. When their development is predictable, the gags fail and create boredom. Usually, a happy balance between story and gag is not achieved immediately, but involves a process where errors intervene, the clowns monitoring the audience's responses and adjusting their actions on the fly.

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