This paper analyzes the media characteristics of jokes based on McLuhan’s media theory. If we think of jokes as merely humor, wit, or funny words, it is difficult for us to discover their hidden system, and we will be constantly affected by their power. Such hidden system can be discovered only when it is analyzed at a certain distance from the system. In this context, this paper identifies jokes as a form of media and reveals the hidden system of jokes by analyzing their media characteristics. Obviously, this is a discussion completely different from that of determining whether a joke is funny or not.
The hidden system of jokes is their media characteristic. Of the media characteristics that can be found in jokes, one of the most important things is their ‘message.’ Jokes can verbalize informal contexts in the formal contexts we experience. In this case, the formal context is usually expressed in everyday language, while the informal context can be expressed as a joke.
The communicative skills―distinct from everyday language―gained through the capacity to express the informal context of one’s experience is the message of a joke. However, as modern society increasingly places importance on emotions based on communication and recognition, jokes have a new message. That is the ‘intimacy’ that the joke-speaker and the joke-listener can achieve by acknowledging the other’s informal context.
The reason that acquiring intimacy can be a message of jokes is that intimacy can be a resource that helps us achieve normal happiness in our private sphere. Therefore, this paper briefly mentions the use of jokes and the necessary follow-up studies. This is because, as long as jokes function as a capital related to acquiring intimacy in modern society, depending on their use, they may have a positive or negative effect on an individual’s life.
Therefore, this study―which has analyzed the media characteristics of jokes, including the message of jokes―can be a theoretical foundation that can serve as reference for making joke-related programs as well as analyzing jokes in the future.