The Enforcement Function of Humor through the movie of To All the Boys I've Loved Before

    The existence of social norms is a very important aspect of why people experience humor. Throughout the world people are often intentionally and unintentionally breaking social norms. As they do so other people tend to laugh at them for it and as such there is a function of humor that focuses on the breaking of social norms. It is known as the Enforcement function of humor. Through this function people use humor to criticize those who break social norms. By criticizing others, they highlight that a social norm has been broken to then set the person who breaks them down the right path. Another thing about this function is that people can use humor as a way to test their existing social norms. However, what this function ultimately does is that it can divide people apart.

    To see this function of humor in action I have included the clip below from "To All the Boys I've Loved Before." The first two characters shown are Kitty and Lara Jean who are in a parking lot. When they prepare to leave Kitty puts on a helmet out of precaution for Lara Jean's driving. After this Lara Jean backs up the car and almost hits a character whose name is Peter. When this happens, Kitty uses the enforcement function of humor to laugh at Lara Jean. While laughing Kitty emphasizes that Lara Jean breaks the social norm of driving properly by criticizing Lara Jean's poor driving skills and by saying that this situation is why she is wearing a helmet. Aside from Kitty the clip also shows that Peter uses the enforcement function of humor. This occurs when he approaches Lara Jean's window since he slightly laughs and criticizes her when he says that she broke a social norm by not checking behind her before backing up the car. Then when Lara Jean tries to explain that she is still unfamiliar with using her mirrors Peter again laughs and criticizes her by saying that he can see that. In addition to this Peter also uses a criticizing tone when he asks Lara Jean if she thinks that she will be able to effectively leave. Then when Lara Jean tells him yes Peter again criticizes her by going along with her response and by telling Kitty to be in charge of the situation. In the end Kitty and Peter's use of the enforcement function of humor leaves Lara Jean feeling embarrassed since she has a frown on her face and because she decides to not leave until everyone else has left.

    What is overall seen in the clip is that people use the enforcement function of humor to laugh at people who break social norms but also to criticize them so that the social norms are not broken again. Aside from this the clip lastly shows how this function of humor can cause a division between people since Lara Jean showed that she was affected by the humorous comments Kitty and Peter made.