There is no place where people burst out laughing so frequently and in so many diverse ways at the same time as at the movies. Often, this diversity is overlooked. Laughter in cinemas signifies, usually, that something is funny. However, does aggressive, degrading, confirmatory, smart-alecky, embarrassed, irritated, cheerfully infectious or shocked laughter not sound through the darkness of the hall as well? Laughter in cinema is not a monolithic block of stones, but it is a  gemstone, which shines and glows in many colors. Even if this iridescent colorfulness is hard to keep hold of and constantly shifting - the following twelve forms of laughter in cinema are particularly striking.

The ICoFF-Blog will be introducing one form of laughter each week over the coming months.

The alienating effect of liberating laughter is also passive and random to a large extent. In contrast to the eruptive laughter about something funny, it is a reaction of relief after a sudden, irruptive aspect of the film, which is perceived as bodily importuned and unpleasantly intrusive by the spectator. This includes: the powerful terrifying moment of shock, which pesters the spectator with unexpected suddenness; the horrendous violence or monstrosity that is showed to the spectator quite plainly at once; or the surprisingly realistic depiction of something disgusting that we cannot deal with. Thereby, laughter is an opportunity for relief, because it is a reaction of the body which is directed out- and forwards and therefore creates reflationary freedom for the body which has been cornered and pressured backwards.

Next week: The nervous laugh

Dr. Julian Hanich, born in 1975 in Munich, is a scientific assistant at the cluster of excellence »Languages of Emotion« at Freie Universität Berlin. He studied and doctorated in Berlin, Berkeley, Los Angeles and Amsterdam. Julian Hanich is a film critic at the Tagesspiegel and writes as guest author for the International Comedy Film Festival Blog about laughter and cinema.