Response to Lead Blog Post #7

I am really glad Abby's Lead Blog is about The Good Place. Having always seen commercials for it, I believed that it was a feel-good drama about different people. Having now read that it is actually a comedy about people in hell, I was taken aback. I was intrigued to read the rest of Abby's blog and see what The Good Place is about and why it is so funny. While the concept of an Immortal being trying to torture people by having them drive each other insane seems very dark, the way Abby explains the reality of the situation is actually quite lighthearted and shows instances of relief humor. The one scene Abby writes about with Jason was very funny. The fact that Jason goes from freaking out about being in hell to freaking out about not being able to order off the kids' menu is absurd to me. I had to do a double take while looking at the picture on Abby's blog. That scene is not only a great example of incongruity theory but also relief theory. It is a good example of incongruity theory because it associates being in hell with not being able to order off the kids menu, which is far from what most people associate hell with. It is a good example of relief theory because while most people are upset with being in hell, Jason, in turn, is more upset with being too old to order off the kids' menu. Another thing I find funny and interesting is the concept of Janet, a female robot. Janet's design of having no human emotions and common sense is a great subject of relief theory, as she does not know what is the right thing to say at times. This is shown as a benign violation at points too, with the Christopher Columbus example. The Good Place seems like an extremely funny and interesting show, and I hope to watch more of it soon.