TY - JOUR PY - 1998// TI - Humor as camouflage of televised violence JO - Journal of communication A1 - Potter, W. James A1 - Warren, Ron SP - 40 EP - 57 VL - 48 IS - 2 N2 - What is it about the portrayal of violence in comedy programs that provides cues to viewers that television violence is trivial or even nonexistent in that type of show? In this study we develop and test four content-based explanations for this phenomenon. The findings suggest that the rate of violence (especially verbal forms) is very high on comedy programs, but that the rate is largely due to high numbers of acts among the relatively minor forms of violence. Also, the context of the portrayals trivializes the violence.

LA - SN - 0021-9916 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1998.tb02747.x ID - ref1 ER -