Humor and values in selected Filipino newspaper comic strips

• Main Authors: Chu, Alexander T., De Chavez, Arlene L., Tan, Nancy Barbara T.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1992
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/16538
• Institution: De La Salle University

The aim of the study is to determine types of humor in selected Filipino newspaper comic strips. Nine titles of Filipino comic strips were subjected to content analysis. From a population of 1.296 comic strips over a period of six months (April to September, 1992), 216 strips were randomly selected as the sample which then reconstituted a month's issue. The unit of analysis is the comic strip. In the process of categorizing the comic strips into types of humor, social values were also investigated to determine whether or not such were protected therein. The study revealed that there were sixteen general types of humor, eight of which were more predominant in usage. Wit was the humor device found to be most utilized in the comic strips. The next was sardonic humor, followed by political satire, sarcasm, incongruity, irony, faux pes, anatomical imperfection, and others. From among the 216 comic strips in the sample, only 60 strips contained values, 27 of which came in the form of positive values and 33 in the form of disvalues. Of the values and disvalues found, dishonesty had the most in terms of frequency. It was followed by responsibility, negligence, and being judge mental--three of which share the same frequency. Honesty, adaptability, hope, and poor sportsmanship showed-up equally. They were then followed by respect, care fidelity, clean living, lack of individuality, and social climbing. Based on the analysis and interpretation of the data, the following conclusions can thus be made: (1) that Filipino newspaper comic strips do not fully utilize their capability to project social values (2) that newspaper comic strips are more concerned with the presentation of current events and social issues: (3) that although wit is the most predominant type of humor, it cannot be considered characterizeable of Filipino humor because it was found in only a quarter of the sample and (4) that the social values projected were mostly universal values and only a minority were Filipino values.