The Pragmatics of Cringe-Humor on the Screen and on Digital Media

This international conference about the pragmatics of cringe-humor on the screen and on digital media will investigate the impact of this type of humor on the audience. If cringe-humor is meant to "enhance rapport" with the audience, how can we account for its physical manifestations ("inward shiver" Schwanebeck 2015, 108; "intense visceral reaction" Dahl 2018, 19; "shudder and discomfort" Schwind 2015, 67; "from psychic unease to real physical pain" Duncan 2017, 37)? If, alternatively, cringe-humor is meant to aggravate rapport with the audience, how can we account for its success? This conference welcomes papers discussing the pragmatics of cringe-humor on the screen (in films, TV series, sitcoms, stand-up comedies etc.) and on digital media (in audiovisual, textual or multimodal forms).