The Bright Side of Dark Humor

Abstract

This article examines the cultural significance of dark humor in Mexico through a historical-literary methodology that analyzes sources such as calaveras, political caricatures, popular traditions, and literary works to explore how laughter emerges from themes of death, violence, and social critique. Its primary objective is to demonstrate that dark humor, rather than being a gratuitous display of cruelty, serves as a symbolic mechanism to confront misfortune, challenge power structures, and expose social tensions through irony, paradox, and emotional detachment. The study outlines the scope of this humorous mode by tracing its evolution from Día de Muertos traditions and nineteenth-century journalism to authors such as Posada, Ibargüengoitia, and Rulfo, showing its capacity to dismantle solemnity, level distinctions between the powerful and the powerless, and offer catharsis in the face of existential threats. It also incorporates psychological perspectives from Freud and Grotjahn, who argue that laughter in tragic situations operates as emotional release and as an assertion of the self against external danger. Overall, the article argues that dark humor constitutes a space of transgression, resistance, and symbolic survival.