CINEMA, COMEDY, AND THE PSYCHE: EXPLORING LAUGHTER, IDENTIFICATION, AND EMOTIONAL REGULATION IN TAMIL CINEMA

International Journal of Computer Science (IJCS) Published by SK Research Group of Companies (SKRGC)

Abstract

Tamil cinema has long treated comedy not as a decorative addition to narrative but as a central mode through which spectators process anxiety, social conflict, moral contradiction, and emotional fatigue. Research on film psychology shows that comedy cinema can influence not only mood but also self-concept, sociability, and forms of self-affirmation, suggesting that laughter in film is tied to cognition and identity as much as to pleasure alone. Studies on humorous film viewing also argue that comic structures may activate dopamine- and endorphin-linked feelings of relief, curiosity, and relaxation, which helps explain why audiences repeatedly return to comic films during periods of stress. Building on these insights, this article examines Tamil cinema as a distinctive cultural field in which humor mediates between entertainment and psychological response. The article argues that Tamil film comedy operates through recognizable mechanisms of incongruity, superiority, relief, mimicry, satire, and character identification, and that these mechanisms shape emotional regulation in viewers while also reproducing or challenging social values. The discussion focuses on the historical evolution of comedy in Tamil cinema, the psychology of laughter, audience identification with comic bodies and voices, the use of humor to process fear and humiliation, and the changing role of comedy from the era of N. S. Krishnan to performers such as Goundamani, Senthil, Vadivelu, Vivek, Santhanam, Yogi Babu, and digitally circulating meme-comedy culture. The article proposes that Tamil comedy has worked as a psychological safety valve for audiences facing class pressure, family conflict, urban stress, and political cynicism, even while some comic traditions have depended on ridicule, stereotype, and symbolic aggression. In this sense, Tamil cinema comedy is psychologically double-edged: it can heal, release, and connect, yet it can also normalize social hierarchies through repetitive mockery. The article concludes that the study of Tamil comedy cinema should be positioned at the intersection of film studies, cultural studies, and psychology because laughter on screen is not merely an effect; it is a way of organizing spectatorship, feeling, and social meaning.

References

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Keywords

Tamil cinema, Film psychology, Goundamani, Senthil, Vadivelu