Conceptualising the Punch Line: An Analysis of Humorous Webcomic Stories with the Help of Blending Theory

Abstract

Although research on humour carried out from a cognitive standpoint is well-established, it has mainly contributed to the study of single-framed cartoons. This paper goes further and offers a cognitive multimodal analysis of so-called webcomics, i.e. sequences of multiple cartoon frames published on the Internet. In general, the analysis makes use of Fauconnier and Turner’s (2002) Blending Theory and Groensteen’s (2007) semiotic approach to comics. These insights equip us with new tools for analysis, enabling us to find out where the punch lines and incongruities reside, as well as explaining how we are able to conceptualize them.