Black Humour In Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events

“When I die, I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandad. Not like the screaming passengers in his car.”- Anonymous. Black humour is a genre of comedy that makes light of events that would typically treated with great solemnity, such as death. Many humorous pieces of media contain an example of black humour, and this is quite discernible. Some examples that feature black humour are Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, a picture, and a quotation by Robert Bloch.

Black humour is used very heavily in Lemony Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events film. Many examples of black humour are shown through the characters and events featured in the film. This is evident in the first section of the film, where Klaus tells Count Olaf that his parents are dead. Count Olaf then proceeds to dramatize his reaction, in the process making Klaus repeat the phrase. The audience are set to feel sympathy for the Orphans but at the same time are also set to feel amused at Count Olaf’s antics. Furthermore, there is evidence that this scene also uses situational irony. In saying that a child’s parents just died, the receiver of the news would be expected to be chastened, not filled with

It is making light of the implication that Robert Bloch has murdered a small child and is keeping their heart in a jar. The person clearly states that he has the murdered a boy and kept their heart, but is making light of it by saying “Despite my ghoulish reputation…” This clearly shows that the person saying this thinks that having the genuine heart of a child is a positive aspect of his self-admitted ghoulish reputation. This text also has an example of situational irony that is discernibly portrayed. One of the many social stereotypes expected of people is that murdering children and then keeping an organ as a keepsake is generally frowned upon. Therefore, this text portrays black humour and situational irony through effective use of