Wednesday, June 9, 2010


Refuse To Laugh?

The exhibit had been publicized for months.  Now on this winter afternoon, its galleries were jammed with visitors eager to see this once in a lifetime collection of masterpieces.  There were the regulars, the ones who visit the same day each week to commune with those paintings they consider old friends.  There were the groups of school children, pushing and pointing their way through the lines, their surprising lack of commentary a happy result of black eyed threats from their teachers.  There were the art students standing back with their sketchpads. The stiletto shod ladies lost in deep admiration, their sleekly coiffed heads cocked to one side.

For so many people pressed so closely together, the room was remarkably quiet, the great works obviously doing what they always do best, bestowing wonder and awe on those who looked upon them.   I wandered around at the back of the crowd until I finally came to the The Scream, the very famous work by Edvard Munch.  A moving depiction of searing anxiety, it is the artist’s portrait of a fearful world, shown through the silent scream of one man.  An image both raw and disturbing.  
 Standing right in front of the canvas was a man holding hands with his son, who looked to be about seven.  Both of them clad in khaki shorts, they stood there silently sipping Cokes through a straw, immobile and staring at the painting before them.  Suddenly the father slapped his forehead and said in a thunderous whisper, “Home Alone!  That’s what this reminds me of!  I knew I’d get it!”.  The son nodded enthusiastically in recognition of the reference and they both moved away with satisfied grins on their faces, leaving me with the unfortunately indelible image of the precocious child actor, Macauley Culkin, with his hands on either side of his face, from a movie poster once ubiquitous and one I would rather forget.  
And it was one of those laughs that arrive without warning, unbidden and usually occurring in a most unwanted locale.  I clamped my gloved hand over my mouth in an attempt to contain it and hurriedly slipped from the room.  Leaning against a wall in the corridor I laughed till my eyes watered and my side ached. 
 I still chuckle, even now, at that memory. 
 Let’s face it - life is so often just funny.

However, in the Sunday edition of The Guardian newspaper, I now read that the peals of laughter I had on that day may have instead been discordant bells ringing out the end of my youthful appearance.  For, in an interview with anti-aging guru, Dr. Neetu Nirdosh, I learn not only that aging is a “disease” in her opinion, but my hopelessly chronic habit of laughing is giving me wrinkles.  To quote Dr. Nirdosh’s assessment of her interviewer’s face...”You laugh a lot, and that’s why you are getting wrinkles.  All repetitive movements give you wrinkles.  You have to change the way you move your face, otherwise you will age faster”

Really now, isn’t laughter the only appropriate response to such a statement? 
Refuse to laugh?
I’d much prefer the wrinkles, thanks.




Painting above entitled:  Touch and Go, To Laugh or No
By Sophie Anderson

39 comments:

  1. Hahahahahahaha etc..great way to start my day..Love the painting too:))

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a hoot. Laughter lines? Who cares.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great analogy, Pamela.... I think that it's wonderful, what different people 'get' from a painting. As long as art gets people talking, it doesn't really matter.....no doubt, Munch would have something to say about their comment !!!! XXXX

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh dear! I must be incredibly wrinkled then! I refuse to give up laughing, it is one of lifes joyous gifts, and I am a serial giggler! Bring on those wrinkles! Suzie xxx

    ReplyDelete
  5. ...Yes, but not laughing wrinkles the soul.

    laugh, giggle and smirk away!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Actually I think comparing the two images would make a lively discussion in a course on popular culture.

    I remember hearing that frowning gave you wrinkles. I'd rather have the laughing kind too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. can you imagine a world of perfectly clear faces and no laughter...surely that would be hell!!!....i love the story of the scream, confess i never put those together..but... i love that film too!!! xx

    ReplyDelete
  8. Cute story. Yes, life certainly needs a sense of humor.

    (I thought of you when I read the wonderful article in the June/July issue of "Garden & Gun" on Athens, GA.)

    ReplyDelete
  9. The Scream will never be quite the same. LOL Great painting.

    Keep laughing- it's good medicine.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I wonder, Does giggling cause lines too?
    I so enjoy your posts they create a brand new world for me!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hello P&E,
    I suppose, so long as people "get" something from a work of art, one should be glad. As for laughter, it makes you live longer. Reason enough to tolerate the wrinkles!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ha, she obviously did not realise that frowning gives one many more and definitely more unsightly wrinkles.
    How boring it would be to be confronted with a lot of faces like Cher.
    It is so wonderful to laugh at the unexpectedly ridiculous.

    ReplyDelete
  13. The ability to find the humor in life is one of the things that keeps us sane. Trade that in for a smooth face???? The price is waaay too high!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I just laughed out loud. One more wrinkle, coming up!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Come get me, wrinkles! I'll take the laughter anytime! :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I hope I'm 90 years old... walking with a lovely walking stick with a tree spirit carved into it and so full of wrinkles that everyone knows I must have laughed my way through life....!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh no! Now I'm going to think of Culkin whenever I see "The Scream"!

    I think the mistresses of the Sun King, Louis XIV, specialised in not moving their faces in order to prevent wrinkles.
    Suspect I must have grown up having a positive riot, which appears to have continued up to this day...

    ReplyDelete
  18. I would have commented sooner, but, you see, I was laughing for hours, home alone, of all things.

    ReplyDelete
  19. LOL! Thanks for a laugh first thing in the morning, Pamela! That's me set up for the day. What' that you say? I'll give myself wrinkles? Then bring them on! :-D

    ReplyDelete
  20. Who cares about a few wrinkles when all that serotonin is being released.
    I love the analogy, that is what art is all about.
    XX

    ReplyDelete
  21. Not laugh?? never!! Bring on the wrinkles. I love the comparison of the two and your description of your experience in the museum. It is true..so many people and you can hear a pin drop. You have me thinking now...it is time for another trip into the city!!!

    jeanne:)

    ReplyDelete
  22. I can remember as a boy interminable arguments as to whether or not Christ had a sense of humour. It's as hilarious as that.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Who cares about wrinkles anyway - I think they are just personality lines and I welcome them,

    ReplyDelete
  24. This post is priceless! Wrinkle schminkles! Real laughter also stirs up our endorphins...and I love having those in my system!
    Wasn't The Scream stolen a couple of years ago? Did they ever find it? Somebody call Lovejoy!
    Hugs to Edward! What a luv!

    ReplyDelete
  25. I hope I will be remembered for my ability to smile and laugh not by how many wrinkles I have or don't have. I like your way of thinking, xv.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Laughter creates good wrinkles, I'm sure of it.
    I teach art, so I'm always interested when somebody makes the connection between pop culture phenomena (Home Alone) and art (Munch's "The Scream"). Why not. The center of the Sistine- where God gives life to Adam) looks a lot like a scene from ET (fingers touching): I love it.

    ReplyDelete
  27. This is very funny indeed because I am so familiar with the art & the movie!! It's true!

    Karena
    Art by Karena

    ReplyDelete
  28. Poor Dr. Nirdosh. I bet her face is unlined but she has had a boring life and wants to make life boring for others..haha...as if it matters how many wrinkles you have.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Someone once told me that I should stop whistling in the office (a few years back now) because it would give me wrinkles... I just laughed and whistled and laughed and whistled until my face ached. I want my body to reflect my life: full of energy, fun and experience :-) Great post!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Lovely blog. Such eye candy!
    And lines? As an artist, we are told to squint to get the values correct. Ouch. I have plenty of lines without that.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I enjoyed how you started with the description of the audience. I felt part of the scene and their reactions said so much about the artwork itself. That was a funny connection between art and pop culture.

    I’m all for laugh wrinkles. Besides, I heard that laughter lowers blood pressure and reduces anxiety. We shall get the last laugh.

    ReplyDelete
  32. "With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come." Shakespeare.
    Ironic...my stitchery block I give for free on my website was this quote this month. I'll take the wrinkles and the laughter. A life well lived in my book. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  33. Laughter lines are the loveliest lines there are.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Oh, let's just laugh together!
    Some discoveries are quite useless!
    Forever young is not on my wishlist!

    If Munch had only know to what his art inspires...he would have screamed!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Even existential horror can get the Hollywood treatment, apparently. I would much rather have laughter lines than a pillow face! I went to a lovely facialist once, and she told me that she when she sees sun damage/laughter lines she feels happy that the person has had a nice life.

    ReplyDelete
  36. I'm laughing...oh, oh.
    You are so right Pamela. That is the silliest thing I've heard in some time.

    ReplyDelete
  37. oh yes, wrinkles every time ;-) now i shall go about looking at the smooth faces of some and wonder!!

    ReplyDelete

I love to read your comments! Each and every one! Though I'm always reading your comments, I may not respond in the comment section. If you want to write me directly, you may do so at pamela@pamelaterry.net. Thank you for reading!