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Humor Tropes: Horrible Mother-In-Law (or In-Laws in general)

SteveJRogers Nov 29 2014 08:57 AM

Edgy MD on his mother-in-law's passing wrote: I hate all those comic strips and mid-century humor that portray your mother-in-law as a belittling tormentor in your life. Mine was awesome. Like most fictional tropes, obviously IRL is vastly different, even if the humor is tinged with a blending of truth. But I wonder where this trope got its beginnings. I'd wager its roots are an offshoot of the Irish/Italian/Jewish (seems like those three are the biggest ethnic humor for this kind of family storytelling humor) overbearing and guilt trip inducing parental figure humor, with a mixture of the prospective boy or girlfriend having to meet an over protective father/mother. Then again, the disapproving family of the romantic choices of a son/daughter has been a fictional trope going back centuries, so it being ripe for comedy has always been there. Of course, I think Edgy's comments are a bit strong. Like I said with the storytelling family dynamic humor of the three ethnic groups I've mentioned, while instances of the tropes are over-exaggerated for comedic (or dramatic in non comedic storytelling) affect, but often I'd wager there are far more instances of there being truisms in in-law relationship humor than say other over-exaggerated stereotypes used for humor.

d'Kong76 Nov 29 2014 09:58 AM Re: Humor Tropes: Horrible Mother-In-Law (or In-Laws in gene

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