There is a belief that “all elements of human culture, including literature, may be understood as parts of a system of signs” called structuralism (Murfin 490). Structuralism can be seen in linking of different subjects through a commonality like in the form of alphabetical order, numerical order, and many more forms. However the signs in structuralism do not have to be so clean cut, but in fact it may be dirty, poop dirty.
Warning: There is a graphic image below and is not for the faint of heart.
When Dr. Beth McCoy asked the class to name some forms of structuralism, a student said, “The Dewey Decimal System”. Professor McCoy and I found the name Dewey, to be a funny name, yet neither of us understood why. I cannot explain for Dr. McCoy, but I can for myself and I believe that it is related to another class topic, scatology, the study of excretions. The name Dewey closely resembles another term, that is slightly immature, for excretions of the anus, “Doo Doo”. This made me realize that there is a link between scatology and humor at a subconscious level. There is a term that links scatology and humor, unsurprisingly scatological humor, and it can be subtle or very extreme.
South Park always creates the most extreme scenarios regarding social oddities, such as scatological humor. Season 11, episode 9 of U, titled “More Crap” is about Randy attempting and successfully breaking the world record for excreting the largest continuous piece of fecal matter. The picture below does not do the scene justice. The humor behind the picture below is that Randy’s fecal matter is so large that in the process of excretion, Randy gets lifted and spun. Some may understandably not find it funny, like Randy’s wife, but to some viewers that I have talked to before, it is hilarious.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/southpark/images/4/4e/MoreCrap23.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100307193552
There is an innate process in our minds to structuralize our world in subtle and extreme ways. Scatological humor is a structure that links excretions and humor. The link can be subtle like how I related Dewey to doo doo or as extreme and direct with Randy’s excretion. In both cases, there is humor due to the scatology involved. Structuralizing is an innate process and can be found even in the crappiest of things.
Murfin Ross, Ray Supryia M. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. Third Edition. Palgrave Macmillan. 2009.