Merry or scary? Santa's 'Ho ho ho' mirrors our own ambiguous relationship to laughter

By Anastasiya Fiadotava, Assistant professor, Institute of English studies, Jagiellonian University
Anna-Sophie Jürgens, Assistant Professor in Popular Entertainment Studies, Australian National University

Here it is again: the merry, festive Christmas season with its glitter balls, tinsel and the typical “Ho Ho Ho!” Holding onto his red belly, Santa grins and laughs at us from everywhere. Like Halloween pumpkins and clowns, Santa is one of our most popular cultural symbols associated with laughter. In fact, Father Christmas, clowns and demonic veggie visages have more in common than you might think! And our pop culture depictions of Santa’s laughter tell us a lot about the pitfalls and promises of humour, and the not obvious links between humour and laughter.

Santa’s laughter is often…

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