Motifs & Humor

The use of motifs in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and how the motifs are connected to the creation of humor in the radio play

“And what has happened to the Earth?” Arthur asks Ford after he had come to rescue him from it.”It’s been disintegrate! (…) It just boiled away into space.” “Look. I’m a bit upset about that.”By the use of the same frequently upcoming motifs in the “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” the basis for the creation of humor in the book is set. The characters in the story are put into unrealistic to unnormal situations, which we could not see ourselves in. The way they react to these situations is even more unfamiliar to us. This makes the science fiction radio play amusing.

Frequently upcoming motives of the “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” are the near to death situations. The way the character’s deal with the situation creates humor. The editors of the book often used understatements in their dialogues in which the characters sometimes show panic, but never fear. That Ford and Arthur survive every near to death situation they were in, make jokes about them, understate them and forget about them only seconds later seems funny to us and creates humour.

Additionally in the dialogues the world is always portrayed as something very unimportant, which has no real impact on the universe. “I wonder if Columbus had this trouble”- “Who?”-“Sorry,just an esoteric Earth reference. He discovered a continent which went on to cause a bit of trouble!” The importance of the earth is always understated. When it is mentioned in the dialogue it is always portrayed as something that is not very harmful and really does not matter… This stands in great contrast to our picture of the earth, since we live on it and we picture it as very important and very powerful. That in the story it is the opposite and has no power, gets taken over so easily and has no control over the universe seems amusing to us.

Also the depressed computer Marvin is used frequently. The answers he gives create humor since his miserable and unhappy mood is portrayed through everything he is saying. “But that sunset. I’ve never seen anything like it in my wildest dreams… the two suns… it was like mountains of fire boiling into space.”-“I’ve seen it. It’s rubbish” There is a strong contrast of mood between what he and the others (like in the example Arthur) are saying. This strong contrast portrays his funny behavior even more and contributes to the humor of the story.

But there are even more motifs that stated in these examples which show of quite often in the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy like: the time travel the frequently undergo, the ultimate question about universe and it’s answer 42, references to the Hitchhiker's Guide to The Universe, unrealistic situation, extraordinary life, help from HGTG, jump from unrealistic situation to non-realistic one, understatements about the desperate situations, unexpected twisted situations, coincidence and destiny and drinking. The figures are placed into these situations by the authors frequently since they are like in the examples either very unrealistic to us or create a high contrast. Through these awkward happenings humor is created in the radio play.