Last revision date:
January 4, 2008
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Types of Drama / Plays: Comedy
"Komos" -- Greek -- revelry at end of comedies based
on some deviation from normality in action, character, thought, or speech
"in fun" (tho' can still have serious purpose)
Henri Bergson "On Laughter." -- "anesthesia of the heart" --audiences
view objectively -- the banana peel fall is funny, as long as it is not us
and if not hurt (cartoons).
Aristotle's book of comedy, if there was one ever, is not extant.
In tragedy, people are better than they really are; in comedy, people are
worse that they really are.
Often: if a happy ending, therefore a comedy. A kind of catharsis
through laughter and amusement -- helps remind us of our frailties and helps
keep us sane.
Characteristics of comedy -- a way of looking at the world
in which basic values are asserted but natural laws suspended -- to underscore
human follies and foolishness -- sometimes wry, rueful, hilarious.
puns
malapropisms--LINK to malaprop page --misusing wrong words in such a
way that they sound similar but usually are strikingly different from
the word intended.
The Rugrats, for example, use a number of malapropisms:
Angelica said once that there was a "whole world to deplore"
out there (the best are like this--the word sounds similar but means
something strikingly different).
Justin Wilson, the "cajun cook," was famous for
his malapropisms: he called himself "a half-bleed cajun" who
"granulated high school."
(Wilson, pp. 204-205, has some nice examples).
epigrams
(or go here)
incongruity between the way characters see themselves or pretend
to be, as opposed to the way they really are
lot complications -- especially in farce
mistaken identities -- Comedy of Errors, The School
for Scandal
Shakespeare -- uses comedy in tragedy and tragedy in comedy and
different kinds of comedies --difficult to categorize.{Top of Page}
Kinds of Comedy: "High" and "Low"
1. Farce: often considered a separate form (Plautus,
Charley's Aunt).
often considered to be "low comedy" (versus "high comedy").
physical comedy : "slapstick" -- physical action provokes the
thought.
Very high incongruity (surprise, something out of place or unexpected).
Comedy of situation, but extreme incongruity -- buffoonery,
accidents, mistaken identities, ludicrous situations.
[H., P., & L: "the average human being as an undeserving,
universal victim of circumstance..."]
Often stylized:
"aside" (Sometimes referred to as breaking
the proscenium or breaking the fourth wall, the term refers to a speech
or comment made by an actor directly to the audience about the action of
the play or another character. The audience is to understand that this comment
is not heard or noticed by the other characters in the play -- from "Glossary
of Theatrical Terms," http://www.ebicom.net/~tct/glossary.htm.)
"take" (broad look at the audience and/or
another character[s] in surprise, astonishment, disgust, etc.)
"mugging" (obviously playing to the audience,
usually with broad facial expressions and movements)
2. Burlesques-- lampooning other works of art, including
theatre pieces.
3. Satire -- ridicule of public institutions and
figures.
4. Domestic Comedy --home and hearth.
5. Comedy of Manners / Wit: similar to character
and situation aristocratic and witty characters .
6. Comedy of Ideas
Additional forms not mentioned in Wilson and Goldfarb:
a. Comedy of situation:
character and ideas are minor hidden identities, discoveries, reversals,
etc. similar to farce, but less unrealistic
b. Comedy of character: eccentricities of the protagonist (Molière)
c. Romantic comedy struggles of love, sympathetic characters,
ludicrous devices lovers use (Shakespeare's Midsummer, 12th Night)
Restoration Drama (School for Scandal)
Concept or thought is essential.
Shaw (prostitution, English class system), Aristophanes (Birds,
Lysistrata) {Top of Page}
Ladder of Comedy:
| "Pure Comedy" --"High Comedy" |
Satire -- biting humor -- criticism of life |
| [Sporre, 100] highly complex, embracing a wide range of approaches--from
intellectual wit to slapstick |
Incongruity -- surprise, out of place |
| |
Verbal Wit |
|
"Low Comedy"
|
Plot devices -- misunderstandings, mistaken identities |
|
comedy that depends on action and situation, usually involving trivial
theme [Sporre, 100]
in all farce
|
inopportune arrivals |
| |
embarrassing occurrences |
Lightness of touch --
elements of story can be serious, but most is funny, or humor
plays a significant part.
{Top of Page}
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Last revision date:
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