About Comedy Films
Our exam topic is based on Comedy films. Comedy is very individual and
subjective. Comedy is inherent, different audiences find different
things funny. Recently we had just seen a movie called, "There's
Something about Marry," starring Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller. This is
a prime example of a comedy film.
Comedy Films "make me laugh" - they elicit laughter from the audience.
Comedies are light-hearted dramas, designed to amuse and provoke
laughter. The comedy genre exaggerates the situation, the language,
action, and characters. Comedies observe the deficiencies, foibles,
and frustrations of life, providing merriment. Providing a momentary
escape from day-to-day life, they usually have happy endings, although
the humor may have a serious or pessimistic side.
There are many different kinds or forms of comedy, including:
The characters that generally play or act in comedy films are accident
prone men/women. An example of this is Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson). He
has had many television programmes series and films released, which
show us this. This particular comedy is called Slapstick. This is
comedy with broad, aggressive, physical action, including harmless or
painless cruelty and violence, horseplay, and sight gags, e.g., a
custard pie in the face, collapsing houses, a fall in the ocean, a
loss of trousers or skirts, runaway crashing cars, people chases, etc.
The term slapstick was taken from the wooden sticks that clowns
slapped together to promote audience applause. It was typical of
Laurel and Hardy.
Another type of comedy, sub genre is verbal comedy; this was
classically typified by the cruel verba...
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... divided into sub genres. Each with there own conventions. For example
funny things shall happen in a serious situation. The institutions of
a film, is basically all about who makes the film. What techniques do
they use to persuade audiences to see the film?
The point of a storyline is to make people laugh. It does not have to
be realistic. Comedy films exaggerate and perform silly acts to make
the film funny. To break the VERSIMILLITUDE actors are aware that they
are in a comedy film. They are not supposed to take comedy films
seriously. In some situations we would not be allowed to laugh in the
real world. In films we can break the society's rules. I feel that's
why people enjoy them so much. As we can laugh at other peoples
expenses and tragedies. The camera is telling you where to laugh at,
and what to laugh at.
Everyone says, everywhere you go, that everything is about sex. Wars and films were no different. The “screwball comedy” was a movie making style popular in the 1940’s. This style was created so filmmakers could put more risqué moments in their films while still abiding by the censorship laws. These movies were “sex comedies without the sex” (Andrew Sarria, film critic discussing screwball comedies). Stanley Kubrick used this idea to fuel a satire about the idealistic Cold War in 1964 to supposedly fight communism. Dr. Strangelove debunks the myth of American moral superiority through the constant sexual undertones and over masculinity throughout the film and instead portrays the Cold War as groups of testosterone fueled, sex driven men compensating for inferiority complexes.
Most of us have seen a movie that has made us almost cry from laughter. This is what comes to mind when we think of comedies. We are correct, comedies exist to entertain the audience. The film Nebraska does this, they engage their public. Nebraska captivates the viewers with its humor. The film makes the characters exaggerated and stereotypes to make it humorous. The soundtrack of the film is upbeat and cheerful to create a lighthearted atmosphere. Nebraska’s ending is happy enough to make the audience feel good about it. The film has enough elements of comedy to be considered a comedy film, yet it has enough drama to be consider a drama film.
Americans function in a normative society, where outliers are either considered dangerous or laughable. The patriarchal ideals upon which the United States was founded placed white heterosexual males at the top of the social ladder, but in so doing, all those who fall short of this specific condition are left struggling to climb toward normalcy. This ideal, however, is challenged by the blithely offensive, obsessive-compulsive main character of the film, As Good as it Gets. It is difficult to imagine an actor besides Jack Nicholson playing the part of Melvin Udall, whose neurotic behavior is a part of his particular brand of charm. Noted film critic, Roger Ebert, gave the film a three-star rating, stating that, “It is some kind of twisted tribute to Nicholson that he’s able to use this dialogue in what is, after all, a comedy.” Melvin casually insults everyone with whom he comes into contact, his interactions with people limited to remarks that are purposely hurtful and derogatory. But he gets away with it because that is the nature of American film comedy. Comedies allow audiences to laugh at what makes them uncomfortable, offering them a way to deal with recognizable social anxieties (Belton 164). Melvin exposes these anxieties with every jab and jibe he makes, each a commentary on the theme of race, class, sexuality, and gender.
This essay is going to discuss about racism in comedy and in addition to that it is also going to look at whether it is acceptable for comedians to use certain racial words for example when black comedians use the word “Nigger”. Also it is going to look at how different audience put up with this kind of material, but first of all it is going to look at the actual word itself and where in the blue marble that we call earth it originated from.
Movies are everywhere. They are a part of everyone’s life. Think about it, how many movies do you
Humor Humor is when an object or phrase is considered funny or hilarious. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, one of the definitions of humor is, “something that is or is designed to be comical or amusing.” What people find funny differs because there are so many types of humors that can be expressed in different ways. Humor will often lead to laughter, but some people may find a subject amusing while others may find it offensive. It can be making a racial slur or even a Yo Mama joke.
Before the civil rights movement could begin, a few courageous individuals had to guide the way. Dr. Vernon Johns was one of those individuals. Dr. Vernon Johns was a pastor and civil rights activist in the 1920s. Johns became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama in the late 1940s. During his time as a pastor, Johns preached many sermons on how African American people were being treated not only in the community but in society. Johns on multiple occasions upset his community through his ideas on social change. Through a sociologist perspective, many sociological concepts were displayed in The Vernon Johns Story. Some of those concepts included: ascribed status, conflict theory, deviant behavior, alienation, and
Like a contemporary Dorothy, Romancing the Stone's Joan Wilder must travel to Columbia and survive incredible adventures to learn that she had always been a capable and valuable person. Romancing the Stone (Robert Zemeckis, 1984) is part of a series of 1980s action comedies that disrupted previous expectations for female heroines. These female protagonists manage to subvert the standard action narrative and filmic gaze, learning to rescue themselves and to resist others' limited vision of them. Not only did these action comedies present strong female characters, they also offered a new filmic experience for female audiences. The commercial success of comic action heroines paved the way for women to appear in serious action roles--without the personal sacrifices required of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley. Figures like Joan Wilder serve as an important link between previous strong yet feminine screen personas and current female stars.
“If you’re a bird, then I’m a bird” (The Notebook). This quotation by Ryan Gosling in the popular movie The Notebook offers romance and comedy combined. Where did this mix of comedy and romance originate? Romantic comedies were developed through art, poetry, and literature. It has urbanized over the years from several cultural influences such as war and the Renaissance, which happened throughout Europe beginning in the fourteenth century and lasting into the seventeenth century (Spielvogel). There were many artistic influences throughout the history of the European Renaissance that have helped create and increased the need for romantic comedies.
‘Lad flicks’ or ‘lad movies’ is a type of film genre that emerged in the late 1990s. They are defined as a “‘hybrid of “buddy movies”, romantic comedies and “chick flicks”, which centre on the trials and tribulations of a young man as he grows up to become a ‘real man’. ‘Lad flicks’ respond in part to the much-debated ‘crisis in masculinity’” (Benjamin A. Brabon 116). This genre of film explored what it meant to be a ‘real man’ in the twentieth century and in order to do so, they would have to grow up and leave their juvenile ways behind to enter the heterosexual world. Gender relations in ‘lad flicks’ portray masculinity as a troubled, anxious cultural category hiding behind a humorous façade and also rely greatly on a knowing gaze and irony. The two ‘lad flicks’ that will be analyzed are The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Judd Apatow 2005) and Role Models (David Wain 2008).
The 80’s were probably the decade of the most popular and memorable movies. They are the kinds of movies that we now call “classic” and “original”. These movies have influenced the ones we watch today in many ways from movie techniques to sequels. They have kept us entertained from back in the day ‘till now.
We have all seen it done before, either in real life or in the movies. A situation is funny because of the misinterpretation of someone's actions or the complete conflict of what a situation seems to be and what it really is. People come into contact with sight gags all the time. One might be trying to be sneaky and hide something and then when someone looks, one pretends to be doing something else not to get caught. One could also pantomime using an umbrella as a baseball bat. These are both basic forms of sight gags.
When delineating between first and second generation American Independent cinema directors there is a fine line separating the two generations. This line usually lies somewhere in the early 80’s when the term ‘American Independent Cinema’ first began to emerge. Many other things that were pertinent to the American Independent Cinema movement also arose such as the emergence of video as a media form. There is a strong distinction in the change of dynamics between film school in the first and second generation of American Independent filmmakers as well. Reichardt exemplifies a strong relation to the second generation, executing these ideas in her films such as Wendy and Lucy and Old Joy.
Humor has been the source of entertainment throughout history. Today humor is practiced in movies, plays, songs, television shows and radio. Humor has brought fame and fortune to those who have mastered its power.
Why is the Film Industry one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the world? Simple. People like entertainment. Movies are entertainment. Movies are like books, only they're visual. People like seeing other people cast in roles, and playing out a story. Why not turn to plays instead, you ask? Movies give people the actors and the stories, along with background music, special effects, and overall satisfaction within a 2 hour period of time. Movies can also take you to a physical state that theatre can not. They take you to real physical locations instead of just a cardboard stages. It's the same reason people like television so much.