Domestic and Foreign Comedies

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Recommended: Humor as cultural knowledge

Title g Domestic and Foreign Comedies

The most successful movies worldwide are comedies. Comedies are able to bring together many cultures together and have them agree on one thing – and that it being entertained. In the United States, comedy developed from the early slapstick, into screwball comedies, to dark comedies and finally social satires. Foreign films take everyday societal problems, or quirks and makes them into brilliant comedic performances. The quirkier the characters, there will a more favorable response from the audience. Characters much like the Sprezzatura, are popular with audiences of any culture. However, sometimes these foreign comedies do not translate over to the typical Hollywood audience. Many times, the United States tries to create the same success that movies have overseas, domestically. By recreating famous foreign films for United States audiences, success comes over art, and fails to connect with audiences. Comedy comes in many types and forms, but there is one thing that they all have in common and that is making audiences laugh, no matter what language it is in.

The birth of comedy in film came from various elements found in silent films, where the acting was anything but subtle. Since these films had no dialogue to act off of, the actors relied on overacting, or their physical abilities, to portray the hilarity of the script. Anything from slapstick, visual to physical comedy was perfected by a few well-known figures during the time. The General was an original film portraying the Civil War in a different light, in a comedic light. Considered to be one of the greatest actors by the late Orson Welles, Buster Keaton brought a different type of acting style to the silent film genre. A veteran ...

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... very successful in America. Films can help different cultures learn about each other, and comedy can bring those cultures together.

Work Cited

Austerlitz, Saul. Another Fine Mess: a History of American Film Comedy. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review, 2010. Print.

Farrell, Alan. High Cheekbones, Pouty Lips, Tight Jeans: Purple Prose from a Black Room : Film Reviews from the Pages of the Advocate. United States: S.n., 2007. Print.

King, Geoff. Film Comedy. London: Wallflower, 2006. Print.

McLaren, Carrie, and Jason Torchinsky. Ad Nauseam: a Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture. New York: Faber and Faber, 2009. Print.

Milton, Joyce. Tramp: the Life of Charlie Chaplin. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. Print. Rogers, Pauline B. Contemporary Cinematographers on Their Art. Boston: Focal, 1998. Print.

Wood, Mary Patricia. Italian Cinema. Oxford: Berg, 2005. Print.

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