Is it comedy?

604 Words2 Pages

In Jonathan Miles’ comedy novel “Dear American Airlines”, first published in 2008 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a man finds himself stuck in the Chicago O’hare airport on the way to his daughter’s wedding. Miles delivers the narrative of his novel in a very clever way by writing a long drawn out complaint letter requesting a refund for his airfare in the name of his character, and addressing the recipient as “Dear American Airlines” (using “dear” as both a term of endearment and as a form of address in many instances). However, as the letter progresses it quickly turns into a dramatic recollection of the main character’s life story, which is presented more so as a romantic tragedy than a comedy. For this reason, I didn’t find the book very funny at it’s core, and would like to make the argument that it is a mistake to classify it as a comedy novel.
Let me prefix this claim by elaborating on my position. I’m not saying that the book doesn’t have any humor to it at all, what I am saying is that its comedy feels very modular in its nature (something added); it wasn’t represented in the...

Show More
Related

  • An Analysis Of Langston Hughes And How I Got Smart

    1217 Words  | 3 Pages

    What makes a piece of writing humourus? In “ How I got Smart” by Steve Brody and in “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, both use literary devices to tell a story from a younger perspective. Although they both use figurative language in a humourous way, Brody’s story is silly and has a happy ending and Hughes’s story is somewhat sad and does not end happily thus making Brody’s story overall funnier.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Techniques Used by Michael Moore and Niccoló Machiavelli

    1014 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...dness but comedy was used as an emotion. When Michael was going to make a "citizens arrest" at the banks, there was comedy there, sort of like sarcasm which is known to sway a person's thoughts if it is funnier in the sense. The whole movie really shows a lot of emotions and tries to persuade our thoughts on the government with it.

    Read More

  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail

    1230 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the movie, the three main types of comedy I recognized were farce, parody, and satire. Farce is comedy designed to provoke the audience into simple, hearty laughter and often uses highly exaggerated or caricatured character types and puts them into improbable and ludicrous situations. It also makes use of broad verbal humor and physical horseplay. Some examples of farce in the movie are:

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Steve Almond's Funny Is The New Deep

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    Steve Almond’s “Funny is the New Deep” talks of the role that comedy has in our current society, and most certainly, it plays a huge role here. Namely, through what Almond [Aristotle?] calls the “comic impulse”, we as a people can speak of topics that would otherwise make many of uncomfortable. Almond deems the comic impulse as the most surefire way to keep heavy situations from becoming too foreboding. The comic impulse itself stems from our ability and unconscious need to defend and thus contend with the feeling of tragedy. As such, instead of rather forcing out humor, he implies that humor is something that is not consciously forced out from an author, but instead is more of a subconscious entity, coming out on its own. Almond emphasizes

    Read More

  • Theme Of Humor In Slaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut

    1558 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although sometimes uneasy, “in preventing us from enjoying his war novel in the usual way, the very unsettling nature of the ensuing work does far greater justice to the subject matter and enables us to see the permanent, lasting evil of war with a greater degree of clarity and to respond with more sensitivity to it than we would otherwise have been able to do” (Matheson 230). Without the use of humor, things become much more real. Without the humor aspect of Slaughterhouse- Five, it would be difficult to read and the message would be buried beneath depressing accounts. It would be missing the details from the outrageous stories, the abrasive somewhat comical emotion, or irony of how we are so much alike. The novel or Vonnegut would not be the same without it’s black humor. “So it goes”. (Vonnegut

    Read More

  • Glenn Duncan's Use of Milton's Satan

    1802 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mandel, Oscar. "What's so funny? : The Nature of the Comic." Antioch Review. 30.1 (1970): 73-89. Print.

    Read More

  • Madness and Absyrdity in Catch-22

    1451 Words  | 3 Pages

    Green, Daniel. "A World Worth Laughing At: Catch-22 and the Humor of Black Humor." Studies

    Read More

  • Why The Ending of Jez Buttersworth's Jerusalem Disqualifies it as a Comedy

    1589 Words  | 4 Pages

    According to Aristotle, “Comedy can be any colloquy or performance generally intended to amuse or stimulate laughter”. In modern times, comedy can be found in different forms, such as television, movies, theatres and stand-up comedy.

    Read More

  • Humor In Romeo And Juliet By J. K. Rowling

    801 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many literature pieces are written to inform or entertain readers, but there is often humor found in them. Something can be considered humorous if some laugh at it. In Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, Sampson bites his thumb at Abram. To bite one’s thumb is equivalent to flipping someone off, so this situation may appear funny to one person while offensive to another. The British novelist J.K. Rowling often uses humor to draw away the reader from the drastic turmoil Harry Potter faces. In one of her many novels, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the students are practicing

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Rappoport

    1135 Words  | 3 Pages

    Psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists study humor because it is a fundamental culture value, but they still can’t determine why certain things make some people laugh and others not. There are “humor quotient” tests that are designed to measure an individual’s sense of humor, but these tests are questionable. These tests aren’t accurate because almost all humor depends on cultural background knowledge and language skills. Not every person in the whole world, or even in one country share the same background knowledge and skills, therefore they cannot have the same type of humor. “The fact remains that individuals vary in their appreciation of humor” (Rappoport 9). Since humor varies from individual to individual, humor lies in the individual. How successful or funny a joke is depends on how the person receives the joke, humor cannot be measured by a statistical

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of Sir Toby Belch in Shakespeare´s Twelfth Night

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    Comedy is by far the most influential factor in deciding whether or not a story is

    Read More

  • Humor In Alexander Weinstein's Saying Goodbye To Yang

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    Humor is more than just amusing entertainment to pass the time. Though jokes and witty banter can be shallow, humor can go deeper than surface level to convey messages to audiences who would otherwise be close-minded about certain ideas. Humor is a great tool to get audiences to change the way they think, feel, and act. In “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” Alexander Weinstein uses humor to criticize some of society’s faults such as the way it has become heavily reliant on technology, racially insensitive, and judgmental.

    Read More

  • Dark Comedy Analysis

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    Delicatessen tells the story of a post-apocalyptic world where many people are starving and are forced to take extreme measures to survive. The film fallows a group of people living in an apartment building run by the butcher who owns it. To survive this group of people have resulted to cannibalism. The dark subject matter in the film may prevent some viewers from appreciating the comedy hidden within; however, it is also what gives this film a unique feel and make the comedic elements have a greater impact on most viewers. Dark Comedies demonstrate the importance of balancing humor and seriousness in order provide a truly enjoyable film.

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between Humor and Culture: Emma Jameson

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    Similar to many other lively pleasures, humor can only be experienced if it resonates with a person. Without some kind of comprehension, there cannot be any type of reaction. Only once an outlandish statement, inappropriate remark, or unexpected situation, is remotely understood will a person be able to label it comical or sober. Since there are billions of people worldwide with their own languages including it’s respective idioms, euphemisms, the age old saying of “there is truth in every joke” applies to each culture individually.

    Read More

  • Essay About Comedy

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    If there is one way to bring a smile to someone’s face, it is laughter. Funny jokes, comical stunts, sarcasm- Every person is different when it comes to what makes them laugh. Some find dry humor comical. Others think sarcasm or joke-filled ranting are the best. ‘Comedy’ is such a broad term, broad enough to allow everyone to find something they find comical. In fact, ‘comedy’ includes a specific type of drama, one where the protagonist is joyful and happy endings are expected. Comedy is like a drug; it allows you to escape reality. When we say the word ‘comedy’ in the present, we are generally referring to a type of performance which provides humor. However, in its broadest sense, comedy has only one purpose: comedy makes people smile and

    Read More

More about Is it comedy?

Open Document