COMEDY

WHAT IS COMEDY?
• Comedy is a type of genre in the film industry that does not include
any rules and regulations. This mainly relates to how one might find
something super funny whereas someone else might find it cringy or
lame and not funny at all. The concept of comedy is almost only
visible to the viewer that is paying attention to it. If you try to analyse
too much into it, the woke culture kills the comedy. This is what also
makes comedy a really difficult genre to portray as you have to keep
in mind what is funny and what is not to the mass audience. Why do
we laugh at something? There is no simple answer to this, but this
genre captures these tiny moments which will leave us with
memories. This is also often an occurrence when it is relevant to the
reality with a sense of humour in it.
Why comedy is my chosen genre?
• In the society that we live in today, This is great as it moves the audience and
provides an opportunity to choose any genre of our choice without any form of
restrictions. This is why I chose this genre. While researching, I acknowledged
how comedy is classified to be one of the best rated genres within the film
industry. This is because comedy tends to be one of the top rated genres too
within the film industry. This is because comedy tends to bring humor as its all
about the endless counts of laughter you experience while watching the film. This
automatically makes it amusing for the audience, classifying this genre to be the
main catch for entertainment. Generally speaking in most comedies, we mainly
see that they involve actors in all of the films. This is purposefully done for the
audience to find the actor or actresses funny. This is an aspect which can be
either make or break the scene based on how it is portrayed. Comparing it to
another genre like horror, this is vastly different as while viewing a famous actor,
there are feelings they don’t die. This is also the reason why comedy mostly does
not make a lot of sense if viewed critically .
• During earlier times Comedy films were mostly mimes since there
was not much development for various sound effects. It is more
widely known as a visual sense of humour.
• The first sub genre of comedy was slapstick comedy.
• The first comedy created starred Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and
Harold Lloyd during the mime comedy era who later remained as
well-known comedians to this day.
• Mickey Mouse, Oswald the lucky Rabbit are a few examples of
animated comedy series from early 1900s.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMEDY GENRE INTO WHAT IT IS TODAY
• Comedy started off as a separate genre but later merged to form the
famous sub-genre romantic comedy or better known as rom-com.
• Some of the most famous examples of rom-com include The
Bridesmaids and When Harry Met Sally – which was even remade into
a Bollywood film recently by a similar name of When Harry met Sejal.
• This genre also successfully elevated the role of the minority
committees like the Asian committee which were widely enjoyed due
to the massively exaggerated situations.
MORE ABOUT THE DIFFERENT GENRES OF COMEDY:
• Slapstick Comedy includes a lot of physical activity. This usually
exceeds the boundaries of the other sub-genres of this comedy. From
where this humor comes from.
• The Three Stooges is an excellent example of this kind of comedy as it
relies mainly towards its visual elements. As a result of this, the
original type of slapstick movies did not even include any sounds.
• The second type of comedy was fish-out-of-water. We usually witness
the main character in an unusual environment, which drives most of
the humour. Metaphorically, the saying means when an individual is
outside their natural environment. An excellent example would be
The Coen Brothers
• The third type is Parodies. They are the ones that involve making fun
of other film genres or stereotyping the classic films. Instead of the
original content, they tend to employ sarcasm, stereotyping, mockery
of scenes from other films and viral people to make it more
entertaining for audience members to watch.
• The anarchic comedy film is a random type of humour which
generally comes through a form of authority. Historically, this genre
came from the silent era. The most famous examples of this type of
film would be Monty Python.
• Black Comedy is when it is nor ordinary, usually considered as taboo
subjects like death, murder, sexual relationships, suicide, war all in a
satirical manner.
• Gross comedy came to the industry much later through the years. It is
just what it seems like when it relies heavily on vulgar humour, which
may be disturbing, sexual or even downright inappropriate. An
example of this would be American Pie.
• Romantic comedy involves relationships, mainly between a man and a
woman which historically keeps changing as time progresses. The
stereotyped plot line follows the sequence. This type of comedy is
reliant on social interactions and sexual tensions between the lovers.
An example would be Pretty Woman.
• Action Comedy is one of the most common types of blended comedic
genres as it is in between humour and action as film starts tend to
combine wit and one- liners with a thrilling plot and daring stunts.
These type of films are often buddy films, with mismatched partners
such as in Midnight Run (1988).
• Another popular theme would be comedy horror. This usually
involves dark themes linked in with humorous approach. There are
different types however as some are much more subtle and don’t
parody horror as much. Another style of comedy horror would rely on
over the top violence and gore.
How does comedy appeal to an audience member?
• I is not surprising that over the years, comedy still happens to be the
top 5th best genres since 1920 to today. Laughter creates a positive
emotional connection towards the film. As movies were born to
entertain people, so do TV serials and series. Their primary job is to
entertainment. People have so many thing to be tensed about their
business, some about marriage, love, studies, some about science
experiments, innovation or even career. There are so many reasons
for people to be anxious about and worry for, hence the aspect of
comedy relaxes them and make them feel better and lighter. A smile
is always better than a crying face.
STUART HALL’S THEORY
This theory states that when producers or directors construct text with
a hidden meaning or message, an audience would have a reaction
which can be.
Dominant, or Preferred Reading – how the producer wants the
audience to view the media text. Audience members will take this
position if the messages are clear.
Oppositional reading – when the audience rejects the preferred
reading, and creates their own meaning for the text. Oppositional
reading can also occur if the audience member has different beliefs or
of a different age or culture.
Negotiated reading – a compromise between the dominant and
oppositional readings where the audience accepts parts of the
producer’s views, but has their own views on certain parts as well.
THE END