Comedy
Presented by Kamila Radzvilavičiūtė & Ula Ryliškytė PINf 20/2
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Comedy
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The comedy genre covers any work in film or television whose general purpose is to create
humor and intentional laughs for the audience.
Comedies usually feature pratfalls, wordplay, uncomfortable situations.
It has its origins in ancient Greek plays and oral tradition.
History of comedy
In the early days of comedy, technology was extremely limited.
Therefore, comedy was silent, in black and white and typically
focused on visual humor.
Slapstick style was the most popular in all comedies.
Silent comedies focused on visual and physical humour
including “sigh gags”.
Evolution of comedy
1930-50s
One of the first new styles that
emerged with talkie films was the
screwball comedy. These escapist
films offered patrons relief from
the Great Depression and the grim
realities of poverty and
hardships.
1960-70s
With the end of World War II
in the 1940s, the world saw
an emergence of sophisticated
comedies as well as European
comedies. These comedies used
satire, word play, and wit to
engage the audience. However,
these films had to compete
heavily with the increased
popularity of television
sitcoms.
1980-90s
The rise of SNL on television
airwaves created a flood of new
comedians that moved into the film
market. These comedic geniuses,
and their witty one liners won
over audiences of all ages.
Popular comedies about younger
generation.
Famous comedies were realesed.
21st Century Comedy
With Generation Z came a shift
in the comedy film demographic
to raunchy, gross-out, R-rated
comedies .
This sentury uses obsene and
vulgar jokes in situations to
stund the crowd.
Future of Comedy
In the second decade of the 21st century, the
share of tickets sold for romantic comedies
has gone down to less than 1 percent,
according to The Numbers data.
However, slapstick, raunchy, and gross-out
comedies have maintained a steady following
according to the top 25 comedy movies: 2010-
2016 from IMDB.
Types of comedy
1. Black Comedy
Perhaps the most sophisticated
form of comedy, black comedy
depends on making an audience
uncomfortable and drawing laughter
from taboo subjects such as
murder, sex, religion, politics,
anything that has been taboo in
exploring on film.
2. Burlesque
Burlesque owes its roots to early
night clubs where the humor was sexual
and risqué. Mae West films would be an
example of early burlesque films,
which began losing their appeal by the
mid-thirties when a strict moral code
was adapted to cinema. It is the least
produced of the sub-genres of comedy.
3. Romantic Comedy
Romantic comedy is focusing on
lighthearted, humorous plot lines, such
as how true love is able to surmount
most obstacles.
In a typical romantic comedy two lovers
are tend to be young and seemingly
meant for each other, but they are kept
apart by some complicated
circumstances.
4. Satire
Defined as the intelligent
use of words and wit,
working best with the common
man lashing out at corporate
or government power. Usually
satire can walk hand in hand
with black comedy or
political comedy.
5. Slapstick
This form of comedy depends on
the physical pain and
humiliation of a character for
laughs.
This form attracts children at
a very young age.
The violence in the films
usually are cartoon quality.
6. Political Comedy
Political satire is satire that
specializes in gaining
entertainment from politics; it
has also been used with
subversive intent where
political speech and dissent are
forbidden by a regime, as a
method of advancing political
arguments where such arguments
are expressly forbidden.
7. Screwball Comedy
Screwball comedy is dependent
on improbable characters.
Other elements of the
screwball comedy include
escapist themes, physical
battle of the sexes, disguise
and masquerade, and plot lines
involving courtship and
marriage.Screwball comedies
often depict social classes in
conflict.
8. Musical Comedy
Musical comedy is a type of play or film
that has singing and dancing as part of
the story and that is humorous and
entertaining.
9. Parody
Though parody films made an
appearance during the silent era,
their reign truly began in the
seventies. Although the subgenre is
often overlooked by critics, parody
films are commonly profitable at
the box office.
Conclusion
Comedy is one of the most watched genre of
films nowadays.
It has plenty of subgenres that is why
comedy is so popular - people always have
many options.
Through the ages it has massively improved
and these days we can see such films as
modern ones with more details, special
effects and ect.
