Gulshan Singh Gill

Jonathan Lim

R. Adithya

Shayne Tan

Essential elements of Black Comedy

Brief historyTheories Black Comedy

embracesSkitExplanation for skitThree questions and class

discussion

Setting is usually in a conflicted and absurd society, set in a grave or serious situation

Contains grave themes such as War and Death Involves charactersAudience is detached from humanity due to light-

hearted toneEmbracement of

RationalityShows realistic

negative depiction of humanity

“In dark days, dark comedy prevails”More prevalent in 1950s to 1960s Post-modernism Post-modernism = detached from

emotion/traditional moralityBlack Comedy, the comedy of our age

Has its traces in Shakespeare’s problem plays e.g. MOV, Measure for Measure (comic tragedies)

Nowadays used to refer to more sinister and grave plots

Henri Bergson (Light Comic Theorist)

and

James Feibleman (Dark Comic Theorist)

Light Comic Theory

- “the mechanical encrusted upon the

living”

- Rationality at odds with Human Reality

- Idea of Emotional Detachment

- Comic Character’s lack of self-awareness

Dark Comic Theory (Feibleman)

- Evidence of our broken world, ‘Death of God’

philosophy:

“it focuses on the material world in order to expose the

contradictions within it, to unmask the masquerade of

impotence as fate”

- Rebellion against our absurd nature

- Seeks refuge into a perfect logical order from real life

uncertainties

Superiority Theory

- Detached audience feel

superiority over illogical

human characters

- Due to their escape from the

human world

Incongruity Theory (Deadpan Humour)

- Light tone contrasts with dark message

- Incongruity between style and substance causes

laughter

Nature of Issues: Grave, sinister,

controversial

Setting: Absurd Society

Style / Tone: Grim, Satirical

Characters: Unhealthy state of mind

Type of Humour: Deadpan violence

Purpose: Confronts the unglamorous

truth

of the society

Classical Comedy and Black

Comedy

- Classic Comedy deals with manners

- Black Comedy deals with ethics

But Black Comedy is more universal

- deals more with ethics (grave

issues, human concerns)

Tragedy and Black Comedy

- Tragedy also deals with ethicsHowever, Tragedy is restful

- Empathy evoked for Tragic

Hero

- Tragic hero pit against

supernatural

- “Masquerade of Impotence as

Fate”

- Triumph of Human Spirit

Black Comedy rejects this reassurance

- No empathy for character of Black Comedy

- No need to blame his fall on the supernatural

- Acknowledge human flaws

- “Unmasks the Masquerade of Impotence as Fate”

- “While Tragedy seeks the Good, Comedy seeks the True”

– James Feibleman

Black Comedy enables us to understand the flaws of the human characters. However, considering we the audience are emotionally detached from them, (as seen in our excerpt and popular works like Dr. Strangelove) how feasible is it to apply this understanding to ourselves? Consequently, does Black Comedy aid in realization of our own flaws?

Do Black Comedies always have to be resolved with entire Human destruction in order to fulfill their purpose of reflecting a poor Human Condition? Could they instead end with the tragedy of an individual or with no ultimate plot progress as well, returning to the initial situation?

While Black Comedy shows negative sides of humanity in terms of our morality and judgment, it also enables us to escape from our flawed selves. Thus, does Black Comedy depress or liberate?