Comedies & the Comedic Ladder

Much Ado about Nothing Unit

Answer the following questions.1. What is your definition of comedy?2. What makes you laugh?3. Why is it funny?4. What are some funny things you have heard, seen, watched lately?5. What is the purpose of comedy?6. Is there anything we should not make fun of? Why?

“Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.”

--Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Roots of Comedy

Greeks and Romans—plays with happy endings Satyr plays (obscene) Aristotle’s pattern

Low/base characters Seeks insignificant aims: thwarted love, eccentric behavior, corruption in

high places fueled by misunderstanding, mistakes in identity, errors in judgment

Elements of supernatural All end happily

Similar plots to tragedy

The Comedic Ladder

The Bottom Rung: Low Comedy

Animalistic Dirty jokes, dirty gestures, sex, elimination (fart jokes) Exaggeration with focus on physical Slapstick, pratfalls, loud noises, physical mishaps, collisionsThe Three Stooges

Farce

Man is Fate’s puppet Coincidences, mistimings, mistaken identities Everyone gets a happy ending Bringing Up Baby

Comedy of Manners

Focus on the amorous intrigues of the upper class or popular clique vs. those of the lower class, outsiders, “wannabes”

Emphasis on language: puns, malapropisms, paradoxes, witticisms, clever speeches, insults, word play

Individuals are destroyed through the use of wit

Comedy of Ideas

Characters argue about or are representations of ideas Politics, religion, sex, traditions, institutions, customs Satire Ideas are destroyed by wit Monty Python and the Holy Grail

How comedy affects us

Based on irony (incongruity, reversals) Allows us to see things differently Characters are simplified Allows audience to recognize the need for change

Fool

Audience is allowed to feel superior Must also be sympathetic Does not see his faults

Six elements required for something to be humorous1. Must appeal to intellect rather than emotions2. Must be mechanical3. Must be inherently human (reminds us of humanity)4. Must be a set of established norms familiar to the audience5. Situations, actions, and dialogue must be inconsistent or unsuitable

to the surroundings6. Must be perceived by the audience as harmless or painless

Other ideas

Society can make jokes about itself, but outsiders cannot Usually ends in marriage (order from chaos) Servant or vehicle for change