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The world is a comedy to those who think; a tragedy to those who feel. TYPES OF COMEDY What is comedy? Much written on tragedy, but defining the comic is more difficult. One definition: The comic is the product of a perceived incongruity between a subjectmatter/issue/situation/topic and its treatment/expression. Low Comedy: lacks seriousness of purpose or subtlety of manner and has little intellectual appeal—quarrelling, fighting, noisy singing, boisterous conduct in general, boasting, burlesque, trickery; buffoonery, clownishness, drunkenness, coarse jesting, wordplay, and scolding. High Comedy: Pure or serious comedy—appeals to the intellect and arouses thoughtful laughter by exhibiting the inconsistencies and incongruities of human nature and by displaying the follies of social manners. Burlesque: Form of comedy characterized by ridiculous exaggeration and distortion. The sublime may be absurd, honest emotions may be turned to sentimentality, a serious subject may be treated frivolously or a frivolous subject seriously Farce: A light dramatic work in which highly improbable plot, exaggerated character, and often slapstick elements are used for humorous effect. Lampoon: A broad satirical piece that uses ridicule to attack a person or group Parody: A composition imitating or burlesquing another, usually serious, piece of work. Designed to ridicule in nonsensical fashion an original piece of work. Parody is in literature what the caricature and cartoon are in art. Satire: Holding up to ridicule the follies and vices of a people or time Slapstick: Boisterous form of comedy marked by chases, collisions, and crude practical jokes Travesty: Presents a serious (often religious) subject frivolously—reduces everything to its lowest level. **NOTE—TRAVESTY, BURLESQUE & PARODY are similar, but travesty always makes a mockery of a serious subject, whereas burlesque and parody may do the reverse. The Comedic Ladder by Brenden Kenney—College Board Consultant Comedy of Ideas Characters argue about ideas like politics, religion, sex, marriage; Characters use their wit and their clever language to mock their opponent in an argument; Subtle way to satirize people and institutions like political parties, governments, churches, war, marriage Comedy of Manners Amorous intrigues (love affairs) among the upper classes Focus is on witty language, clever speech; insults and ‘putdowns’ are traded between characters; Society is often made up of cliques that are exclusive with certain groups as the in-crowd, with everyone else on the peripheral Farce Plot is full of coincidences, mistimings, mistaken identities; Characters are puppets of fate—they are twins, born to the wrong class, unable to marry, too poor, too rich; Loss of identity because of birth, fate or accident; Sometimes they are twins separated unaware of their double Low Comedy Dirty jokes, dirty gestures, sex and elimination are subjects of the humor; Exaggeration or understatement are the extremes of the humor with a focus on physical like long noses, cross eyes, humped back and deformities; Slapstick, pratfalls, loud noises, physical mishaps, collisions are part of the humor of man encountering an uncooperative universe The Difference between COMEDY AND TRAGEDY TRAGEDY COMEDY Rational Moral Logical Sense Death Punishment Hero involved Catharsis (purging of pity and fear) Metaphysical order Importance of the soul Assumption that “words mean what they say” Focuses on psychological truth (realism, naturalism) Irrational Amoral Discontinuous Nonsense Marriage, feasting, babies Reconciliation Hero aloof Laughter (purges inhibitions) Accidental (spontaneous) autonomous Self-conscious (body) “to be human is inherently funny” Meaningless in our attempts to communicate. Language is fallible. Everything can also mean its opposite (fantasy, dreams, surrealism, romanticism) HOW COMEDY AFFECTS US 1. Comedy is based on irony. 1. Awareness of irony is an intellectual, not emotional process 2. Comedy lifts us out of our emotional responses 3. With emotional defenses down, our mind can see the need for change in a comic character. 4. Typically the comic character is blind to his misperceptions but repeats the rigid behavior. 5. Good comedy allows us to feel superior to the characters. 6. Despite our superior position, we see similarities between the comic characters and ourselves. 7. We sense our own rigidity and blindness are like the comic fool’s and note the laughter the comic fool arouses. 8. Comedy acts as a way to change the individual or the society using laughter. 9. Satire, ridicule, burlesque often work in the service of change. 10. Comedy uses exaggeration, understatement, role reversal and generally the devices of irony to make us laugh and compare. TECHNIQUES OF COMEDY Caricature: A representation in which the subject’s distinctive features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated to produce a comic or grotesque effect Colloquialism: Use of slang or informal language—includes regional dialect Deflation: An object either assumes or is given elevated status and then is treated in such as way that estimation of the object decreases. Disparagement: To speak of in a slighting way; belittle; reduce in rank or esteem Euphemism: a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept Hyperbole: Exaggeration or overstatement. Incongruity: A surprising contrast occurring through situation, image, allusion, character, diction, anachronism, etc. Invective: Harsh, abusive language directed against a person or cause. Invective is a vehicle, a tool of anger. Invective is the bitterest of all satire. Irony: Verbal irony: Discrepancy between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant Situational irony: Discrepancy between what is expected and reality Dramatic irony: Discrepancy between what the reader or audience knows and what a character knows Knaves & Fools: In comedy there are no villains and no innocent victims. Instead, there are rogues (knaves) and suckers (fools). The knave exploits someone “asking for it”. When these two interact, comic satire results. When knaves & fools meet, they expose each other. Litotes: A form of understatement in which a thing is affirmed by stating the negative of its opposite. For example, “She’s not uninterested in boys” to mean she’s boy crazy is to use litotes Malapropism: An inappropriateness of speech resulting from the use of one word for another which resembles it. The term is derived from a character, Mrs. Malaprop, the Sheridan’s The Rivals, who was constantly giving vent to such expressions as: “as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile.” Non-sequitur: Inference or conclusion that does not follow from the premise or evidence. Oxymoron: A group of apparently contradictory terms suggesting a paradox—i.e. Jumbo shrimp Paradox: A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity Parody: A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule Pun (Zeugma): A play on words based on the similarity of sound between two words with different meanings Sarcasm: An exaggerated form of verbal irony; bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something. The term came from the Greek word “sarkazein” which means “to tear flesh.” Stereotyping: A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image Understatement: when the literal sense of what is said falls detectably short of (or under) the magnitude of what is being talked about. When someone says “pretty fair” but means “splendid,” that is clear understatement Wit: While this term has more specific uses in Renaissance and 17 th century writing, for modern works, it generally refers to clever uses of language to arouse laughter