comedy

1. Genre Analysis-Comedy
Comedy is a genre of film that uses humour as a driving force. The aim of a comedy film is to
illicit laughter from the audience through entertaining stories and characters. Although the
comedy film may take on some serious material, most have a happy ending. Comedy film has
the tendency to become a hybrid sub-genre because humour can be incorporated into many
other genres. Comedies are more likely than other films to fall back on the success and
popularity of an individual star.
Examples of Comedy Films:
 Groundhog day- a film where a grumpy weather man wakes up on the same day
everyday
 The Hangover- The tail of the “wolf pack” and their crazy night in Las Vegas
 Zombie land- a comedy set in a post-apocalyptic world full of zombies
 Home Alone-The story of a boy who was left at home accidentally and has to stop
two thieves breaking in
Comedy dates back to the era of silent film. With the absence of dialogue and speech it was
difficult for comedy to come across in the early 1900s. Silent film comedy relied heavily on
slapstick and burlesque humour. Slapstick includes very energetic comical conventions such
as chases, collisions and practical jokes with the master of slapstick comedy being Charlie
Chaplin with his first film being “Making a Living” in 1914. In between the year of 1930 and
1950 the silent era was quickly dying out of fashion and with the addition of dialogue came
verbal humour which consisted of onscreen puns, innuendos, parodies etc. One of the first
film directors to use verbal humour to its full advantage was WilliamFields and made films
such as “My Little Chikadee”. In the 1960s comedy became darker and very serious in films
and carried on to be like this until the 1990s. This included social commentary and spoofs.
One of the most popular was the Monty Python team and their well-coordinated comedy
films. However in the early 1990s comedy started to change as the director John Hughes
released a number of films including “Home Alone” that elevated his status in film history.
Since then comedy has been continuously evolving and has changed massively since the
slapstick era with films such as Borat being shown in cinemas recently.
Types of Comedy:
Action Comedy- relies on the characters to bring humour, with action scenes being less
intense than traditional action movies
Black-Comedy- a sub-genre of comedy and satire. It takes topics and situations that are
commonly held as serious and explores them in a comical way. It should make the audience
laugh but also feel uncomfortable
Horror-Comedy- aims to scare the audience but also provide comical outlets that let the
audience laugh at their fear

2. Dramedy- has a dramatic tone, yet has important elements of comedy. A balance is needed
and provides comedic relief for the audience, while still addressing serious issues
Parody/Spoof- these films ridicule serious situations at people. These films rely heavily on
satire and can be used as a social or political commentary, or can be made in the form of a
fake documentary known as a “Mockumentary”
Key Directors today include:
 Beth McCarthy-Miller (Saturday Night live, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and
Recreations)
 Edgar Wright (Shaun of The dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End)
 Greg Mottola (Superbad, Adventureland, Paul)
 Ben Stiller (Zoolander, Tropic Thunder, The Cable Guy)