Subgenre Comedy / Photo Credit: Rianne Wright
A LOOK AT COMEDY SUBGENRE AND HYBRID
FILMS. (In the Entertainment industry.)
A look at comedy Subgenre and Hybrid Films.
Comedy Films are "make 'em laugh" films
designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are light-hearted
dramas, crafted to amuse, entertain, and provoke enjoyment. The comedy genre
humorously exaggerates the situation, the language, action, and characters.
Comedies observe the deficiencies, foibles, and frustrations of life, providing
merriment and a momentary escape from day-to-day life. They usually have happy
endings, although the humor may have a serious or pessimistic side.
Comedy is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on
humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement
and most often work by exaggerating characteristics for humorous effect. Films
in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an
exception). One of the oldest genres in film, some of the very first silent
movies were comedies, as slapstick comedy often relies on visual depictions,
without requiring sound. When sound films became more prevalent during the
1920s, comedy films took another swing, as laughter could result from burlesque
situations but also dialogue.
Subgenres
Comedy of Manners
A comedy of manners satirizes the manners and affectations
of a social class, often represented by stock characters. Also, satirical
comedy-drama & the plot is often concerned with an illicit love affair or
some other scandal. However, the plot is generally less important for its
comedic effect than its witty dialogue. This form of comedy has a long
ancestry, dating back at least as far as Much Ado about Nothing created by
William Shakespeare.
Slapstick
Slapstick films involve exaggerated, boisterous action to
create impossible and humorous situations. Because it relies predominately on
visual depictions of events, it does not require sound. Accordingly, the
subgenre was ideal for silent movies and was prevalent during that era. Popular
silent stars of the slapstick genre include Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin,
Roscoe Arbuckle, and Harold Lloyd. Some of these stars, as well as acts such as
Laurel and Hardy and the Three Stooges, also found success incorporating
slapstick comedy into sound films.
Fish Out of Water
In a fish out of water comedy, the main character or
character finds himself in an unusual environment, which drives most of the humor.
Situations can be neo noir crime comedy, satirical comedy-drama & black
comedy as sometimes as fantasy comedy behinds swapping gender roles, as in
Tootsie (1982); an age changing role, as in Big (1988); a freedom-loving
individual fitting into a structured environment, as in Police Academy (1984);
a rural backwoodsman in the big city, as in Crocodile Dundee, and so forth. The
Coen Brothers are known for using this technique in all of their films, though
not always to comic effect. Some films including people fitting the
"fish-out-of-water" bill include The Big Lebowski (1998) and A
Serious Man (2009).
Parody
A parody or spoof film is a comedy that satirizes other
film genres or classic films. Such films mockumentary, employ sarcasm,
stereotyping, mockery of scenes from other films, and the obviousness of
meaning in a character's actions. Examples of this form include Mud and Sand
(1922), Blazing Saddles (1974), Airplane! (1980), Young Frankenstein (1974),
and Scary Movie (2000).
Anarchic Comedy
The anarchic comedy film, as its name suggests, is a
random or stream-of-consciousness type of humor which often lampoons a form of
authority. The genre dates from the silent era, and the most famous examples of
this type of film would be those produced by Monty Python. Others include Duck
Soup (1933) and National Lampoon's Animal House (1978).
Black Comedy
The black comedy film deals with normally taboo subjects, including
death, murder, crime, suicide, and war, in a satirical manner. Examples include
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Monsieur Verdoux (1947), Kind Hearts and Coronets
(1949), The Ladykillers (1955), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), The Loved One (1965), MASH (1970), The King
of Comedy (1983), Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983), Brazil (1985),
After Hours (1985), The War of the Roses (1989), Heathers (1989), Your Friends
& Neighbors (1998), Keeping Mum (2005), Burn After Reading (2008), The Wolf
of Wall Street (2013), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri (2017) and Once
Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019).
Gross Out
Gross out films are a relatively recent development and
rely heavily on vulgar, sexual or "toilet" humor. Examples include
Porky's (1982), Dumb and Dumber (1994), There's Something About Mary (1998),
and American Pie (1999).
Screwball Comedy
It was not uncommon for the early romantic comedy film to
also be a screwball comedy film. This form of comedy film was particularly
popular during the 1930s and 1940s. There is no consensus definition of this
film style, and it is often loosely applied to slapstick or romantic comedy
films. Typically, it can include a romantic element, an interplay between people
of different economic strata, quick and witty repartee, some form of role
reversal, and a happy ending. Some examples of the screwball comedy are: It
Happened One Night (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Philadelphia Story (1940),
His Girl Friday (1940), and more recently, What's Up, Doc? (1972).
Hybrid subgenres
Action comedy
Films in this sub-genre blend comic antics and action
where the film stars combine with and one-liners with a thrilling plot and
daring stunts. The genre became a specific draw in North America in the
eighties when comedians such as Eddie Murphy started taking more action-oriented
roles such as in 48 Hrs. and Beverly Hills Cop. These types of films are often
buddy films, with mismatched partners such as in Midnight Run, Rush Hour, 21
Jump Street, Bad Boys, Starsky and Hutch, and Hot Fuzz. Slapstick martial arts
films became a mainstay of Hong Kong action cinema through the work of Jackie
Chan among others. It may also focus on superheroes such as The Incredibles,
Hancock, Kick-Ass, and Mystery Men. It may focus on kung fu such as Kung Fu
Panda.
Comedy horror
Comedy horror is a type of film in which the usual dark
themes and "scare tactics" attributed to horror films are treated
with a humorous approach. These films either use goofy horror clichés, such as
in Scream, Young Frankenstein, Little Shop of Horrors, Haunted Mansion, and
Scary Movie where campy styles are favored. Some are much more subtle and don't
parody horror, such as An American Werewolf In London. Another style of comedy
horror can also rely on over the top violence and gore such as in The Evil Dead
(1981), Re-Animator (1985), Braindead (1992), and Club Dread (2004) - such
films are sometimes known as splatstick, a portmanteau of the words splatters
and slapstick. It would be reasonable to put Ghostbusters in this category.
Comedy thriller
Comedy thriller is a genre that combines elements of
comedy and thrillers, a combination of humor and suspense. Films such as Silver
Streak, Charade, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, In Bruges, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Grosse
Point Blank, The Thin Man, The Big Fix, and The Lady Vanishes.
Fantasy comedy
Fantasy comedy films are types of films that uses magic,
supernatural and or mythological figures for comic purposes. Most fantasy
comedy includes an element of parody, or satire, turning many of the fantasy
conventions on their head such as the hero becoming a cowardly fool, the
princess being a klutz. Examples of these films include The Chipmunk Adventure,
Big, Being John Malkovich, Ernest Saves Christmas, Ernest Scared Stupid, Night
at the Museum, Groundhog Day, Click, and Shrek.
Science fiction comedy
Science fiction comedy films, like most hybrid genre of
comedy, use the elements of science fiction films to over the top extremes and
exaggerated science fiction stereotypical characters. Examples of these types
of films include Back to the Future, Spaceballs, Ghostbusters, Evolution,
Innerspace, Galaxy Quest, Mars Attacks! Men in Black, and The World's End.
Military comedy
Military comedy films involve comic situations in a
military setting. When a film is primarily about the experience of civilians
called into military service and still feeling out of place, it may be referred
to as a "service comedy". Because war is such a grim subject, many
military comedies are set in peacetime or during wartime but away from battle
zones. Military and service comedies include Good Morning, Vietnam, M*A*S*H,
Forrest Gump, and more.
Romantic comedy
The romantic comedy film subgenre typically involves the
development of a relationship between a man and a woman. The stereotyped plot
line follows the "boy-gets-girl", "boy-loses-girl",
"boy gets girl back again" sequence. Naturally, there are innumerable
variants to this plot, and much of the generally light-hearted comedy lies in
the social interactions and sexual tensions between the pair. Examples of this
style of film include It (1927), City Lights (1931), It's a Wonderful World
(1939), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), Sabrina (1954), Annie Hall (1977),
When Harry Met Sally... (1989), Pretty Woman (1990), Four Weddings and a
Funeral (1994), and There's Something About Mary (1998).
References
& Credits: Google, Wikipedia, Wikihow, WikiBooks, Pinterest, IMDB, Linked
In, Indie Wire, Film Making Stuff, Hiive, History Channel, Film Daily, New York
Film Academy, The Balance, Careers Hub, The Numbers, Film Maker, Film Site, TV
Guide Magazine, Blurb, Media Match, Quora, Creative Skill Set, Chron, Investopedia,
Variety, No Film School, WGA, BBC, Daily Variety, The Film Agency, Best Sample
Resume, How Stuff Works, Studio Binder, Career Trend, Producer's Code of
Credits, Truity, Production Hub, Producers Guild of America, Film Connection, Variety,
Wolf Crow, Get In Media, Production Beast, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, UCAS, Frankenbite,
Realty 101, Careers Hub, Screen Play Scripts, Elements of Cinema, Script
Doctor, ASCAP, Film Independent, Any Possibility, CTLsites, NYFA, Future Learn,
VOM Productions, Mad Studios, Rewire, DP School, Film Reference, DGA, IATSE, ASC,
MPAA, HFPA, MPSE, CDG, AFI, Box Office Mojo, Rotten Tomatoes, Indie Film
Hustle, The Numbers, Netflix, Vimeo, Instagram, Pinterest, Metacritic, Hulu, Reddit,
NATO, Mental Floss, Slate, Locations Hub, Film Industry Statistics, Guinness World
Records, The Audiopedia, Imagination for People,
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Subgenre Comedy / Photo Credit: Rianne Wright
