Martin Esslin’s definition of drama says that it incorporates a well-structured, economical and unpredictable plot with no boundaries that entertains the audience and allows room for their own interpretation. This is a basic definition. A vast variety of genres fall under the term drama. Two forms that are most frequently talked about and compared are comedy and tragedy. Comedy and tragedy shed light on differences in theatrical storytelling through their contrasting styles and methods of presenting pieces of theatre. If genres of theatre were put on a spectrum, comedy would fall on one end while tragedy would on the opposite. Comedy and tragedy are widely different. They follow various contrasting dramatic constructs invoking the thoughts and emotions pertaining to their genre.
A comedy is a piece of theatre that evokes a feel-good response from the audience and allows them to gently discover an underlying truth about human nature. It breaks expectations and increases a level of awareness invoking the involuntary biological response of laughter. Laughter places the audience in a vulnerable state. Laughter is gasping for air with no way of stopping until the comedic effect is no longer amusing. For this vulnerable state to take into effect, the audience must be willing to go along with the joke that the story is attempting to convey. Once the trust has been built, and if this it is a satisfactory production, the successful sound of laughter will commence.
Laughter in a
For example, it can draw attention to important points. David Sedaris utilized comedy to present his material in a unique way that will draw the reader in. His material was appropriate to the interests of the audience. When he asked, “Why refer to Lady Crack Pipe or Good Sir Dishrag when these things could never live up to the things their sex implied?” (Sedaris 220), he successfully evaluated the majority of his audience, a well-educated audience. Given the author’s purpose, his anticipated audience can relate to his jokes. It can make the reader ask that very same question, emphasizing his larger argument. Additionally, long pieces can hold a person’s attention longer with humor. People are more inclined to read on to the end and get the full benefit of the writing. When facilitated well, humor can effectively comment on normally serious topics like education. Cartoons can also convey humor and facilitate a point. In Roz Chast's What I Learned, the artist used especially effective written and visual text to humorously comment on her own experiences in education. She learned that “if you swallow gum, your guts get all stuck together” (Chast 244). Though silly, this made her more relatable to the audience. The purpose of comedy is to make writing more interesting and in some ways more relatable. When discussing nonfiction, elements of humor utilize techniques commonly found in fiction. These include plot, characters, and
What is laughter? What is the role that laughter plays in society? Laughter is the “physiological response to humor.” It is what triggers the body’s release of endorphins or the feel good chemicals. It is what can heal us from pain.
“Rather than placing comedy as a creator of puppet-like illusion (making the living seem mechanical), this approach reconsiders comedy as a revealer of truth (as it deconstructs lies). It is certainly not uncommon to hear “it’s funny because it’s true” when witnessing a standup comedian’s act”. For example, when at the beginning of the movie the two guys confuse the Dude with the millionaire Lebowski and break into his home and then realize that the Dude is not a millionaire because of his bowling ball.The Dude replies by saying” obesely you’re not a golfer” but it was a bowling ball.When one of the guys said that the dude was a loser he replies by saying “but at least I was housebroken”. “One might be able to argue that some of the greatest comic moments are those which are able to make comedy out of this difficult reality (e.g. Borat, This is Spinal Tap, certain types of stand up, etc.); however, as a general comic principle, we can agree that emotional involvement creates an obstacle to our ability to laugh”. When we involve our emotions into something that might be funny to other and not our self might be because we have gone through the experience or someone close to us has. For example, the kidnapping of Bunny can seem like a joke, but somebody that has lived through one and survived it can bring up emotions that remind them of that
Theatre has been a prevalent form of entertainment for centuries. As time has progressed, the meaning behind theater has shifted to adapt with society appropriately. Different genres of theater have been emerging all throughout history and continue to emerge even today. There are so many different genres of theatre that any individual can relate to it. One can easily recall the major genres of theatre: drama, comedy, musicals. However, it is the sub-divisions within these major genres that evoke unique performances and experiences.
Using a humorous opening to a story can put the audience at ease and trust the presenter. (Osburg, 1995) Laughter is a great form of gaining the attention of the audience and allows the speaker to make a connection. Practicing the storytelling process allows the speaker to make appropriate changes and helps build confidence in the speech process. An audience will connect better with a speaker that is confident in the message being presented. (Osburg, 1995) Next, the speaker should take special care to allow the words to flow steadily.
William Shakespeare is well known to write his plays within two categories, Comedy and Tragedy. Shakespeare’s plays are categorized by which architype that particular play concludes upon. If the play ends in the fall of the main protagonist, it is identified as a tragedy; if the play concludes on a wedding it is identified as a comedy. For Shakespeare, in these two genres of plays a usually hidden third element able to adapt the traditional understanding of the genre into something different. The absurd, and often exaggerated, farce is a form of comedic theater carries its presence in the comedic presentation of several of Shakespeare’s plays.
Comedy is the most significant form of humorous expression. It is a type of communication used to talk about the social and cultural problems in society. They talk about subjects that would make society defensive but do it in a way that lightens a serious subject.Many people see comedy as humorous but there’s more to it then just laughs in America it talks about a lot of problems in society such as politics and racial profiling. Although comedians try to make jokes and entertain the audience, they make you notice the reality of today’s society and problems. Comedy is offensive and known for talking about stereotypes but put into funny stories therefore making the audience laugh and feeling comfortable. Comedy also has a way of discussing
“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”“The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.” “A tragedy is a tragedy, and at the bottom, all tragedies are stupid. Give me a choice and I 'll take A Midsummer Night 's Dream over Hamlet every time. Any fool with steady hands and a working set of lungs can build up a house of cards and then blow it down, but it takes a genius to make people laugh.” The combination of William Shakespeare, Horace Walpole,and Steven King run together to speak on the topic of comedies. We as human beings, being social creatures, have a need to laugh. We find many things humours, and there are many types of comedies, as well as uses for the comedies we make. There are many different forms of comedy from many different time periods which all fall within three overarching sections; verbal, physical, and literary.
Traditionally, comedy has been outlined in many ways in which. As any story that ends gayly. In Dramatica terms this suggests that the story goal is obtained (outcome=success) and also the main character has satisfactorily resolved his inner conflict
Within the world of drama and performance, there are two central ends of the genre spectrum. These are essentially the “light and dark” of the stage. These opposite ends of the spectrum are comedy and tragedy, respectively. While some people may prefer one genre over the other, these both find ways to tell great stories with greatly different methods. One eternally famous playwright, William Shakespeare wrote countless plays in both of these styles. Two exquisite examples of these genres are his King Lear, and Much Ado About Nothing. These plays demonstrate the great contrast between comedy and tragedy through the high to low character falls or climbs, amount of humor, and prominence of death and suffering.
After watching and reading the tragedy and comedy plays in class, I have began to notice that they are more similar than I had expected. Before seeing A Streetcar Named Desire (the tragedy), Crimes Of The Heart (the comedy) and Death of A Salesman (another tragedy), I came to the conclusion that either of those plays could have been either a tragedy or comedy. In both my stories, they were the same scenario. Getting lost on a hunting trip and fighting for survival on the way back. Both have tragic and comedic scenes in it. The only difference was the resulting outcome. There really is only one thing that matters in the play to determine if it’s a tragedy or comedy and it’s how the characters perceive it.
The Shakespearean notion of comedy and tragedy have been interpreted by countless critics as absolute contradictions of one another. For instance, there is a belief that the everlastingly romantic tale of Romeo and Juliet is unambiguously a tragedy, just as A Midsummer Night’s Dream is undoubtedly a comedy. Each possesses separate, defining, characteristics which drastically alter the storyline of a play, and develop the end into either one of comedic proportion: in which there is the promise of character procreation, or a tragic one whereas the ending will signal their untimely demise. In this manner, they are a complete antithesis of one another.
The genre of drama dates back to 5th century B.C. Greece. Drama is a form of writing in which there are many layers, and meanings to a story. Drama is written in the expectation that it is to be performed on a stage for an audience. This is an analysis of dramatic theater, what it is and how it has changed over time.
There are many characteristics that make up a comedy. Characteristics such as mistaken identity, battle of the sexes, and jumping to conclusions are what set the comedic story apart from the tragedy. Within a comedy, no matter how much fault, and dismay may appear within the story, there always seems to be the classic ending of “…and they all lived happily ever after…” Comedies capture the viewer with a sense of compassion and love for the characters in the story. Each character has their own essence, to which they pertain a flaw of some sorts, which the audience can relate to. With the relation to characters there is defiantly a certain interest that is grabbed by the actors, which sucks the audience into the
There are several genres of theatricality that a play could be classified as. The main types of plays are comedies, dramas, and tragedies. A comedy is a play that is usually light and amusing that has a happy ending. A drama is a play that deals with middle or lower class characters, and it is usually serious. A tragedy is a play that deals with tragic events, and it has an unhappy ending, which is