History Of American Comedy
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American Comedy Throughout the Decades American comedy films are one of the oldest genres in which the main point is purely focused on humor. From silent films of the early 1920s to modern classics such as The Hangover, American comedies have transformed though out the years.
American comedies became popular as a way of escape from reality in the 1920s.
It was a way to bring out humor and laughter from the audience watching these films.
American comedies would take serious social issues like racial and ethnic issues, immigrants, male and female relationships and differences in social and economic class and use these issues as their material for comedies. American comedies used their exaggeration of situations to amuse the audience. There are many different types of American comedies and they have changed dramatically though out the years. The silent film era was a massive part of the history of American comedies.
Silent films took silent comedians and used their exaggerations of body language and humorous story lines and transformed them into stories to amuse the audience. The two most predominate actors in the silent film era were Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. With the introduction of slapstick comedy, where use of physical comedy involving exaggerated, energetic actions, violence, and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense, actors such as Chapin and Keaton rose to the top of the entertainment industry.
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Movies like “The General” by Buster Keaton, allowed for a different element of comedy.
History Of American Comedy
Instead of Keaton always interacting with a human costar he would have relationships with machines, which lead to a more interactive experience because he would play off of the machine and it would engage the audience even more. “More often then not, Keaton’s comic costar was a machine…Keaton’s Relationships with machines often proved more harmonious than those with human costars…” described John Belton, author of American Cinema American Culture. Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton mastered the art of slapstick comedy by transforming it into a form of self-expression.
One movie that brought back the nostalgia of silent movies was The Artist, which was a silent film that came out in 2011. The Artist took a modern approach on a silent film, which included some slapstick comedy, and you can clearly see the inspiration from Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. When sound was introduced into movies there was quite a transformation. Screwball comedy grew as the sound in movies became more obtainable. Screwball comedies took the idea of slapstick comedies but incorporated verbal word play in it.
While they were involved in these scenes they had to use their body language as well as their witty verbal wordplay and by doing this the audience was able to connect to these characters. Movies like Role Models (2008) use the idea of screwball comedy there is an extreme amount of dialogue and verbal wit in movies like Role Models but when they incorporate the verbal wit with their “slapstick” comedy the result is a modern age screwball comedy that everyone enjoys. As American comedies progressed so did the sub-genres with films like slapstick comedies as well as screwball comedies it gave actors and writers to expand their talents.
In the late 1930s and early 1940s romantic comedies played a big role in the expansion of American comedies. “Romantic comedies, in which the central dramatic action involved the comic (as opposed to melodramatic) vicissitudes of heterosexual love affair and that had been a staple of the silent screen, enjoyed a new lease on life in films that combined romance with the comedy of manners,” explained John Belton. Movies such as “Some like it Hot,” and “The Awful Truth” combined screwball comedy with romantic comedy. They would use elements of screwball comedy but would mix it with the drama of a romantic relationship.
For example, in Leo McCareys’ “The Awful Truth”, Cary Grant and Irene Dunn play a married couple that is getting a divorce but as each person tries to move on to a new relationship the other person finds a way to mess things up. For example, when Lucy, played by Irene Dunn, starts dating a new man Cary Grants’ character finds humorous ways to mess up her new relationship. Romantic comedies sometimes incorporate screwball comedy into it to give the movie a more upbeat tone. The basic plot of a romantic comedy was that two protagonists, usually a man and a woman, meet, part ways due to an argument or other obstacle, then ultimately reunite.
This basic plot is still used today in many movies. Movies like the Wedding Singer, Serendipity, and Never Been Kissed all use this basic plot. Overall, the development of American Comedy has progress tremendously throughout the years. From Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton’s slapstick comedy to Cary Grant and Irene Dunn’s romantic comedy there is always a form of comedy though out the years. With out Chaplin and Keaton there would not be such a vast history behind the idea of American Comedy. Even though these American Comedies touched on serious social issues, they brought humor to people who really needed it.
One of the most important things about the classic American Comedies was the fact that it gave people an escape when they desperately needed it. Even though American comedy films have a long and important history the reason why comedies are so popular has not changed since film was invented. American comedies bring happiness to people and for this reason everyone loves comedies and I am sure that this love will remain till the end of time. Works Cited Belton, John. “American Comedy. ” American cinema/American culture. Third ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994. 164-194. Print.
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