Modern Evolution of the Comedy Genre

By Dan Murray  

Introduction Comedy has been evolving with our

modern times We will be looking at the evolution of

comedy in varying media platforms.› Film› Television› Internet› Gaming

Films. In conjunction, I will also be looking at

some of the different comedy subgenres that have become popular in our modern culture.› Rom-com› Stoner› Gross out› Bromance

Latest Trends.

Comedy is still a relevant part of the film industry.

With 2 comedies being within the top 10 highest grossing films of 2010 with Ice Age 3 taking over $880,000,000

Romantic Comedy Romantic comedy films (abbreviated

rom coms) are movies with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centred on romantic ideals such as a true love able to surmount most obstacles. Romantic comedy films are a sub-genre of comedy films as well as of romance films and often have elements of screwball comedies and stoner comedies. Romantic comedy can also be used to describe some television series.

ROM COM

S

Some of the recent trends within the comedy genre are the re-emergence of the Romantic Comedy,(which unfortunately many men have had to sit through).

With “Valentines Day” ensemble cast showing that they can still attract Big name stars.

Stoner comedyStoner film is a subgenre of films that revolve around the use of marijuana Typically, such movies show cannabis use in a comic and positive fashion. Cannabis use is one of the main themes, and inspires most of the plot.

"Stoner film" as a genreThere are many movies about "stoners," films with characters who frequently use cannabis, and films that specifically target cannabis users, but these films are not, by definition, stoner films. A stoner film is a movie whose story line is patently centred around cannabis. The series of movies in the 1970s starring Cheech & Chong are archetypal "stoner movies." Some historic films like Reefer Madness have also become popular as "stoner movies," because their anti-drug message is seen by some modern viewers as so over the top that the film amounts to self-parody.

Stoner Comedy. The Stoner comedy, first appearing in

the “Cheech and Chong "series has grown in popularity with movies such as the “Harold and Kumar”fims and Pineapple express continuing to show us the funny side of drugs.

Gross -out Gross-out is a sub-genre of comedy movies in which

the makers employ humour that is wilfully "tasteless" or even downright disgusting, although the latter isn't truly requisite. Typical elements include fast pace, toilet humour slapstick, sophomoric jokes about sex, body odour, and other bodily functions such as flatulence, vomit and burping, vulgarity, food fights, nose-picking, androgenic hair growth and shaving, gratuitous nudity, unrealistic aggressiveness towards property and Schadenfreude. The movies are generally aimed at a younger audience aged between 18 and 25. One boon of this genre is that it provides an inexpensive way to make a movie "edgy" and to generate media attention for it.

Gross Out Humour. Another trend that has developed is the Gross out comedy, these

adult orientated comedies, which were made popular with movie such as “Animal House” are filed with such unforgettable images as a young man having sex with a pie and a woman called Mary using some very suspect hair gel.

BROMANCE.

“Bromance or man-crush is a close but non- sexual relationship between two (or more) men”

This theme has become popular within the comedy genre, amongst both Television (such as Chandler and Joey or JD and Turk) and films such as “Pineapple Express”, “Superbad”, “Role Models”, “wedding crashers” and ultimately “I love you, man” who’s main premise was guy love between a groom and his best man.

Dramedy. Comedy-drama, also called

dramedy  or seriocomedy, is a style of television, theatre and film in which there is an equal or nearly equal balance of humour and serious content.

Genre Blending.

Whilst the action comedy has taken a backseat since its heyday in the 80’s, Drama/comedy (Dramadies) have become very popular, with movies such as “Lost in Translation” , “Burn after Reading” and “Thank you for smoking” showing that comedy can be smart as well as hilarious.

Slaps tick Slapstick is a type of comedy

involving exaggerated violence and activities which exceed the boundaries of common sense. These exaggerated depictions are often found in children's cartoons, and light film comedies aimed at younger audiences.

Slap stick Whilst slapstick appears

in many movies, it is not a big part of movies as it was when Charlie Chaplin made it an art form. In fact, it has taken a more modern twist with shows such as Jackass and Dirty Sanchez let us see that people injuring themselves in many varied and horrible ways still has an appeal.

Family Sitcom

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features recurring characters in a common environment such as a home or workplace. A situation comedy may be recorded before a studio audience. Some also feature a laugh track. Such programs originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms.

How 'Modern Family' Is Saving The Family Sitcom

The 1980s was the peak era for the family sitcom, but the shows were typically idealistic depictions. From 'The Cosby Show' to 'Who's The Boss', 'Growing Pains, and at the very end of the decade, 'Roseanne' and 'Married With Children' we witnessed slow progress towards an accurate depiction of the reality of dysfunctional families. After all, not everything can be solved cleanly in 18 minutes with a hogie as the problem solver ('The Cosby Show'). The 1990s sitcoms focused more on the adult working crowd with landmark shows like 'Friends', Fraiser', and 'Will And Grace'. With only a few notable family sitcoms clinging on for dear life, the early 'Full House', 'Fresh Prince of Bel-air', 'Family Matters', and 'Everybody Loves Raymond'.

By the 2000s the saccharine sitcom was on its deathbed, bringing to rise family comedies that broke format (away from the traditional 3-camera format) and content, including 'Malcolm In The Middle' and 'Arrested Development. And now, we have 'Modern Family'-a show that finally reflects the modern variety of family structures, personalities, and more realistic events through the use of pseudo-documentary style, like 'The Office', and a sprinkling of dark comedy. In order for a concept like this to work, there has to be a intensely talented writing staff(which they have) and a perfect ensemble cast-if one character was miscast, the show would not work.

Comedy in other Multimedia. Whilst the genre of

comedy has continued throughout the movies, it can also be seen in other areas of multimedia.

The internet (with sites such as youtube) has allowed millions of people to express themselves, whether this is

through clips of accidents, short comedy sketches, flash animation broadcasting themselves

and their thoughts.

Ra Ra Whaddaboutcha!!

Bonsai Kittens. Even entire Websites have been

created for the sole purpose of humour. A site called “Bonsai Kittens” gave

instructions on how to grow kittens in glass bottles. Many people took offence at this image and the site was looked into by FBI however it turned out to be a hoax by some university students that got wildly out of hand.

Bonsai Kittens. Gray Kitten Initial insertion, with aid of Alessi

shoehorn. Kitten has been given muscle relaxant 30 min. prior to insertion process.

After 1 week, using proprietary air hole/feeding tube technology. Notice the conformal shaping accelerated through the use of calcium sequestering agent to soften bone structure. After 1 month skull will attain complete conformity to flat surface resulting in the desirable "bonsai kitty" expression.

Rear aspect, revealing excellent sealing properties of Super Glue. No leakage has ever occurred with proper application. Thus, fur remains soft and tail attains beautiful convolutions as the months pass!

Comedy in Videogam

es.

Humour can also be found in video games, whether it’s the wacky adventures of popular TV show characters in game tie in of popular shows such a Futurama, Simpsons or family guy or games made where the emphasis is on the comedy aspect of the game, such as games such as Conkers bad fur day, banjo kazooie or Psychonauts (which while not selling well is considered one of the funniest games available.)

Many games also feature comedy or humour in them as part of the storytelling process. The Grand theft Auto and Saints row games are seeped with black comedy and some of the most fun you can have with them is seeing just how far you can take it. Whilst games such as Battlefield Bad Company use comedy to distinguish themselves from the other first person shooters as the banter between the characters help with the characterisation of the people you’re playing.

Conclusion. Comedy clearly evolves with our times reflecting

our ways of communicating (the net), or simply our ways of being and living (family sitcoms).

Some things never change. Comedy still reflects our underlying brutality (gaming/slapstick) and also our need to laugh and let off steam.

Comedy is still a relevant part of today's society, maybe even more so than before now we have a wider range of mediums to convey it across.

BibliographyWebsites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross-out_film http://www.gamezone.com/top10/funny_3.htm http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2010/01/16/

how_modern_family_is_saving_the_family_s http://www.ding.net/bonsaikitten http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rom Com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoner Comedy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramedy

Filmography Valentines Day.Garry Marshall2010 Pineapple expressDavid Gordon Green2008 Thank you for smokingJason Reitman2005 American PiePaul Weitz1999 There’s something about MaryBobby and Peter Farrelly1998 Harold and Kumar get the munchiesDanny Leiner2004 Cheech and Chong: Up in SmokeLou Adler

1978

 Lost in TranslationSofia Coppola2003 HangoverTodd Philiips2009 Ice Age 3Carlos Saldanha2009 Burn After ReadingCoen Brothers2008 Animal House.John Landis1978