Comedy Movies' Styles

Comedy movies’ purpose is to make viewers laugh, so people often don’t try to learn about different subgenres of this film genre.  However, comedy movies have some typical styles that people should know. One of these styles is called slapstick. Another one is screwball. And a third typical one is parody or spoof. There are three types of comedy films.

One of the most important early types of comedy movies is slapstick. The name comes from the wooden sticks that clowns slapped together to bring up audience claps. This kind of comedy is based on physical action, and this action is usually broad and aggressive. One modern example of this style is Ace Ventura, Pet Detective (1993) and The Mask (1994).  Also, this kind of comedy has plenty of harmless or painless cruelty.  Moreover, this style usually has some kind of violence, rough play and sight gags.  For example, slapstick may include a custard pie in the face, collapsing houses, people chasing, or a loss of trousers or skirts.  Ultimately, slapstick evolved and was reborn in the screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s.

Screwball, an evolution of slapstick, is another sort of comedy style. Screwball comedies are romantic stories that mainly focus on the battle of sexes. Therefore, screwball co-protagonists try to outwit and beat each other. For example, Bringing Up Baby (1938) is a sample of screwball.  Moreover, screwball usually includes visual gags, wacky characters, a fast improbable plot, and a wise-cracking conversation which reflects sexual tensions and conflicts in the developing of a relationship.  Furthermore, this subgenre is usually characterized by a female interested in romance and a weak man resisting romance.  In fact, its characters often have contradictory ideas about what a perfect couple is and about marriage should be.  Despite having a twisting and turning story, love often triumphs in the end.

Changing strongly the style, there is another important genre of comedy cinema called parody or spoof.  This kind of film laughs at serious works, ridiculing their style, setting, plot, or characters.  For example, the films of Mel Brooks are based on parodic humor.  Some of these comedy films can focus on making fun of Bogart or Agatha detective films.  For example, Woody Allen’s Play It Again, Sam (1972) is an obvious spoof of Bogart.  Furthermore, this category sometimes ridicules spy films, as in the Austin Powers’ saga which makes fun of the super famous agent 007.       

In brief, slapstick, screwball and spoof are the three most important styles of comedy films.  However, comedy films’ styles evolve, change, and they many times get mixed with each other.  

 

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 2003