The very word ‘comedy’ dates back to the ancient times and stands for a humorous or amusing activity (Marteinson 38). In today’s realms, comedy is mainly associated with pop entertainment available through all kinds of media sources.
Through the course of the 20th century and on, comedy has been widely applied as one of the most popular genres in cinema. The comedy tradition in theater reaches ancient times. Comic poets of the time promoted the theatrical genre of Greek comedy beyond the scope of a theater. Ancient Greeks, as the citizens of the Athenian democracy, widely applied satire to influence public opinion and voters. Greeks used comedy as a dramatic performance to clash the opposing social groups (i.e. senior citizens vs. youth) within an amusing conflict. This way, rebellious though powerless youth attempted to contradict the societal conventions cherished by the aged citizens. Lacking social authority, the youth deployed all the possible tricks, which eventually caused a great deal of laughter and irony (Wiles 33).
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"What Is Comedy?".
Just as in ancient times, the today’s world is full of political satire. In the core of the genre is comedy used as the main weapon to portray high profile persons, political figures and institutions in a ridiculous manner. While much of the politics goes behind the close doors, political satire and comedy are widely used to voice corruption and other dirty deeds or awkwardness particular to VIPs of all possible ranks. Other popular sub-genres inspired by comedy are parody, screwball comedy, romantic and sexual comedy, black comedy, scatological humor and race humor (Sourvinou-Inwood 114). To a large extent, all these artistic forms intend to ridicule taboos and social conventions. Modern comedy, therefore, serves as a powerful means of social influence widely used to satirize the established clichés or conventional behaviors of various social groups and members of society (Raskin 56).
- Marteinson, Peter. On the Problem of the Comic: A Philosophical Study on the Origins of Laughter. Ottawa: Legas Press. 2006. Print.
- Raskin, Victor. The Semantic Mechanisms of Humor. Springer. 1985. Print.
- Sourvinou-Inwood, Christiane. Tragedy and Athenian Religion. Lexington Books. 2003. Print.
- Wiles, David. The Masked Menander: Sign and Meaning in Greek and Roman Performance. Cambridge University Press. 1991. Print.
