Black Comedy Power Point Finales Testes Test
Transcript of Black Comedy Power Point Finales Testes Test
Gulshan Singh Gill
Jonathan Lim
R. Adithya
Shayne Tan
Essential elements of Black Comedy
Brief historyTheories Black Comedy
embracesSkitExplanation for skitThree questions and class
discussion
Setting is usually in a conflicted and absurd society, set in a grave or serious situation
Contains grave themes such as War and Death Involves charactersAudience is detached from humanity due to light-
hearted toneEmbracement of
RationalityShows realistic
negative depiction of humanity
“In dark days, dark comedy prevails”More prevalent in 1950s to 1960s Post-modernism Post-modernism = detached from
emotion/traditional moralityBlack Comedy, the comedy of our age
Has its traces in Shakespeare’s problem plays e.g. MOV, Measure for Measure (comic tragedies)
Nowadays used to refer to more sinister and grave plots
Henri Bergson (Light Comic Theorist)
and
James Feibleman (Dark Comic Theorist)
Light Comic Theory
- “the mechanical encrusted upon the
living”
- Rationality at odds with Human Reality
- Idea of Emotional Detachment
- Comic Character’s lack of self-awareness
Dark Comic Theory (Feibleman)
- Evidence of our broken world, ‘Death of God’
philosophy:
“it focuses on the material world in order to expose the
contradictions within it, to unmask the masquerade of
impotence as fate”
- Rebellion against our absurd nature
- Seeks refuge into a perfect logical order from real life
uncertainties
Superiority Theory
- Detached audience feel
superiority over illogical
human characters
- Due to their escape from the
human world
Incongruity Theory (Deadpan Humour)
- Light tone contrasts with dark message
- Incongruity between style and substance causes
laughter
Nature of Issues: Grave, sinister,
controversial
Setting: Absurd Society
Style / Tone: Grim, Satirical
Characters: Unhealthy state of mind
Type of Humour: Deadpan violence
Purpose: Confronts the unglamorous
truth
of the society
Classical Comedy and Black
Comedy
- Classic Comedy deals with manners
- Black Comedy deals with ethics
But Black Comedy is more universal
- deals more with ethics (grave
issues, human concerns)
Tragedy and Black Comedy
- Tragedy also deals with ethicsHowever, Tragedy is restful
- Empathy evoked for Tragic
Hero
- Tragic hero pit against
supernatural
- “Masquerade of Impotence as
Fate”
- Triumph of Human Spirit
Black Comedy rejects this reassurance
- No empathy for character of Black Comedy
- No need to blame his fall on the supernatural
- Acknowledge human flaws
- “Unmasks the Masquerade of Impotence as Fate”
- “While Tragedy seeks the Good, Comedy seeks the True”
– James Feibleman
Black Comedy enables us to understand the flaws of the human characters. However, considering we the audience are emotionally detached from them, (as seen in our excerpt and popular works like Dr. Strangelove) how feasible is it to apply this understanding to ourselves? Consequently, does Black Comedy aid in realization of our own flaws?
Do Black Comedies always have to be resolved with entire Human destruction in order to fulfill their purpose of reflecting a poor Human Condition? Could they instead end with the tragedy of an individual or with no ultimate plot progress as well, returning to the initial situation?
While Black Comedy shows negative sides of humanity in terms of our morality and judgment, it also enables us to escape from our flawed selves. Thus, does Black Comedy depress or liberate?