The High Art of Comedy and Why I Haven't Been Around.

Any time I suggest a movie like "You Don't Mess With The Zohan" or "Step Brothers" to someone at my job, I get dirty looks. Either they don't take me seriously or they belive they are better than to watch a low-brow comedy. People constantly criticize Adam Sandler, yet he keeps making movies and he keeps making tons of money off of it. Are we secretive about out love of comedies?

Take a good look at the history of cinema, and you'll see comedies are rarely taken to be on par with the drama. In the eighty year history of the Academy Awards, only four films have been (mostly) comedy (not counting light-hearted musicals), but with time, we've seen people foundly remember something like "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" over multiple Academy-Award winner "Titanic". It's movies like "Pee-Wee's" that we want to share with other people and even have the hopes of passing on to the next generation. Let's be serious; who remembers films like "The English Patient"?

But why don't we take comedy seriously? Laughing is as human of an emotion as crying, pain, or anger, and arguably, one of our most enjoyable emotions. We all laugh at different things, be it prat falls, witty comments, puns, or even dick and fart jokes, but people who pride themselves on be intellectual or having better tastes than the average folk will dismiss it as just comedy.

Comedy is just as careful of an art as the drama.



In the above scene, every line is constructed excellently, leading it's way to the next joke. It keeps pushing forward and builds momentum. It's not something easy to do. It takes lots of care, focus, timing, and attention. It's as intricately pieced together as any good drama.

So why do we ignore comedy as a serious art form? I believe people think if something can make them cry, it's a lot more powerful that comedy. When you cry or feel any emotion aside from laughter, you begin to dissect it and think about how it effected you. Comedy hits you more at a gut level. When you see it or hear it, you laugh. You can't really intellectualize it (and when you do, it takes the fun out of it).

I think all we need to do is acknowledge that comedy should be taken as seriously as any other genre. I think the flood of comedy garbage that's constantly released doesn't help the genre, but it's good to understand it and see what good is in it.

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So, I haven't been around here for about two months. I haven't had time to write anything in fact, but now I'm forcing myself to make time. I'll try to increase the number of posts after this and see what I can get the other contributors to do! Thanks!

Also, if you have a MySpace, I've been updating my works blog. You can read it at:

www.myspace.com/videotheque