Essay --

HISTORY OF THE COMEDY FILM GENRE Types of Comedies: There has been many different types and forms of comedies down through the years, some of which include: †¢ Slapstick: this type of comedy was dominant in the early years of silent film. They didn’t need sound to be effective, which meant it there wasn’t a language barrier and it could be understood all over the world. Slapstick was all about well-timed performance skills. Slapstick comedy evolved and screwball comedy took over in the 1930’s and 1940’s. †¢ Screwball: these films where mainly made up of slapstick, farce and witty dialogue. They were generally light-hearted films with a romantic story, where the plot would be a battle between the sexes and they both try to outwit each other. †¢ Deadpan: this type of comedy is known as dry humour, where there would be no change in the characters facial or body language. Buster Keaton would be famous for this type of expression-less humour. †¢ Verbal Comedy: W.C. Fields used cruel verbal wit in his movies. Other forms of comedy include: †¢ Black or dark comedy †¢ Parody or spoof Slapstick Comedy Films from the comedy genre began in the early 1900’s, with screen legends such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd all leading the way. Technology at this time was limited so the humour of many of these films relied on slapstick comedy. The characters in these types of movies would play out their roles by using physical movements and over the top facial expressions to get the humour across to the audience. One of the first ever comedy movies was called â€Å"Watering the Gardener†, directed by the Lumiere brothers in 1985. It was a sketch that only lasted 49 seconds and was the first to use slapstick comedy. The plot is about a ga... ...st production companies in Hollywood decided to go with more serious topics for the audience. A good example of this would be Preston Sturges screwball comedy â€Å"The Lady Eve†. In the late 1940’s the British Black comedies were using serious subjects in a comical way, such as the film â€Å"The Ladykillers† (1955). In the 1950’s, the television industry was starting to become the main form of entertainment. Comedy films could no longer rely on only using verbal and visual wit, but they now had to add â€Å"excellent production values† (Cook 508) because more and more people were deciding to stay home to watch television rather then going to the cinema. As television shows were more family-oriented, comedy films in the 1950’s were becoming more adult related, and because television shows also had various comedy shows and acts, comedy films went into decline during this decade.