Comedy is a theatrical genre, whose plot seeks to make the audience laugh, whether through irony, parody, confusion, mistakes or sarcasm. A form of artistic expression, traditionally very popular, that seeks entertainment.
Through humor, comedy can criticize aspects of the societyquestion social norms, explore human contradictions and offer a satirical vision of the daily life.
His origin It dates back to Ancient Greece and the classic comedy of Greek theater, which was characterized by its criticism of society and its focus on comic characters. Afterwards, comedy has evolved and adapted to the different times and cultures, from its most classical side, through the Italian Commedia dell’arte, Shakespeare’s comedy or contemporary comedy.
There are many resources that are used to provoke laughter in the viewer, such as puns, misunderstandings and exaggerations, parodies, irony, sarcasm and jokes. The action and interaction between characters extravagant or with comical features generates witty and humorous dialogues.
There is no fixed pattern that defines the structure of comedies, but in all of them a conflictive situation arises that develops throughout the plot and leads to a happy ending.
The word comedy comes from the Greek kōmōidía(komos, indicating a parade, and ode, song or ode) and is cultivated in other areas such as literature, television and cinema. As a literary genre, comedy groups together all works that seek the audience’s laughter with comic situations and mistakes with impossible consequences.
Comedy Features
Comedy is characterized by the use of humor to transform, exaggerate and ridicule the drama for comic situations and generally have a happy ending. The comedy genre usually uses mistakes and misunderstandings to transform them into nonsense, these situations are known as quid pro quo.Its pace is fast and agile, through a dynamic action capable of capturing and maintaining the attention of viewers. The characters are caricaturedso that they are recognizable and fun at the same time. They often present situations that go against what is expected with the aim of provoking surprise and laughter. It offers a critical perspective of reality loaded with irony and satire and invites reflection on the part of the viewer. Conflicts are resolved in a positive way to generate satisfaction And joy.
Types of comedy
There are many types of comedy, whether as literary, theatrical or cinematographic genres. Below are some types of comedy that exist:
Greek comedy
It originates in Ancient Greece and is part of classical theater, which initially only included tragedy. The comedy was characterized by the use of satirical poems and masks for the actors.
Examples Greek comedies are The Birds, by Aristophanes, or The Samia, by Menander.
comedy of art
Comedy del arte is a genre that originated in Italy in the 16th century. In Italian, commedia dell’arteremained until the beginning of the 19th century as a popular theater that was characterized by improvisation and the use of masks by the actors, except for the protagonists in love.
Situation comedy
The situation comedy is represented by short scenes that exaggerate common habits and situations. A current example is the comic series, also known in English as sitcom.
Musical comedy
Musical comedy is a theatrical genre known especially for its performances in Broadway musicals. Musical comedy is also common in the film industry, constituting a type of spectacle comedy.
Romantic comedy
Romantic comedies refer to encounters and disagreements between the protagonists in love, which ends with a happy ending. It usually fits into the comedy of errors genre.
Comedy and tragedy
Comedy and tragedy are genres of theater. Classical theater was born in Ancient Greece with tragedy. Later, comedy was born in the form of poems until it became a play in itself.
Comedy and tragedy merge in what is called tragicomedy, where the tragedy is so ridiculous that it becomes comedy, tragicomic situations where the audience does not know whether to laugh or cry.
The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy It is a poetic work written by the Florentine Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) in 1307. It is divided into 3 songs: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. It is called divine comedy, alluding to the mistakes of the earth as a comedy of the gods.
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