The classic conception of comedy, which began with aristotle in. A fourth type of theory, which takes the central feature of humor to be ambivalence, a mingling of attraction and repulsion, is of minor importance. Classical and renaissance theories of comedy english and things. Suddenly, he slips on a banana peel and falls down. Contemporary linguistic theories of humour arvo krikmann abstract. Laughter and mirth, according to relief theory, result from this release of nervous energy. Classical and renaissance theories of comedy english and. Bergsons theory of the comic in the light of english comedy. Drama originated in ancient greece, developing from religious ceremonies.
Comedy of humours was introduced by ben jonson, in english drama. To explore the many intersections between comedy and philosophy, lets start with improv, a form of onthespot comedy that often involves competition. An aristotelian theory of comedy with an adaptation of the poetics and a translation of the tractatus coislinanus. Humor, according to relief theory, is used mainly to. There are 3 main theories used to explain the functions of humor. You watch a man preferably portly and selfimportant walking down the street. One such contest is the hat game, in which a maestro will set the sceneperhaps a train station waiting roomand assign a character to each actor. Pdf humor theories and the physiological benefits of.
Bergsons theory of the comic 3 bergsons theory of the comic in the light of english comedy i from plato onward many of the worlds greatest thinkers have attempted to tell the meaning of laughter. Arthur koestlers bisociation theory of humour and its reception. Dante alighieri, charles eliot norton created date. For reasons of practicality and continuity i will describe this theory in the respective chapter in coalition with applying it to community instead of presenting it separately before the analysis. According to aristotle who speculates on the matter in his poetics, ancient comedy originated with the komos, a curious and improbable spectacle in which a company of festive males apparently sang, danced, and cavorted rollickingly around the image of a large phallus. If this theory is true, by the way, it gives a whole new meaning. Tragic catharsis in poetics aristotle, in his poetics, claimed that tragedy, through pity and fear, accomplishes the catharsis of such emotions di j ejlevou kai. They should be helpful when considering different views of comedy in your coursework essay on much ado about nothing, and. Theories of humor in the wider sense are attempts to solve this problem. Only a joke can save uspresents an innovative and comprehensive theory of comedy. Humor, according to relief theory, is used mainly to overcome sociocultural inhibitions. Pdf the wellknown theories are the incongruity theory, the relief theory, and. Your job is to bridge the gap between your ideas and the audience members expectations. Dec 14, 20 the layers of pretentious academia are stripped away and all the bases on the subject of comedy are covered.
Monros theories of humor michigan state university. Comedy, type of drama or other art form the chief object of which, according to modern notions, is to amuse. It is not surprising that the thing has proved alluring, for whereas a true theory of laughter might add little to our enjoyment of. Fundamentals of humor putting on your comedy gogglesworkbookour philosophy of comedy everyone who shows up at a comedy show wants to laugh. Superiority in humor theory lintott 2016 the journal of. Einsteins theory of relativity to how to play shortstop. The incongruity theory suggests that humour arises when things that do not normally go together replace logic and familiarity. The neurology and evolution of humor, laughter, and smiling.
Relief theory maintains that laughter is a homeostatic mechanism by which psychological tension is reduced. Philosophy of humor stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Oct 16, 20 classical and renaissance theories of comedy october 16, 20 september 27, 2014 mrs boulter the following with the exception of my hilarious additions is taken from david galbraiths theories of comedy, which forms the first chapter of alexander leggatts the cambridge companion to shakespearean comedy cambridge university. Tragedy and comedy, fear and laughter are the two sides of a. Theory of comedy article about theory of comedy by the free.
For a long time comedy implied the opposite of tragedy, that is, a work with an obligatory happy ending. The mastery of discourse by susan purdie, the rhetoric of racist humour. Using a wealth of examples from high and popular culture and with careful attention to the treatment of humor in philosophy, todd mcgowan locates the universal source of comedy in the interplay of the opposing conceptslackandexcess. Pdf aristotles theory of comedy masahiro kitano academia. Drama is a greek word meaning action, drawn from the greek verb dran, to do. Canadian, sets out to present a theory of comic form and the function of comedy by distinguishing between ancient old comedy that of aristophanes and new comedy the comedy of menander, plautus, and terence, and presents shakespearean comedy as a synthesis of the two.
Oct 25, 2016 in this article, i consider the standard interpretation of the superiority theory of humor attributed to plato, aristotle, and hobbes, according to which the theory allegedly places feelings of superiority at the center of humor and comic amusement. Three traditional theories of laughter and humor are examined, along with the theory that humor evolved from mockaggressive play in apes. The view that feelings of superiority are at the heart of all comic amusement is wildly implausible. Now immensely popular in canada, the big bang theory is also rerun daily on the canadian cable channel the comedy network. Though bergsons theories do not engage the psychological uses of humor, near the end of his essay on laughter he suggests, comic absur dity is of the same. It is contrasted on the one hand with tragedy and on the other with farce, burlesque, and other forms of humorous amusement. Comedy of humours, a dramatic genre most closely associated with the english playwright ben jonson from the late 16th century. Torrances the comic hero implies a defiance of traditional theory. And compared to humor writing secrets, playing the pianos eightyeight keys or speaking greek is a lot harder to learn and a lot less fun.
Pdf on may 20, 2017, maria christoff and others published freuds theory of humor. Victor raskins scriptbased theory of jokes ssth in his semantic mechanisms of humor. David hector monro 19112001 pdf, professor of philosophy at monash. Theory of comedy synonyms, theory of comedy pronunciation, theory of comedy translation, english dictionary definition of theory of comedy. The threes theory of humor structure why we laugh at some forms of humor and groan at others the natural hostility of humor why humor must ridicule a target why hardcore humor is more shock than funny the book is divided into three sections. Find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate. The following with the exception of my hilarious additions is taken from david galbraiths theories of comedy, which forms the first chapter of alexander leggatts the cambridge companion to shakespearean comedy cambridge university press, 2002. Folklore 33 27 contemporary linguistic theories of humour arvo krikmann abstract. The term comedy in ancient greece originally denoted revel songs. Approaches to the sense of humor humour summer school. Sep 12, 2010 the divine comedy by dante alighieri is an epic poem written between 8 and his death in 21. The term derives from the latin humor more properly umor, meaning liquid, and its use in the medieval and renaissance medical theory that the human body held a balance of four liquids, or humours. Whereas psychoanalytic theory emphasizes emotion and mo tivation, incongruity theories focus on the cognitive elements of humor. For example, a joke becomes funny when we predict an outcome and another happens.
Humor may thus for example serve to facilitate relief of the tension caused by ones fears. Theory of comedy definition of theory of comedy by the. The three rs of humor the secret of the map theory the beauty of what if. It is argued that aristotelian theory is consistent with aristophanic practice. The false alarm theory of humor being proposed here would also explain slapstick humor. In general, a work written to be performed by actors on a stage. I used this in addition to my required textbooks while taking a course in film comedy and it helped me to understand the various theories of comedy. His account of the historical development of comedy is discussed, together with the application of the concept of poetic universality to comedy.
The divine comedy is not a comedy at all, the title commedia refers to the fact that the journey starts from hell and ends with dantes visit to heaven and meeting with god and understanding of the mystery of reincarnation. Theory of comedy definition of theory of comedy by the free. The ancient roots of humor theory semantic scholar. The big bang theory is telecast throughout canada via the ctv television network in simultaneous substitution with crossborder cbs affiliates. The working of emotion in these easy listening movies is a controversial issue in.
Emotion and film theory this will be an exploration of how emotion works in watching an ordinary hollywood movie or others like it. Comedy of manners high comedy amorous intrigues of the upper class witty language clever speech, insults, and putdowns society made up of cliques the incrowd the wouldbe wits desire to be part of the witty crowd the witless on the outside low comedy farce comedy of manners. Dismissing comedy as just a laughing matter misses this point. The term humour as used by ben jonson is based on an ancient physiological theory of four fluids found in the human body. The philosophy of comedy the university of rhode island. I will be talking only about easytofollow movies, not the more artistic or thoughtful kind. This video essay looks at the structure of a joke and takes a closer look at supplementary techniques used by modern comedians viz. Instead of compromising your artistic sensibilities, you need to find a way to connect with the audience. The comedy of humours was the natural expression of his genius.
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