In a movie trailer for "Bad Teacher," a beautiful and talented American actress throws a basketball at a boy's groin. In a recent remake of the movie "Arthur," a respected English actress says to the actor playing her son Arthur, "Wash your winky." A television commercial has two women eating yogurt and trashing marriage. In another TV ad, a man sitting behind the wheel of a new minivan in a car dealership, makes a crack about the van being so good it almost makes you want to have children; young children play and shout in the background and the man, sneering slightly, repeats "Almost." In these failed attempts at humor there is a strong element of mean-spiritedness, notably toward children. I am not talking about satire. Satire needs to be unkind. Moliere pokes fun at hypocrites unkindly and hilariously. Insinuating an automobile is more rewarding than parenthood isn't satire; it is a mean and rather vapid comment.
A former television comic amasses a fortune by cranking out movies apparently targeted to twelve year olds crazy about bodily function jokes. Proving greed is not limited to corporate executives, extremely gifted actors opt for yet another comic book movie franchise. Apparently, it really is "all about the money." If only it were about the craft -- whether writing or acting -- once again. A television commercial from years ago that was funny had an elderly woman in a fast food restaurant open her hamburger bun, look inside and ask, "Where's the beef?" In today's comedy, where is the wit? Where are the sight gags? Where are the puns?
Comedy is more difficult than tragedy as it is easier to be weepy than witty. But what makes a book, a play, or a movie funny? Why are fart jokes in "The Canterbury Tales" and "Blazing Saddles" so funny and so un-funny in contemporary sausage factory cinema? Why are Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, the Marx brothers, Peter Sellers, Steve Martin, and Woody Allen always funny? What's so funny about them?
In her wonderful book "The Craft of Comedy," the late English comedienne Athene Seyler reveals three elements of comedy -- opposites, exaggeration, and surprise. Recall Oscar and Felix in Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple;" the song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" during the crucifixion scene in Monty Python's "Life of Brian;" Woody Allen's character in "Sleeper" cryogenically preserved for two hundred years, along with his horn rimmed glasses -- in Reynolds Wrap; and, any scene in the 1938 classic comedy "Bringing Up Baby." I don't want to sound like Deuteronomy in the musical "Cats," always pining for the old days, especially since "the old days" aren't even mine, they belong to my parents. But you only have to watch the old comedies of filmmakers Ernst Lubitsch and Preston Sturges to see what we are missing in the new ones. Paraphrasing H.L. Mencken's "One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms," one horse laugh is worth ten thousand mean-spirited and failed attempts at humor.
I agree with you! We need a Renaissance. It is unbelievable what I am competing with as a mother of a teen. Lots of sexual comedy that in no way resembles reality, drugs, fart jokes, insensitivity and violence. Irene actually laughed when I told her about a music video where Eminen ruins a great song by shooting himself in the head. I asked her how is that funny, and the problem is people have gotten so desensitized to reality in an inhumane way. So there is a real disconnect. She did not seem to consider that for what it was, a gross and graphically violent, and unnecessary element. What movies did Ernst Lubitsch and Preston Sturges make? the best comics are those who can avoid grossness.
ReplyDeleteSuch a great post, Barbara-- comedy is so hard! Today, lots of vulgarity and parody pass themselves off as comedy. I console myself by reading Bertie and Jeeves stories-- hard not to get in a good mood reading, Comrade Bingo.
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly, Right now, Woody Allen, the Coen brothers, Albert Brooks, Mel Brooks, Rob Reiner, and Nora Ephron are keeping humor alive in movies. Two Preston Sturges films I love are "The Lady Eve" and "The Palm Beach Story." My Ernst Lubitsch favorites are "To Be or Not To Be," "The Shop Around the Corner" ("You've Got Mail" was based on this) -- and probably my favorite film on the planet earth, "Trouble in Paradise." If you rent any of these or catch them on TV, you'll have plenty of those horse-laughs I alluded to above.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carla. "Lots of vulgarity and parody" passing themselves off is right. Do the writers/directors think we won't notice we aren't laughing?
ReplyDeleteI think a lot if the media writers get jobs because they are related to or know someone, hence the lack of talent.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more. Woody Allen, Mel Brooks...those were the men who made movies full of humor and innocent jabs at all of us. Though I'm sure Brooks pushed the envelope hard back in his day.
ReplyDeleteToday, it is a culture of cruelty. It's not about laughing at our selves and our bodily functions. It's about hurting and humiliating others. And I'm not sure where it comes from, but it's sad.
Wonderfully written essay, as always!
If you love The Lady Eve and Trouble in Paradise-- DO read Dawn Powell's Angels on Toast -- as frothy and quick-witted as any classic film.
ReplyDeleteOh, Barbara, you are SO right! Vulgarity passes for humor, but only with those who are mired in the 7th-grade, bodily functions mode.
ReplyDeleteIf a movie is touted as a comedy, I don't even bother with it anymore.
(You'd think after the success of "The King's Speech" that writers/producers/actors would aim at quality, wouldn't you.
Thank you for saying out loud what I think.
Hi Sunny, Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Perhaps, like a forgotten movie star, genuine humor will make a "comeback!"
ReplyDeleteWell, the way I see it some of the humor that we feel nostalgic about today and that we label the "real humor", in its day was considered outrageous and vulgar. Just consider the Monty Python crew. Many of their sketches featured nudity, sexual innuendo, and really pushed the limit (remember the sketch about eating the recently deceased mother?). The Life of Brian movie you mentioned was really controversial.
ReplyDeleteHumor in the US, for some reason, seems to bee more about humiliating others; but this may be a cultural issue. I read that Americans, on the average, tend to favor jokes where people are humiliated, as opposed to jokes that are more sophisticated in nature. But consider the current success of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory that, for all of its sexuality and sexual innuendo, manages to cram a lot of sophisticated humor into that half hour episode.
I think that when it comes to humor there are a lot of choices. There were sitcoms like Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier, Home Improvement, Everybody Loves Raymond, Mad About You, The Nanny and so forth that did not rely on vulgarity, grossness, slapstick and so forth, at least most of the time. There are comedians that will make bodily functions, grossness and vulgarity their trade. And they may be successful for a while. But I think that unless they evolve beyond that they will fade away.
Hi Phanto, Perhaps the current meanspiritedness in American comedy is "a cultural issue" but I'm not sure. Some say it is a response to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but I don't buy that. It seems a lack of talent and a lack of a work ethic on the part of writers -- so much easier to appeal to the lowest common denominator than to work at producing work that is original and humorous.
ReplyDeleteI love "Bringing Up Baby" and remember how hard I laughed the first time I saw it. I have watched some supposedly hysterical movies that provoked only a mild ha!. However, "Noises Off" "Home Alone" and "Cat Ballou" made my sides split - primarily with sight gags and pratfalls. When I directed high school plays, I relied on these methods to make live comedy work. When the kids thought the laugh was in the line only, they were usually wrong. They'd add a trip or a take and tickle the audience.
ReplyDeleteSuzanne, Thanks for commenting and oh, you are so right. When I directed comedy I always asked my cast to watch "Bringing Up Baby." And actors who have mastered the double or triple take get double or triple the laughs! Acting lessson One: It's behavior not words (don't tell the playwright!)...
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