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Geoffrey Wang
Professor Connell
February 16, 2016
Genre Report: Comedy
What is Comedy?
Comedy is anything and everything that amuses the audience and provokes laughter. There are
all types of comedy that vary depending on the intended audience and medium. The comedy
genre got its start and name from the ancient Greeks.. The origin of the Greek word komoidia is
pretty much translated to laughter-provoking(Bates). The works of the famous Athenian comic
playwright Aristophanes are some the earliest examples of comedic literature still in existence,
and he played a tremendous role in shaping some of the characteristics of the genre(Bates).
While it may seem very subjective, in that one person may find something amusing while
another person could be cringing at the same time, comedy does have consistencies that define
its structure. First, the comedic protagonists are usually normal people who are not blessed with
special powers or status. Second, comedy has a tone that is light and happy while the comic hero
faces a conflict that is not very serious. And by the end of a comedy, not only should the
audience be laughing their socks off, but aware about the trivialness of their own problems and
how ridiculous they are approaching them.
The Evolution of Comedy
Comedy started as lyrics performed in ancient Greece, where scenes would be painted by songs
and humorous situations would be exploited(Evolition). This progressed into Greek philosophers
writing down comedic poetry and gave comedy its basic criteria(Evolution). It then evolved into

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the dramas that Greek playwrights like Aristophanes would write and be performed for much
larger crowds(Evolution). These comedic dramas did not change much until the 16th century
when Shakespeare redefined genre with his plays. The romantic comedy was born with distinct
uses of clever word play and complex plots. In the 18th century, writers like Richard Sheridan
began shooting out Satirical comedies and witty characters(Evolution). In the past decade,
comedy has grown to take over the film industry and makes subtle appearances in literary works.
Comedy movies have been dominating even before sound and color was introduced to film. the
actors could portray simple struggles so well, that anyone watching could understand. It is with
that mentality that comedy movies are still so prevalent today because of their reliability to the
audience.
Comedy Vs. Tragedy
In theater, tragedy is the sister to comedy. While tragedy pokes at the pains and hardships of a
heros journey, comedy usually tells the story of a normal person with a problem of much less
significance. While the story of the tragic hero ends in his downfall, the comedic protagonist
usually ends in a positive and happy manner. Tragedy and comedy both tell the tale of a
character with a problem, but the difference lies in the approach and how these problems are
handled. Everything is made for the audience of any work, and the takeaway that audiences have
between comedy and tragedy differ greatly. The audience of a tragedy leaves with a sense that
they have witnessed something so horrible that their lives are good in comparison. On the other
hand, the audience of a comedy gets to see serious problems dealt with in a humorous manner
that can help them see that their problems may not be as serious as they thought (Anthi). While

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the audience sees the subjects dealt with in different ways both comedy and tragedy help them to
gauge their own problems in comparison.
Notable Works
The most common form of comedy now is film, though there are still comedy novels being
written. Two major books that I enjoyed were Tina Feys Bossypants and Ellen
DeGeneres SeriouslyIm Kidding. Two examples of comedy movies are Spaceballs
and Spy. Spaceballs is an extremely funny movie that is a parody of Star Wars. I chose these
films as examples of slapstick comedy, which is a subgenre of comedy that contains extreme
exaggerations to produce the emphasized effect. These films arent created to jostle the emotions
of the audience. They arent made to tell a horrific tale. They are simply made to humor people.
Kick back, relax, and let out a few good laughs. Thats what comedy is for.

The genre of comedy has its roots on being funny and amusing. There are a million ways to
achieve this. Everything is dependent on the style of humor being used and who the target
audience. Based on age, gender, or time period, any piece of work can target the humor that is

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specific of any one group. There are romantic comedies, parodies, slapstick, and many other
types that address the different senses of humor that everyone has.

Titanic: A Review of the Classic Comedy

By Geoffrey Wang

Titanic
Director: James
Cameron
Runtime: 195 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Cast: Leonardo
DiCaprio, Kate Winslet,
Billy Zane

Hilarious movie. I recently took the time to watch one of the greatest
comedy classics of our time. Titanic. I havent watched this movie
since the fourth grade and did not really appreciate the extremely long
film for its comedic value. This 90s film recreates a very funny CGI
reenactment of the Titanic sinking and just everything about the
characters make it an absolute delight.
The movie starts off with a treasure hunter snooping along the bottom
of the ocean floor in a 90s submarine which is supposed to be
happening in the present time period of the films release. The
treasure hunter and his team recover an old safe hoping that they have
found something of incredible value, a priceless diamond necklace.
The crew breaks the safe open only to find muddy papers and their
reactions are just priceless. However, they seem to uncover an old
sketch of some boobs in the safe as well. This is all being filmed by
the crew as part of a TV show and when it is aired, an old lady, Rose,
recognizes her boobs in the doodle that is broadcasted across the
world. Hilarious! I mean I dont how embarrassing that would be for
me to have my naked portrait shown everywhere. Then the old
grandmother decides to visit the treasure hunting crew and tell her
story.
The scene is set when a healthy assortment of passengers embark on
an exciting journey upon the generations most famous newly built

submarine, the Titanic. Rose describes in detail her past and how she
was from a wealthy family. She then goes on complaining that she
felt like a slave because parties, yachts, and polo matches are just
absolutely dreadful for any rich person. She then attempts to jump off
the ship and remove herself from all the parties in life but then out
popped Jack and his pretty face who saves the poor damsel in
distress. The two of them chat and soon enough she falls madly in
love with the stinky poor. Rose then spends time with Jack and the
rest of the poor people on the bottom of the ship like Jacks friend
Fabrizio who runs around with a spot-on Mario accent. The two love
birds frolic around and flirt some more while they evade the
henchmen threatening to end their relationship. They then drop some of the funniest lines that go
down in movie history like, Draw me like one of your French girls , Im flying, Jack!, and
many more.
Then shit happens and the ship gets smashed into a shy iceberg that the two idiots on iceberg
duty seemed to have missed. The Titanic starts sinking and yet Rose and Jack are still holding
hands and running around the ship. The ocean starts entering the ship without an invitation and
the death toll begins. The rich people on the upper floors were just too funny. They picked to
drink brandy and refused to wear life jackets because they thought it was not fashionable enough.
I could not agree more! The broke people are enjoying their time as they ride the giant slide
down the tilted ship into the water park. Rose then wraps up her story by describing how she was
floating on a small slab of wood and Jack was just barely holding onto the corner while they

floated in the freezing water. The wood was obviously large enough to fit multiple people but she
decided to be comical by being greedy and freezing the love of her life to death. The film then
goes back to the present day grandma version Rose who, without telling anyone, decides to
remember Jack in her heart by throwing the ridiculously expensive diamond necklace that no one
knew she had into the ocean. What a troll! Rose was still aboard the treasure hunters ship and
did the ultimate prank to them.
The three hour fourteen minute film seemed to last a lot longer than the actual journey of the
Titanic, but it was still an amusing experience. I felt that it was a great blend of historical fact
and slapstick comedy. The classic story of the pauper attempting the life of the wealthy and the
new experiences that he would never have been able to afford. I was laughing throughout the
majority of the film and enjoyed it every bit. The only part that I felt like that hurt this comedy
film was that too many people had died when the ship was sinking. I think if less people died, the
humor throughout the film would definitely have a stronger and funnier finish.

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Geoffrey Wang
Professor Sarah Connell
ENGW1111
February 19, 2016
Unit 2 Analysis
Genre is a style. Genre is a category. Genre is a way to sort mediums based on the
characteristics and criteria that define any given genre. Adventure, comedy, fiction, non-fiction,
these are just a few of the original genres that come to mind. With the evolving literature in the
era that we live in today, new genres are booming and evolving all the time. The variations and
recombinations of tone, style, and content, create not only new genres, but sub-genres as well.
This has all been a task to classify where any work belongs so that readers can find similar works
that coincide with their interests.
Any work is classified into a genre by the writer and the readers. This however, leads to
many conflicts and variance in the process of defining the genre. In An Introduction to Genre
Theory, an article by Daniel Chandler that explores the relationships and complexity of genre,
Chandler discusses how the classification of a genre is not an objective procedure. The difference
of opinion between the author and reader lies in the underlying factor that everyone reads or
writes with bias. Everyones understanding of things comes from their background knowledge,
previous experiences, and the surroundings that shape their mentality. This was one of the very
important lessons that I learned from our first unit and in this unit using this idea that people
interpret things differently, genre has grown to be much more subjective as a concept. I have
always blindly thought that there was a single genre that define any written work. It wasnt until

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we drew the charts and diagrams in class did I see those connections between that created
individual genre titles specific to individual pieces.
I wrote my contra-review on the movie Titanic and misinterpreted as a comedy film.
While the Titanic is so famously known as a romance and historical drama movie, identifying it
as a comedy film may seem quite farfetched. However, this task was fairly simple in doing so
because, by eliminating many of the somber scenes and emotions from the movie, all that is left
is two teenagers running around acting like children. All that is left to take in are the comedic
scenes and elements from the movie, making it seem like it was a comedy movie all along. Most
movies and books contain different content within its individual scenes and by only looking at
one type of characteristic, it may seem that comedy or any other genre is in fact everywhere. For
the movie review, I watched the film, but this time only taking note of the comedic scenes. The
last time I watched the movie was in elementary school and since then have only remembered
the tragedy of the event. I was extremely surprised to watch so many scenes that seemed like a
slapstick comedy movie. The characters and their actions seemed almost too intentional to be a
joke.
Comedy films are meant to make people laugh. This makes it difficult to label as any
genre on its own, when it should be used as a subgenre instead. Humor can be found anywhere
and so the comedy genre can be found anywhere as well. For example, romantic comedies, teen
comedies, action comedies, and even comedy horror. The main roles that I have found about
comedy are that it serves to exaggerate common situations to unrealistic situations so that the
audience can find the humor in the frustrations of life. I remember this quote from the legendary
Woody Allen that, Comedy is tragedy plus time. This is a sad realization, yet it is so true. The

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contra- review further proves this point since I wrote it about the tragic Titanic incident. While it
would have been extremely fucked up to joke up the iceberg in the 20s, a film released 80 years
later can bring out the humor for people to reflect on. People make Abe Lincoln jokes all the
time now, jokes about Napoleon, jokes about Hitler. What traumatized the world at one point is
now a one-liner that cracks everyone up.
Genres arent only used to sort works into categories, but the reverse works as well.
When readers examine any book in the genre mystery, they know which certain elements that are
bound to show up in the book. And when a teen dystopia novel is picked up, there will be set
characters that combine together with the plot for the genre. The evolving methods to categorize
genres ultimately affect the way any text is read and understood.

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Works Cited
Anthi, Hasa. "Difference Between Comedy and Tragedy." PediaaCom. Pediaa, 04 Aug. 2015.
Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
Bates, Alfred. The Drama; Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization. Vol. 1. London:
Smart and Stanley, 1903. Print.
Chandler, Daniel. An Introduction to Genre Theory. University of Aberystwyth. University
of Aberystwyth, 2000. Web. 01Mar. 2016.
"Evolution of Comedy." Infoplease.com. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2012. Web. 04 Mar.
2016.
Hoy, Cyrus Henry. "Comedy." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Apr.
2014. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
Jamieson, Lee. "4 Ways to Identify a Shakespeare Comedy." About.com Education. About
Education, 14 Dec. 2014. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.