Slapstick is a type of comedy Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in Ancient Greece. In the Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was involving exaggerated A caricature can refer to a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness.[citation needed] In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others violence and activities which exceed the boundaries of common sense.[citation needed]
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Origins
The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick In music, a whip or slapstick is a percussion instrument consisting of two wooden boards joined by a hinge at one end. When the boards are brought together rapidly, the sound is reminiscent of the crack of a whip. It is often used in modern orchestras, bands, and percussion ensembles' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte Commedia dell'arte is a professional form of theatre that began in Italy in the mid-15th century, and was characterized by masked "types", the advent of the actress, and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios. It continued its popularity in France during the 17th century, and evolved into various configurations across. When struck, the battacchio produces a loud smacking noise, though little force is transferred from the object to the person being struck. Actors may thus hit one another repeatedly with great audible effect while causing very little actual physical damage. Along with the inflatable bladder (of which the whoopee cushion A whoopee cushion, also known as a poo-poo cushion and Razzberry Cushion, is a practical joke device that produces a noise resembling a raspberry or human flatulence. It is made from two sheets of rubber that are glued together at the edges. There is a small opening with a flap at one end for air to enter and leave the cushion is a modern variant), it was among the earliest special effects that a person could carry.
History
While the object from which the genre is derived dates from the Renaissance The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historic era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe, this is a general use of the, theater historians argue that slapstick comedy has been at least somewhat present in almost all comedic genres since the rejuvenation of theater in church liturgical dramas in the Middle Ages[citation needed]. (Some argue[weasel words] for instances of it in Greek and Roman theater, as well.) Beating the devil off stage, for example, remained a stock comedic device A comedic device is used in comedy to write humor in a common structure. They can become so common that they are difficult for writers to use without being perceived as cheesy in many otherwise serious religious plays. Shakespeare William Shakespeare [a] was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon".[b] His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays,[c] 154 sonnets, two long also incorporated many chase scenes and beatings into his comedies, such as in his play The Comedy of Errors The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays, believed to have been written between 1592 and 1594. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and wordplay. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's. Building on its later popularity in the nineteenth and early twentieth-century ethnic routines of the American vaudeville Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts included popular and classical musicians, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, female house, the style was explored extensively during the "golden era" of black and white, silent movies directed by figures Mack Sennett Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the "King of Comedy". His short "Wrestling Swordfish" was awarded the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 1932 and he earned an Academy Honorary Award in 1937 and Hal Roach Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. was an American film and television producer and director from the 1910s to the 1990s and featuring such notables as Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor and film director of the silent film era. He became one of the best-known film stars in the world before the end of the First World War. Chaplin used mime, slapstick and other visual comedy routines, and continued well into the era of the talkies, though his films, Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular comedy teams of the early to mid Classical Hollywood era of American cinema. Composed of thin, English-born Stan Laurel and heavy, American-born Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) they became well known during the late 1920s to the mid-1940s for their work in motion pictures; the team also appeared on stage, the Keystone Kops The Keystone Kops featured in a series of silent film comedies about a totally incompetent group of policemen. The movies were produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917. The idea came from Hank Mann who also played police chief Tehiezel in the first film before being replaced by Ford Sterling. Their first film, and the Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe, Larry, and Shemp," among. Slapstick is also common in animated cartoons The word cartoon has various meanings, based on several very different forms of visual art and illustration. The artists who draw cartoons are known as cartoonists such as Tom and Jerry Tom and Jerry is a series of animated theatrical shorts created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that centered on a never-ending rivalry between a housecat and a mouse (Jerry) whose chases and battles often involved comic violence. Hanna and Barbera ultimately wrote and directed one hundred and fourteen Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series which ran in many movie theaters from 1930 to 1969. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and is WB's first animated theatrical series. The regular Warner Bros. animation cast also became known as the "Looney Tunes".
Slapstick continues to maintain a presence in modern comedy that draws upon its lineage, running in film from Buster Keaton Joseph Frank Keaton, known professionally as Buster Keaton , was an American comic actor and filmmaker. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face" and Louis de Funès to Mel Brooks Melvin "Mel" Kaminsky , better known by his stage name Mel Brooks, is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor, and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. Brooks is a member of the short list of entertainers with the distinction of having won an Emmy, a Grammy, to the Farrelly Brothers Peter John Farrelly and Robert Leo "Bobby" Farrelly, Jr. (born June 17, 1958), professionally known as the Farrelly Brothers are screenwriters and directors of ten comedy films, including There's Something About Mary; Dumb and Dumber; Kingpin; Me, Myself & Irene; Shallow Hal; Stuck on You; Osmosis Jones; Fever Pitch (also known as, and in live performance from Weber & Fields to Jackie Gleason Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The Hustler (1961) starring Paul Newman, and as Buford T to Rowan Atkinson Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is an English comedian, actor and writer. He is most famous for his work in the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean, and The Thin Blue Line. He has been listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever.
See also
- Laughter Laughter is an audible expression or the appearance of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy . It may ensue (as a physiological reaction) from jokes, tickling or other stimuli. It is in most cases a very pleasant sensation
- Slapstick film
- Wacky Comedy film Anarchic comedy is a genre of cinema using nonsensical, stream-of-consciousness humor. Films of this nature stem from a theatrical history of anarchic comedy on the stage. Jokes and visual gags are utilized, usually in a non sequitur manner that eschews narrative for sheer absurdity. Like farce, anarchic comedy uses wildly exaggerated characters
- Physical comedy Physical comedy, whether conveyed by a pratfall , a silly face, or the action of walking into walls, is a common and rarely subtle form of comedy. It is a clownish exploitation of movement, the most primordial human medium of expression, which predates language and the introduction of cerebral elements to humour such as cultural tradition,
- Stage combat Stage combat is a specialized technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet productions. The term is also used informally to describe fight choreography for other production media including film and television. It is
External links
- "What's the Origin of Slapstick?" The Straight Dope The Straight Dope is a popular question-and-answer newspaper column published in the Chicago Reader, syndicated in thirty newspapers in the United States and Canada, as well as being available and archived at the Straight Dope website, 1 March 2005.
- "Slapstick." Answers.com, 2008.
- Dirks, Tim. "Comedy Films." filmsite.org, 1996-2008.
Categories: Slapstick comedy
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Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:56:27 GMT+00:00
Seattle Times But more impressive here are the show's verbal clarity, the fizzy romantic chemistry between adversarial lovers, and some inspired slapstick bits like ...
