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Comedy film

Comedic actor Buster Keaton (left) struggling with a wrecked car in The Blacksmith, a 1922 short comedy film

The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh.[1] Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the oldest genres in film, and it is derived from classical comedy in theatre. Some of the earliest silent films were slapstick comedies, which often relied on visual depictions, such as sight gags and pratfalls, so they could be enjoyed without requiring sound. To provide drama and excitement to silent movies, live music was played in sync with the action on the screen, on pianos, organs, and other instruments.[2] When sound films became more prevalent during the 1920s, comedy films grew in popularity, as laughter could result from both burlesque situations but also from humorous dialogue.

Comedy, compared with other film genres, places more focus on individual star actors, with many former stand-up comics transitioning to the film industry due to their popularity.[3]

In The Screenwriters Taxonomy (2017), Eric R. Williams contends that film genres are fundamentally based upon a film's atmosphere, character, and story, and therefore, the labels "drama" and "comedy" are too broad to be considered a genre.[4] Instead, his taxonomy argues that comedy is a type of film that contains at least a dozen different sub-types.[5] A number of hybrid genres have emerged, such as action comedy and romantic comedy.

  1. ^ "Comedy Films". Filmsite.org. Retrieved 29 April 2002.
  2. ^ Tucker, Bruce (13 December 2021). "The History of Silent Movies in the Theater". Octane Seating. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  3. ^ Vitale, Micaela Pérez (17 January 2022). "Stand-Up Comedians Who Became Great Actors". MovieWeb. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  4. ^ Williams, Eric R. Screen adaptation: beyond the basics: techniques for adapting books, comics, and real-life stories into screenplays. Ayres, Tyler. New York. ISBN 978-1-315-66941-0. OCLC 986993829.
  5. ^ Williams, Eric R. (2017). The Screenwriters Taxonomy: A Roadmap to Collaborative Storytelling. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-10864-3. OCLC 993983488.

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