Physical Comedy - Seminole Cinema: SEHS Film



IB Film 1: W15.1Physical Comedy as a GenrePhysical Comedy -?An EvolutionHere are 4 examples of how physical comedy has media dell’Arte began in Italy in the 16th century. ?The National Theatre demonstrates its features.Watch -?The World of Commedia dell'ArteThe famous mirror scene from the Marx Brothers’?Duck Soup. ?The Marx Brothers developed their talents from the days of Vaudeville.Watch -?Marx Brothers mirror scene - Duck soupA classic slapstick sequence by Dick Van Dyke. ?In this hilarious sequence, Van Dyke demonstrates a range of physical comedy.Watch -?Slapstick by Dick Van DykeThe Exam?from Mr. Bean television series. ?Rowan Atkinson is highly regarded for his range of physical comedy skills.Watch -?The Exam Cheat | Funny Clip | Mr. Bean OfficialPhysical ComedyPhysical comedy as a tradition probably goes back to the earliest forms of theatre tradition.Greek plays featured three forms of plays - tragedy, comedy, and the Satyr play. ?Of the three, the Satyr play featured sight-gags and pranks in a form that mocked the general seriousness of the tragedies that had been media dell'arteImprovised ComedyStarting in the middle of the 16th century, Commedia dell'arte was a form of improvised comedy performed by troupes of traveling artists.Most of the players were masked, and they used variations on the same stock characters.Some of the characters included:Il Dottre—the learned University DoctorIl Capitano—the Spanish soldierPantalone—a lecherous old manArlecchino (also known as Harlequin) - a clownish servant who performs with great physical agility, doing cartwheels and flips, and often wielding a slapstick.These Comedia characters, and many others, became archetypes of physical comedy, the same basic characters being used today.SlapstickUniversal Physical ComedyThe slapstick that was a part of the performance, was a club made of two wooden sticks that made a loud noise when someone was hit, but did not actually transfer much force.The actors could appear to be hitting each other, without doing much damage.This form of physical comedy came about in other cultures too.For instance, in Japanese manzai comedy, which is a two man comedy act, a common prop is a paper fan called a harisen, which makes a loud smack sound.When one comic butts in to correct the other’s errors, the punishment is a swift smack on the head.The term slapstick comedy came to represent this very physical genre of comedy, which was a natural for silent film.Without sound to convey witty dialog and only inter-titles (or title cards), which were limited in their ability to convey lines as quickly as comedians could when performing live, physical comedy became a dominant form in the early days of Film.Silent to SoundSilent film comics were some of the most recognised and beloved stars.Charlie ChaplinAs late as 1999, Charlie Chaplin?was ranked as the?10th Greatest Male Screen Legend of All Time?by the American Film Institute on their list of 25 male and 25 female stars.Though Chaplin continued to make films in the sound era (his last film role was a cameo in 1967), films like?City Lights?(1931) and?Modern Times?(1936) were essentially silent, showing Chaplin's commitment to the power of a purely physical performance.Note -?Modern Times?does contain sound, but it usually comes from inanimate objects like the radio, a device to help audiences, who were used to sound by 1936. It is also the first film in which Chaplin's voice was heard, singing a nonsense song at the end of the film.In 1931, in?Time?magazine, Chaplin said:“Action is more generally understood than words.Like Chinese symbolism, it will mean different things according to its scenic connotation.Listen to a description of some unfamiliar object - an African warthog, for example; then look at a picture of the animal and see how surprised you are.”Buster KeatonBuster Keaton was another silent era comedy star whose roots were in Vaudeville, like Charlie Chaplin who had been a music hall performer in England.Buster Keaton performed with his family in?The Three Keatons, an act that involved his father throwing him across the room.Billed as?The Little Boy Who Can’t Be Damaged, he would explain throughout his life that he was never injured by his father and that physical comedy prat-falls were all a matter of learning to fall correctly, landing limp and breaking the fall with a foot or hand.Like Chaplin, Keaton made the list of the?Greatest Male Film Stars of All Time -?ranked 21 on the list of 25.Keaton was called?The Great Stone Face?because of his deadpan reactions to all the chaos that was happening around him.A writer and director of his own films in the silent era, Keaton was also cited as the?Seventh Greatest Director of All Time?by?Entertainment Weekly.?Keaton's influence is still felt today.In his autobiography,?Jackie Chan: My Story, Jackie Chan cites Keaton’s amazing, and dangerous, physical comedy (which include stunts like the front of a house falling down on himself and surviving the fall?by standing in the space where the doorway was), as the primary source for Chan’s own comic Kung-Fu style.Like other genres and traditions we have examined, you can see the film genre of slapstick comedy began as a theatrical genre that transferred itself to the new artform of Film.This association continued as comedy developed in the age of sound.The Marx BrothersThe Marx Brothers also began in Vaudeville, where they honed a style of comedy that included both slapstick physical comedy and elaborate verbal humor.There were five brothers on stage, Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo, and Gummo, but Gummo did not appear in any films and Zeppo only appeared in the first five films.Groucho, Harpo, and Chico together appeared in 16 films, 13 of which were selected by the American Film Institute for their list of the?Top 100 Film Comedies of All Time.Two of their films are in the top 20.A Night at the Opera?(1935) is ranked?13th Funniest Film of All Time, and?Duck Soup?(1933) is ranked number 5.The Marx Brothers were famous on stage in the 1920's for improvisational comedy in free-form scenarios, a form similar to Commedia dell'arte.Groucho played the Old Professor? - a formally-dressed character with a painted-on moustache - who really does not seem too far removed from Il Dottre.In both cases, the character is a lampoon of an educated man - or at least a man who pretends to be educated - who talks a lot about things he really does not understand.Harpo played a character similar in many ways to Arlecchino, a physical performer whose pratfalls and incredible physical stunts were paired with silent performance - Harpo did not speak but honked a taxi-cab horn to mimic speech.Even Chico, who played an Italian character, has some ties to Il Capitano, the foreigner or fish-out-of-water, whose actions are at odds with the society in which he finds himself.The Roots of Physical ComedyLike so much else in the world of film, the roots of physical comedy tradition and the slapstick comedy genre come from the theatre where artists honed their skills of physical performance.Particularly in the days of silent film, these abilities communicate quickly and directly with the audience, and so the styles made their way from stages of music hall and Vaudeville?to the screen.The genre became even richer during the sound era, when physical comedy could be balanced against verbal humor for an even more madcap form of comedy.Ultimately, the form has survived in various forms through film history to the art of modern performers such as Jim Carrey in films like?Bruce Almighty (2003)?and?Ace Ventura: Pet Detective?(1994), Rowan Atkinson’s?Mr. Bean?(2002),?Johnny Knoxville in?Jackass: The Movie?(2002)?and many, many more.Further ViewingUltimately the only way to appreciate the tradition of physical comedy and the slapstick genre is by watching them.It is also one of the most enjoyable experiences you can have.When Norman Cousins (American political Journalist, author, professor?and World Peace?advocate)?fought a life-threatening illness, one of the ways he kept a positive attitude was by watching a Marx Brothers movie every day.He credited the laughter with helping him beat a possibly fatal disease. Whether that is true or not, watching these films certainly will not hurt you.Watch -?A Night at the Opera?(1935)?Marx Brothers purists regard?Duck Soup?(1933) as their greatest film, but this film showcases both great verbal humor and incredibly physical comedy. Watch for the steerage scene, which is an inspiration for a similar scene in?Titanic?(1997).Watch -?The Gold Rush (1925)Written, produced, directed and starring Charlie Chaplin as the Little Tramp,?this is one of Chaplin’s greatest films and shows both his ability as an actor and as a slapstick comic. ................
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