3
Jul
2009
Dear Comedy: It’s not funny anymore
First, this is a real quick post. I don’t have much time today, but I wanted to get this out while it’s on my mind.
I go through phases with movies. For a while I’ll be into cerebral stuff — independent films, long, atmospheric pieces, epic dramas. Then I’ll be into horror films — people getting into ridiculous situations and doing stupid things while experiencing really horrible things. Then comedy — people getting into ridiculous situations and doing stupid things while experiencing really horrible things (wait, what?). Then action, sci-fi, etc.
Each genre of film has its own sort of standard structure. I’ve been noticing some really repetitive structures in comedies. They recall the classic Greek comedy structure of well-woe-well. And it’s becoming tedious to the point that I don’t want want to watch comedies anymore.
- We join the protagonist in situ, just going through their comfortable, idiosyncratic life.
- The protagonist encounters something that breaks them out of their comfort zone.
- He or she resists, then gives in.
- Loves the new situation, does really well.
- But the old, comfortable life, or some personality trait from that life, catches up and causes problems.
- It looks like things are going to end badly for our protagonist.
- Through a ridiculous series of events, happenstance or uncharacteristic resolve, the protagonist overcomes.
- Happy ending.
I’m really tired of this. It makes movies so predictable that it’s like 80-110 minutes of deja vu. Last night I watched Ghost Town with Merry. It was nice, there was humor. But I was able to predict the exact course of events at each turning point. Please, can we have some new structures in comedies? Maybe lately comedies just haven’t been disguising the underlying structure very well. Not enough effort has been put into development.
Or maybe it’s time to go back to the cerebral films. A little randomness might be nice.
Well, I have to say, most of that structure doesn’t bother me. And I don’t think it’d bother you so much either, since it’s the structure of most great films, comedy or not. And of course there is a lot of variations found within that basic framework.
Here’s the real red flag though, if you’re seeing in often:
Through a ridiculous series of events, happenstance or uncharacteristic resolve, the protagonist overcomes.
Happy ending.
That’s going to make an audience feel cheated all the time. The ending has to feel earned and right. It can’t just happen, or seem ridiculous. That’s a real problem!
True, every story has a problem-solution backbone running through it. Maybe it only bothers me when that backbone & related structure are so plain, like in a malnourished person. Lately I see it in so many films without even trying, as if I have x-ray vision. It’s becoming tedious — the same movie over and over again with different skin on it.
As for the endings, it does seem that in many comedies the protagonist often either becomes ridiculous through a sudden, unnatural change of personality or experiences an unbelievable set of circumstances that help to bring about the happy ending.
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