Comedy rouses humor, just as horror rouses fear or romance rouses love. These are all legitimate genres, and legitimate human emotions. Comedy is unique as a genre, as may be among the most challenging, due to the contributing factors required of the reader, viewer, audience, etc. An artist, operating in comedy, can only do so much to explain and describe scenarios and contexts for the benefit of these people. In fact, these efforts detract from the amount of humor and laughter that are meant to be invoked through comedy, but I digress. For the audience, reader, or whoever to understand the deeper levels of humor they must often have knowledge of history, literature, culture, and other areas of study. Also, context is crucial for people to form unique interpretations when considering comedy and humorous works of art. I believe comedy is a legitimate genre, worthy of more careful consideration for award, because the people who benefit from the humor of comedy must contribute knowledge or further understanding, beyond the work presented before them. An artist gambles when committing a comedy in any form. If the audience does not “get it”, the work may be considered a failure. This is despite the fact that this failure may be attributed to the negligence or stupidity of the intended audience.
One Comment
Very good job on your exam! You had solid points, and I liked the variety of works you explored.