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The comedy-of-manners genre originated in the New Comedy period (325–260 BC) of Classical Greece (510–323 BC), and is known from fragments of works by the playwright Menander, whose style of writing, elaborate plots, and stock characters were imitated by Roman playwrights, such as Plautus and Terence, whose comedies were known to and staged ...
The best known farce is La Farce de maître Pathelin (The Farce of Master Pathelin) from c. 1460. [3] Spoof films such as Spaceballs, a comedy based on the Star Wars movies, are farces. [4] Sir George Grove opined that the "farce" began as a canticle in the common French tongue intermixed with Latin. It became a vehicle for satire and fun, and ...
A literary genre is a category of literature.Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or length (especially for fiction).They generally move from more abstract, encompassing classes, which are then further sub-divided into more concrete distinctions. [1]
Literature, in general, is defined by Aristotle as a mimesis, or imitation of life. Comedy is the third form of literature, being the most divorced from a true mimesis. Tragedy is the truest mimesis, followed by epic poetry, comedy, and lyric poetry. The genre of comedy is defined by a certain pattern according to Aristotle's definition.
A comedy of embarrassment derived from inappropriate actions or words; popular in television shows and film, but occasionally in stand-up Steve Carell , Stephen Colbert , Ricky Gervais , Stephen Merchant , Richard Herring , Ben Stiller , Larry David , Steve Coogan , Bob Saget , Nathan Fielder ; TV shows: The Office , Curb Your Enthusiasm , Peep ...
In this essay, alternately titled A Comparison between Laughing and Sentimental Comedy and published in 1773, Oliver Goldsmith invokes the classical definition of comedy through Aristotle and Terence and insists that comedy is meant to expose the vices rather than the distresses of man. He argues that theatre is meant to amuse its spectators ...
As derived from literature and theatre, "burlesque" was used, and is still used, in music to indicate a bright or high-spirited mood, sometimes in contrast to seriousness. [16] In this sense of farce and exaggeration rather than parody, it appears frequently on the German-language stage between the middle of the 19th century and the 1920s.
Relief theory suggests humor is a mechanism for pent-up emotions or tension through emotional relief. In this theory, laughter serves as a homeostatic mechanism by which psychological stress is reduced [1] [3] [7] Humor may thus facilitate ease of the tension caused by one's fears, for example.