It is an undeniable fact that the first movies, which were silent movies, were all comedies. These movies had good happy endings and propagated the theme of good winning over the bad. They placed much emphasis on humor and as such they siphoned great interest among the young and the old alike. With the passage of time, the lighthearted comedies gave way to more important social and political satires.
These movies helped people to understand the prevailing conditions through humor and wit. For example, in the well-liked film, ‘comedy of manners’, much emphasis was based on the manners and mannerisms of the social class. It was highlighted by the witty and catchy dialogues. Swapping gender roles in some films like ‘Tootsie’ also created humor and was adored by the audience.
Spoof or parody deals in making fun of, or dealing in a humorous way the plots and themes of the earlier classic films. They treat the subject by employing a wide sense of sarcasm, mockery, etc about the scenes of the old popular films. It is sometimes found that the audiences enjoy these spoofs better than the original movie! Some of the glaring examples of these sorts of movies are ‘Blazing saddles’, ‘Airplane’, etc.
Black comedies are those movies that deals with subjects that are taboo and are not discussed openly in the society. It also includes subjects like war, death, murder, suicide, etc in a satirical way. Though, it is filled with witty dialogues and fun plots, they are able to make the audience realize their follies in the way they deal with some sensitive topics in the society. Some of the most popular black comedies are, ‘War of the Roses’, ‘Keeping Mum’, etc.
The different genres in comedy include the Action comedy, Comedy horror, Fantasy comedy, Sci-fi comedy and Military comedy.