Film and Television Genres - Case Study Example

 Film and Television Genres Table of Contents I. Introduction …………………………………………………………… 3 II. British Television Comedies ………………………………………….. 3 a. Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood comedy of Remarriage (1981) …………………………………………… 3 a.1 The Philadelphia ……………………………………… 4 a.2 Adam’s Rib ……………………………………………. 4 a.3 It Happened One Night ……………………………….. 5 a.4 Bringing Up Baby …………………………………….. 6 b. Great Brit-coms: British Television Situation Comedy (2000) 7 b.1 Steptoe and Son ………………………………………. 8 b.2 Fawlty Towers ……………………………………………... 8 c. Film Comedy (2002) …………………………………………. 9 III. Conclusion …………………………………………………………….. 10 References ………………………………………………………………………. 12 - 13 Introduction In 1932, BBC television – a part of the British Broadcasting Corporation started to operate its services throughout the United Kingdom. (BBC, 2006) Since then, television broadcasting has been a major industry in the country. The capability of this technology to transmitted different entertainment programs and news directly to people’s homes makes it a critical national resource for communicating news information as well as the main source of cultural exposure amongst the local citizens. Over the years, British television producers have created numerous television programmes that are designed to entertain the viewers. Among the television programmes that were produced in the past, it is said that the British television comedy have always been driven by social criticism. The purpose of this study is to determine the degree and ways in which the successful British television comedies such as: Cavell’s Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood comedy of Remarriage (1981); Great Brit-coms: British Television Situation Comedy by Koseluk (2000); and Film Comedy by King (2002) were all driven by social criticism. The personal argument of the author will be included in each of the comedy shows discussed in the study. Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood comedy of Remarriage (1981) In Stanley Cavell’s Pursuits of Happiness, the author focused on the differences between the famous classical stories that are classified as the remarriage comedy genre. These genre includes stories entitled: The Philadelphia, Adam’s Rib, It Happened One Night, and Bringing Up Baby among others. The different approaches as well as internal and external factors that could affect the relationship of a married couple will be the highlight as we go through each of these stories. The Philadelphia (1940) The remarriage comedy in The Philadelphia is characterized by the transformation of a relationship the complicated plans of a soon to get married bride to George Kittedge because of the arrival of her ex-husband and her father as well as by some of the meddlesome reporters during the wedding preparation. During the process, Tracy got distracted with her realization that she still loves her ex-husband C.K. Dexter Haven. (Cavell, 1981; Ch. 4) In this story, the author has considered several contemporary social issues such as the society’s perception with regards to the class differences within the country. The modern attitudes that the British people are showing concerning several issues related to adultery and divorce were taken into consideration. The author specifically based the story of The Philadelphia on his own perception with regards to adultery and divorce throughout the high society of Philadelphia during the late 1930s. Adam’s Rib (1949) In the story Adam's Rib, Doris Attinger discovered that her husband in the arms of another woman. Doris was charged of attempted murder for firing a gun against them. Enter Adam and Amanda Bonner were both married lawyers. (Cavell, 1981; Ch. 6) Adam was assigned to the prosecution side while Amanda represents Doris. The conflict between the interests of each lawyer created a friction inside the courtroom as well as at the Bonner’s residence until such time that the case was over. Despite the good relationship the couple had prior to the case, it was not strong enough to prevent the turmoil that the couple experienced in their relationship. Amanda winning the case has so much affected the ego and pride of her husband. This has caused Adam to explode in anger for sometime. For a very long period of time, Adam took the case personally up to such point that their marriage was at risk of a divorce. The whole story is about the battle of sexes within the context of marriage. The author has clearly shown us that are inevitable to avoid and prevent possible conflicts that could arise between the husband and wife that has the same line of career – especially in the field of law. The future conflicts related to career, money, and fame could greatly affect the sound relationship of the couple. This happens in real to life stories. We have personally witnessed a lot of famous celebrities and other high government officials who go through the process of divorce because of rivalry in their individual careers. The author uses a classical comedy setting in order to lessen the friction that could arise from bravely bringing out these facts right in front of the audience. It Happened One Night (1934) It Happened One Night is a comedy story about a couple belonging to different classes. The Character of Ellen Andrews belongs to a high-class society during the 1930s. On the other hand, Peter Warne came from the working class society. (Cavell, 1981; Ch. 2) The social status of Ellen was shown through the yacht that was owned by her father. For financial and status purposes, her father Alexander Andrews wants her to marry King Westley. Based on the story, her father being a powerful man is capable of keeping tracking on Ellen anywhere she goes with the use the press and hiring personal bodyguards. She grew in a society where she was well taken cared of and pampered. Because of her upbringing, she grew up to be bossy and spoiled. On the contrary, Peter struggles hard as a news reporter. He grew up to be independent of other people. Ellen and Peter accidentally met on a bus. Peter’s arrogant personality never allowed Ellen to be given a special treatment as a wealthy woman. Because of Ellen’s spoiled attitude, the couple began to have a ‘love and hate relationship.’ Throughout their journey, the love between Ellen and Peter blossoms. The author of the story tells us that it is a natural need for each human to desire having a freedom to make choices in their own lives. Despite the fact that a country like the United Kingdom is a free country, there are still a lot of people who were never given the opportunity to exercise the freedom of choice. In reality, it is the rich and famous people who are often being deprived of such freedom rather than those who belongs to the middle class society. These people are restricted from doing simple things that the middle class citizens could do. Just like in the story, Ellen was never given the choice to make her own decisions in life. It is always her father that decides what is best for her. The author has successfully shown us that despite Ellen’s wealth, she never grew maturely within the enclosed and pampered surroundings she was brought up. In the end, we have witnessed how she cries for justice by going against the decisions of her father. The author also suggests that it is possible for the rich and the poor to fall in love and eventually get married. It is the difference between these two individuals that brought them closer to each other. Due to a lot of external and social factors, love formation between two individuals coming from the opposite social classes normally goes through a lot of challenges and conflicts. These issues were shown in the story as well. All these were necessary in order to make a successful relationship out of the differences in the social status. Bringing Up Baby (1939) The comedy story of Bringing Up Baby is about a guy named David Huxley who is about to get married to an unfriendly woman. (Cavell, 1981; Ch. 3) David was looking forward for the one million dollars to be donated by Mrs. Random to his museum. The day before the wedding, he met Susan Vance, the niece of Mrs. Random. Susan’s brother sent her a tame leopard directly from Brazil. She call the leopard ‘Baby’ which she is supposed to give to her aunt. Since David is a zoologist, Susan entrusted him to help her take care of Baby. To make the story complicated, Susan falls in love with David. She comes up with different strategies to keep David from getting married. The author of the story has shown us that it not impossible of an engage to get married person to accidentally find another more interesting partner along the way. There are several individuals within the country or even worldwide that experience being in this kind of situation. It is not really that the engage person intentionally goes out of the way to find someone interesting. Sometimes, such thing could just happen unexpectedly. Great Brit-coms: British Television Situation Comedy (2000) For almost half a century, we have been watching a lot of domestic situational comedy shows on the television. These comedy shows often reinforces images and the life of the middle class as better than the working class. The inequalities between men and women, the African American as compared with the white Americans – racial issues, comparison between the old and the young generation, the differences among the social status of each citizen are also being highlighted in the American television comedy shows. (Butsch, 2003) Koscluk argued that ‘British sitcoms’ are a little different from the American sitcoms. In his opinion, British has a different point-of-view of what is considered to be funny of not. (Koscluk, 2000) Among of the most popular, innovative, and representative ‘Brit-coms’ that serves as a template for American shows includes: ‘Steptoe and Son’ and the ‘Fawlty Towers.’ Steptoe and Son The story of Steptoe and Son is about two rage and bone men who lives in Oil Drum Lane in London. The show had its root from the 1962 episode of Comedy Playhouse entitled ‘The Offer.’ The main character of ‘Steptoe and Son’ includes the father and the son. The father Albert Steptoe shows his stubborn attitude, foul mouthed with revolving personal habits. On the other hand, the son Harold has a different out look in life. He sees junks as antiques and sees life in a more positive way. In the United States, this show was remade in accordance to the American culture. For this reason, Americans has changed the title of the sitcom as ‘Sanford and Son’ between the years 1972 to 1977. (Lewisohn, 2007a) Faulty Towers The ‘Faulty Towers’ is one of the best Brit-coms back in 1975. The main character in the story is a married guy named Basil Fawlty. He is a frustrated, angry, and short-tempered guy who manages one of the hotels in the city. His wife Sybil is a woman who does not treat her husband with grace. The viewers witnessed hatred between two married couple. Because of the sitcoms’ success, the Americans adapted the story of ‘Fawlty Towers’ in 1978. The first adaptation was entitled ‘Snavely.’ The setting was transferred Torquay Hotel setting to an off-highway hotel in middle America. In 1983, ‘The Golden Girls’ adapted a part of the ‘Fawlty Towers’ wherein a female hotel owner also characterized the anger and frustration of Mr. Fawlty. (Lewisohn, 2007b) There has been a lot of stereotyping when it comes to the comedy sitcoms. Many times during the olden days, women are being associated as the weaker sex. On the other hand, men must show his masculine side all the time since it is not acceptable for them to characterize themselves as being feminine. When female are often characterized as child-like in the television sitcoms, it indirectly affects the status of women in general when it comes to public recognition. Other social concerns such as the type of job, income classes, the differences between the rich and the poor are some of the common grounds that are used in comedy sitcoms. According to Scott (1988), “class is a symbolically coded in terms of gender.” This makes gender become a way of developing a social class status. (Scott, 1988) For example: when a man is being associated as being child-like or feminine, it automatically reflects the man as being a weak in the sense that the person does not conform with the standard that has been set by the society as an accepted judgment. (Baron, 1989) For this reason, I can say that the British television sitcoms have always been strongly driven by social criticism. Also, Richard Butsch – a professor in Sociology, stressed out that portrayals that we see on the television sitcoms are strikingly persistent. (Butsch, 2003) Many times, the gender status have been so much inverted when it comes to comedy shows or even the others television programmes in general. This is true because in reality, some women tend to be more successful than men in terms of career achievements and social status, etc. Especially in the past, this reality has been covered from the eyes of many viewers. Film Comedy (2002) The monograph of Geoff King used in film comedy shows is unique. He uses a self-avowed approach to the philosophy of comedy by utilizing a wide range of theoretical methods and approaches. (Crafton, 1995) According to King, to be able to come up with an outstanding film comedy show, the writer should not use only a single adequate theory. He also stated that “there is no single adequate theory of comedy despite the writer’s effort to produce an all-bracing account.” (Mellencamp, 1983) King takes some of his ideas from the prominent thinkers of comical theories like Mikhail Bakhtin, Sigmund Freud, Elder Olson, etc. in combination with the ‘incongruity theory of humor’ that dominates most of his analysis and discussion of his comical-like comedy films. King uses the word ‘incongruity’ as a depart from the normal routines of life or the social group in the sense of being out of place or being in a mixed up situation that is not quite right. (Mellencamp, 1983) Many times, King uses a Comic Conception of the Culture and Society. Between the late 1970s and early 1980s was the period in which baby-boomers became adolescents. King uses this issue in order to come up with a theme for a comedy film designed for an adolescent audiences. Adolescent level of sense of humor became the main goal of King. In line with his goal, he uses troubled teenagers’ different life situations in order to capture the target audiences’ attention. Based on the facts, we have seen how the authors uses the culture and tradition of a society behind the development of film comedy shows. (Trahair, 2002) These examples gave us an idea that film comedy shows are used as an way to communicate the life and social concerns of different people belonging to certain age brackets. For this reason, social criticism behind the development of film comedy shows are inevitable. Conclusion It is evident that most of the classic British comedy regardless whether it is written for a book, a British sit-com, or Film comedy shows are very much focused on criticizing the social groups that exist during the time of each author. Among the common conventional stories that are used in television comedy is about adultery, jealousy among lovers, old age, love, battle of the sexes in terms of career and success in financial matters, among others. Even up to the present situation, comedy shows are often used to deliver important messages with regards to the morality of our society. It would be unwise and ineffective to directly address the major social issues and political concerns in a direct manner. In some cases, attacking the political concerns of the writers directly could only put their lives at serious problems such as receiving anonymous death threats. In line with this issue, comedy shows are often used as a tool an indirect way of delivering the social and political criticisms of the writers. This type of shows are used to set up an arbitrary law. Since the authors could not directly criticize the changes that they have been observing in the society, a lot of them express their personal concerns and ideas by creating a humorous society. Perhaps, some people could notice the message behind the indirect message that was being provided in each comedy shows could set out a reform about it. These changes are seldom related to a moral judgment of the wicked characters and attitudes of an individual. Usually, similar comedy shows would focus on a social judgment of ridiculous actions. *** End *** References: 1 BBC (2006) ‘The BBC’ Retrieved: May 14, 2007 < http://www.solarnavigator.net/ > 2 Cavell, S. (1981) ‘Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage’ Chapter 4 – The Importance of Importance – The Philadelphia Story. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. 3 Cavell, S. (1981) ‘Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage’ Chapter 6 – The Courting of Marriage – Adam’s Rib. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. 4 Cavell, S. (1981) ‘Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage’ Chapter 2 – Knowledge as Transgression – It Happened One Night. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. 5 Cavell, S. (1981) ‘Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage’ Chapter 3 – Leopard in Connecticut – Bringing Up Baby. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. 6 Crafton, D. (1995) ‘Pie and Chase: Gag, Spectacle and Narrative in Slapstick Comedy’ New York: Routledge, 1995 7 Koscluk, G. (2000) ‘Great Brit-Coms: British Television Situation Comedy’ McFarland & Company. October 2000 8 Lewisohn, M. (2007a) ‘Steptoe and Son’ The BBC Guide to Comedy Retrieved: May 15, 2007 < http://www.bbc.co.uk/ > 9 Lewisohn, M. (2007b) ‘Fawlty Towers’ BBC Guide to Comedy Retrieved: May 15, 2007 < http://www.bbc.co.uk/ > 10 Mellencamp, P. (1983) ‘Jokes and Their Relation to the Marx Brothers’ in S. Health and P. Mellencamp, editions, Cinema and Language. New York: American Film Institute, 1983. 11 Trahair, L. (2002) ‘Comedy and Beyond: Geoff King’s Film Comedy’ London: Wallflower Press, 2002. Film-Philosophy Journal. Vol. 8 No, 15, May 2004 Retrieved: May 15, 2007 < http://www.film-philosophy.com/ > 12 Butsch, R. (2003) ‘A Half Century of Class and Gender in American TV Domestic Sitcoms’ Cercles 8 (2003): 16 – 34. Retrieved: May 14, 2007 < http://www.cercles.com/ > 13 Scott, J. (1988) ‘Gender and the Politics of History’ New York: Columbia University Press. 14 Baron, A. (1989) ‘Questions of Gender: Deskilling and De-masculinization in the U.S. Printing Industry, 1830 – 1915’ Gender History 1 (Summer 1989): 178 – 199. Read More