Gulshan Singh Gill

Jonathan Lim
R. Adithya
Shayne Tan
 Essential elements of Black
Comedy
 Brief history
 Theories Black Comedy embraces
 Skit
 Explanation for skit
 Three questions and class
discussion
 Setting is usually in a conflicted and absurd society, set in a
grave or serious situation
 Contains grave themes such as War and Death
 Involves characters
 Audience is detached from humanity due to light-hearted
tone
 Embracement of
Rationality
 Shows realistic
negative depiction
of humanity
 “In dark days, dark comedy prevails”
 More prevalent in 1950s to 1960s  Post-modernism
 Post-modernism = detached from emotion/traditional
morality
 Black Comedy, the comedy of our age

 Has its traces in Shakespeare’s

problem plays e.g. MOV,
Measure for Measure (comic
tragedies)
 Nowadays used to refer to more
sinister and grave plots
 Henri Bergson (Light Comic Theorist)

and
James Feibleman (Dark Comic Theorist)
 Light Comic Theory

- “the mechanical encrusted upon the

living”
- Rationality at odds with Human Reality

- Idea of Emotional Detachment

- Comic Character’s lack of self-awareness

 Dark Comic Theory (Feibleman)

- Evidence of our broken world, ‘Death of God’ philosophy:

“it focuses on the material world in order to expose the

contradictions within it, to unmask the masquerade of
impotence as fate”

- Rebellion against our absurd nature

- Seeks refuge into a perfect logical order from real life

uncertainties
  Superiority Theory

- Detached audience feel

superiority over illogical human

characters
- Due to their escape from the

human world

 Incongruity Theory (Deadpan Humour)

- Light tone contrasts with dark message

- Incongruity between style and substance causes laughter

 Nature of Issues: Grave, sinister, controversial
 Setting: Absurd Society
 Style / Tone: Grim, Satirical
 Characters: Unhealthy state of mind
 Type of Humour: Deadpan violence
 Purpose: Confronts the unglamorous truth
of the society
 Classical Comedy and Black Comedy

- Classic Comedy deals with manners

- Black Comedy deals with ethics

 But Black Comedy is more universal

- deals more with ethics (grave issues,

human concerns)
 Tragedy and Black Comedy

- Tragedy also deals with ethics

 However, Tragedy is restful

- Empathy evoked for Tragic Hero

- Tragic hero pit against

supernatural
- “Masquerade of Impotence as

Fate”
- Triumph of Human Spirit
 Black Comedy rejects this reassurance

- No empathy for character of Black Comedy

- No need to blame his fall on the supernatural

- Acknowledge human flaws

- “Unmasks the Masquerade of Impotence as Fate”

- “While Tragedy seeks the Good, Comedy seeks the True”

– James Feibleman
 Black Comedy enables us to understand the flaws of the human
characters. However, considering we the audience are emotionally
detached from them, (as seen in our excerpt and popular works like Dr.
Strangelove) how feasible is it to apply this understanding to ourselves?
Consequently, does Black Comedy aid in realization of our own flaws?
 Do Black Comedies always have to be
resolved with entire Human destruction in
order to fulfill their purpose of reflecting a
poor Human Condition? Could they instead
end with the tragedy of an individual or with
no ultimate plot progress as well, returning to
the initial situation?
 While Black Comedy shows negative sides of humanity in terms of our
morality and judgment, it also enables us to escape from our flawed
selves. Thus, does Black Comedy depress or liberate?