Good Example Of Essay On Comparison Between Comedy And Popular Culture

The compare and contrast paper analyses three works. These works are; In Plain Arabic, Ring Seller, and also The King is the King. The three works are analyzed in terms of comedy and also popular culture. Comedy illustrates a piece of work that generally aims at being humorous and amusing through generating laughter. Comedy is generally applied by theatre, stand-up comedy, film and television. Comedy is historically significant because it is illustrated in Ancient Greece. Athenian democracy greatly improved voters’ public opinion through political satire illustrated by comic poets during theater shows. The Greek comedy category was theatrically dramatic, and it involved two groups against each other through amusing conflict. Northrop Frye illustrated the two contrasting areas as the old society and the youth society. Thus it involved the comedy agon as conflict involving the generally powerless youth, and the societal conventions that challenges the hopes of the youths. During the struggle, the youths are illustrated as constrained due to inadequate social authority. However, they experience minimal choice and thus accept ruses that illustrates dramatic irony and hence laughter.
Popular theatre is utilized to illustrate performances as illustrated through the tradition entertainment areas of musical comedy, music hall, follies, vaudeville, circus and burlesque. These traditional categories differentiate popular theatre from other categories like artistic, legitimate and high theatre. Popular is responsible for the development of the show business, through the comedians, singers, acrobats, jugglers, dancers, ventriloquists and also the puppeteers. Thus popular theater is very broad and effectively integrates the key aspects of comedy. Music, entertainment, humor and movement are generally critical aspects utilized in popular theatre in the entire performance history. The movements generally manifests through acrobatics, eroticism and exaggeration. The English musical hall, which is very similar to vaudeville, initially began in the working class alehouses, and eventually became the basic entertainment that is appropriate for all society classes. Just like revue and vaudeville, it provided diverse short pieces. Examples of these short pieces are; acrobats, sentimental songs, comic turns, jugglers, patriotic songs, magicians and comic turns.
Humor generally distorts reality through several approaches. It distorts reality crudely through the slapstick, and also corrosively through mockery illustrated in the stand-up comic. The resultant effects of the rumor are thus ribald and earthy laughter. These effects are also desired in all the other categories of theatre. Music is greatly valued in popular theatre, as an appropriate medium of communication. Music enhances the belief suspension and connects the performer and audience generally closely, through the shared event that does not illustrate realism pretense. Musical comedy was initiated through diverse dance, musical and dramatic styles, that historically originated from the Elizabethan dramatists. These dramatists applied simple ballads that enhance their narratives in the form of Viennese operetta, in addition to the English comic operas like Sullivan and Gilbert. The 20th century also illustrated the traditions, but in a more Americanized form. The traditions were also greatly enhanced in United States through the continuous procession of the Broadway musicals that were relatively popular. Satire generally and political satire in particular are utilized in comedy to illustrate individuals and the social institutions as generally corrupt and ridiculous. Therefore, it alienates objects away from the humor object.
The comparative paper also looks at three works in relation to comedy and popular culture. The three works are; In Plain Arabic, Ring Seller, and also The King is the King. In Plain Arabic was produced by Lenin Al-Ramly. The work illustrates the experiences of a particular Palestinian student. The work illustrates comedy due to the several issues that are funny and also ironical. The Palestinian student pursues studies in a higher learning institution in London; however, he disappears. It is ironical for a person to just disappear, thus this scene illustrates an ironic twist. The work also illustrates popular theater, because the education theme is very common in literary works. The Palestinian student has colleagues who are from different Arab countries. The Arab students are in London to pursue their studies. London is a multicultural society as illustrated through the high number of foreign students. Humor is adequately illustrated through the stereotypical portrayals of the different national characteristics and attitudes by the students. Each student illustrates a common stereotype associated with his country, and thus creates funny moments and hence comedy. The literary work illustrates the common ways in which the Arabs view each other and hence popular theatre. Each society has approaches of viewing itself and their individual members. Thus, popular theatre strives to illustrate how the society members understand themselves. For instance, popular theatre in America illustrates tensions between the races, which in some instances results in cases of racial discrimination. The work also illustrates other issues related to the Arab society like; double standards, posturing, squabbles and the inability of working together when faced with a common dilemma. This puts into question, the whole concept of Arab unity, through satirical approaches (Al-Ramly 92).
The King is the King illustrates a play that was produced in Canada by Saadallah Wannous. The play is a comedy because it is very humorous. The King is illustrated in a bored mood; hence, to minimizes the boredom he devices a way of mischievously amusing himself. He contacts a drunkard to take over and rule the kingdom. However, in an ironic fashion the drunken person (Abu al-Hassan) fits effectively in the role, without creating suspicion. To make the play funnier, even the queen does not realize the changes that have occurred on the throne. The play also effectively addresses the concept of popular culture. This is due to the show business that applies musical comedy to pass across key messages. The drunken stupor is an aspect of comedy that is utilized to illustrate the humor aspect of popular theatre. The movement aspect is indicated by exaggeration in the play. The play greatly exaggerates that the King was bored. In ordinary circumstances, the King is usually very busy with his leadership responsibilities.
The Ring Seller also illustrates key components of the popular theatre and also comedy. The aspect of popular theater applied involves music as an aspect of sharing ideas. The music component assisted in enhancing suspension of disbelief. The performer and the audiences thus connected through the shared events that have minimal realism pretense. The Ring Seller illustrates musical comedy, which utilizes the moderate dance approaches. Another popular theatre approach involves movements as illustrated in The Ring Seller. The movements involve eroticism and also exaggeration. Movement is basically a standard issue in all categories of popular theatre. Humor is illustrated in The Ring Seller through mockery aspects that generate laughter. The three works have thus been effectively applied in the illustration of the concepts of comedy and the popular theatre. The comparison was the main objective of the paper. Comedy is an aspect of majority of the popular theatre works.

Works Cited

Lenin, Al-Ramly. In Plain Arabic. American University in Cairo Press. 2014. Print.