All Topics  
Black comedy

 

   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link






 

Black comedy



 
 
Black comedy is a sub-genre of comedy
Comedy

Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western culture origins are found in Ancient Greece....
 and satire
Satire

Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre; although, in practice, it is also found in the graphic arts and performing arts. In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring about improv...
 in which topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo
Taboo

A taboo is a strong social prohibition against words, objects, actions, or discussions that are considered undesirable or offensive by a group, culture, society, or community....
 are treated in a satirical or humorous manner while retaining its seriousness.

Synonyms include dark comedy, black humor, dark humor, and morbid humor.

purpose of black comedy is to make light of serious and often taboo subject matter, and some comedians use it as a tool for exploring important issues, thus provoking discomfort and serious thought, as well as amusement, in their audience.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Black comedy'
Start a new discussion about 'Black comedy'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Black comedy is a sub-genre of comedy
Comedy

Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western culture origins are found in Ancient Greece....
 and satire
Satire

Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre; although, in practice, it is also found in the graphic arts and performing arts. In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring about improv...
 in which topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo
Taboo

A taboo is a strong social prohibition against words, objects, actions, or discussions that are considered undesirable or offensive by a group, culture, society, or community....
 are treated in a satirical or humorous manner while retaining its seriousness.

Synonyms include dark comedy, black humor, dark humor, and morbid humor.

Humour

The purpose of black comedy is to make light of serious and often taboo subject matter, and some comedians use it as a tool for exploring important issues, thus provoking discomfort and serious thought, as well as amusement, in their audience. Popular themes of the genre include rape
Rape

Rape, also referred to as sexual assault, is an assault by a person involving sexual intercourse with or sexual penetration of another person without that person's consent....
, murder
Murder

Murder as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide....
, suicide
Suicide

Suicide is the intentional taking of one's own life. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"....
, war
War

...
, terminal illness
Terminal illness

Terminal illness is a medical terminology popularized in the 20th century to describe an active and malignant disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient....
, abuse
Abuse

Abuse refers to the use or treatment of something that is harmful. It can be classed by the target of abuse or the type of abuse....
, insanity
Insanity

Traditionally, insanity or madness is the behavior whereby a person flouts societal norms and may become a danger to themselves and others....
, disease
Disease

A disease or medical condition is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and Medical signs....
 and crime
Crime

Societies define Crime as the breach of one or more rules or laws for which some Government or force may ultimately prescribe a punishment.The word crime originates from the Latin crimen , from the Latin root cerno and Greek ????? = "I judge"....
. By contrast, so-called blue comedy
Blue comedy

Blue comedy is comedy that is off-color, wiktionary:risqu?, indecent, profane, or obscene. It often contains cursing and/or sexual imagery that shocks and offends many audiences....
 focuses more on crude topics, such as sex
Sex

In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetics traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into male and female types ....
 and bodily fluids.

Although the two are interrelated, black comedy is different from straightforward obscenity
Obscenity

Obscenity , is a term that is most often used in a law context to describe expressions that offend the prevalent sexual morality of the time....
, in that it is more subtle and doesn't necessarily have an explicit intention to offend; it is often undercut by irony
Irony

Irony is a Literary technique or rhetorical device, in which there is an wiktionary:incongruous or wiktionary:discordance between what one says or does and what one means or what is generally understood....
 and fatalism
Fatalism

Fatalism is a philosophical doctrine emphasizing the subjugation of all events or actions to destiny or inevitable predetermination.Fatalism generally refers to several of the following ideas:...
, a popular example Black comedy should be contrasted with obscenity
Obscenity

Obscenity , is a term that is most often used in a law context to describe expressions that offend the prevalent sexual morality of the time....
, though the two are interrelated. In obscene humour, much of the humorous element comes from shock and revulsion; black comedy usually includes an element of irony
Irony

Irony is a Literary technique or rhetorical device, in which there is an wiktionary:incongruous or wiktionary:discordance between what one says or does and what one means or what is generally understood....
, or even fatalism
Fatalism

Fatalism is a philosophical doctrine emphasizing the subjugation of all events or actions to destiny or inevitable predetermination.Fatalism generally refers to several of the following ideas:...
. This particular brand of humour can be exemplified by a scene in the play Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot

Waiting for Godot is a play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters wait for someone named Godot. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's premiere....
: a man takes off his belt to hang himself, and his trousers fall down.

Writers such as [Tom Sharpe],Patrick Hamilton
Patrick Hamilton (dramatist)

Patrick Hamilton was an England playwright and novelist.He was well-regarded by Graham Greene and J. B. Priestley and study of his novels has been revived recently because of their distinctive style, deploying a Dickensian narrative voice to convey aspects of inter-war London street culture....
, Jhonen Vasquez
Jhonen Vasquez

Jhonen Vasquez , also known by his pseudonyms Mr. Scolex and Chancre Scolex, is a cartoonist living in Los Angeles, California, United States....
, Terry Southern
Terry Southern

Terry Southern was a highly influential American author, essayist, screenwriter and university lecturer, noted for a distinctive satirical style....
, Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller

Joseph Heller was an American satirical novelist, short story writer and playwright. He wrote the influential novel Catch-22 about American servicemen during World War II....
, William Faulkner
William Faulkner

William Faulkner was a Nobel Prize in Literature-winning United States author. One of the most influential writers of the 20th century, his reputation is based on his novels, novellas and short story....
, Niall Griffiths
Niall Griffiths

Niall Griffiths is an author, who has published six books to date. He has also written travel pieces, restaurant and book reviews, and radio plays....
, William Gaddis
William Gaddis

William Gaddis was an American novelist. He wrote five novels, two of which won National Book Awards....
, Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Pynchon

Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. is an American literature based in New York City, noted for his dense and complex works of fiction. Hailing from Long Island, Pynchon spent two years in the United States Navy and earned an English studies degree from Cornell University....
, Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a prolific and genre-bending American novelist known for works blending satire, black comedy and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five , Cat's Cradle , and Breakfast of Champions .He was also known for his Humanism beliefs and being honorary president of the American Humanist Association....
, Mark Twain
Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an United Statesmerican author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer....
, George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw, was an Irish people playwright.Although Shaw's first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, his talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays....
, Harlan Ellison
Harlan Ellison

Harlan Jay Ellison is a prolific United States writer of short stories, novellas, teleplays, essays, and criticism. His literary and television work has received many awards....
, Eric Nicol
Eric Nicol

Eric Patrick Nicol, Order of Canada is a Canada humorist, author and playwright.Born in Kingston, Ontario, Ontario, in 1921 his family relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia, British Columbia....
, George Saunders
George Saunders

George Saunders is an acclaimed United States writer of short stories. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, McSweeney's and GQ , among others....
, Evelyn Waugh
Evelyn Waugh

Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh was a United Kingdom writer, best known for such darkly humorous and Satire novels as Decline and Fall, Vile Bodies, Scoop , A Handful of Dust, and The Loved One, as well as for serious works, such as Brideshead Revisited and the Sword of Honour trilogy that clearly manifest his Catho...
, Phillip Roth, Daniel Handler
Daniel Handler

Daniel Handler is an American writer, screenwriter and accordionist. He is best known for his work under the pen name Lemony Snicket....
 and David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace was an United States writer of novelist, essays and short story, and a professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California....
 have written and published novels, stories and plays where profound or horrific events were portrayed in a comic manner.

Comedians including Rob Brydon
Rob Brydon

Rob Brydon is a Wales actor, comedian and impressionist most famous for his role as Keith Barret in the BBC comedy Marion and Geoff and its spin-off The Keith Barret Show, as well as the host of panel quiz Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive....
, Julia Davis
Julia Davis

Julia Davis is an England comedy writer and performer. She is perhaps most famous for her BBC Three creation, Nighty Night....
, Joyce Grenfell
Joyce Grenfell

Joyce Irene Grenfell, Order of the British Empire was an England actress, comedienne and singer-songwriter....
 and the Monty Python
Monty Python

Monty Python is a group of six comedians who created Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on October 5, 1969....
 team have also helped popularise the genre.

Genre


In America, black comedy as a literary genre came to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s. An anthology edited by Bruce Jay Friedman
Bruce Jay Friedman

Bruce Jay Friedman is an United States novelist, screenwriter, and playwright.Raised in the Bronx by Irving and Mollie Friedman, Bruce attended the University of Missouri?Columbia as a journalism major then served as a First Lieutenant#US Army, US Air Force, US Marine Corps in the United States Air Force from 1951 to 1953....
, titled Black Humor, assembles many examples of the genre.

According to screenwriter John Truby
John Truby

John Truby is a screenwriter, film director and screenwriting guru. His first feature film as writer/director was All-American Boy. He has served as a consultant on over 1,000 film scripts over the past three decades, and is also known for the screenwriting software program Blockbuster ....
, when black comedy is used as a basis for a story's plotline, it involves a society in an unhealthy state and a main character wanting something which, for whatever reason, is not a thing that will be beneficial to himself or society. The audience should usually be able to see this for themselves, and often a supporting character within the story also sees the insanity of the situation. The main character rarely if ever learns a lesson or undergoes any significant change from the ordeal, but sometimes a relatively sane course of action is offered to them.

Black comedy is a prevalent theme of many cult films, television shows and video games. The 1964 film Dr. Strangelove presents one of the best-known mainstream examples of black comedy. The subject of the film is nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare

Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare refers to the strategy for fighting or deterring military conflicts and terrorism when nuclear weapons are present....
 and the annihilation
Annihilation

Annihilation is defined as "total destruction" or "complete obliteration" of an object; having its root in the Latin nihil . A literal translation is "to make into nothing"....
 of life on Earth. Normally, dramas about nuclear war treat the subject with gravity and seriousness, creating suspense over the efforts to avoid a nuclear war. But Dr. Strangelove plays the subject for laughs; for example, in the film, the fail-safe procedures designed to prevent a nuclear war are precisely the systems that ensure that it will happen. Plotwise, Group Captain Mandrake serves as the one sane character in the decayed society, and Major Kong fills the role of the hero striving for a harmful goal.

In modern standards, black comedy is commonly used in dramatic or satirical films retaining its serious tone. Examples include The Twelve Chairs
The Twelve Chairs (1970 film)

The Twelve Chairs is a 1970 slapstick comedy film directed by Mel Brooks, starring Frank Langella, Dom DeLuise and Ron Moody . The screenplay was written by Brooks....
, Catch Me If You Can
Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me If You Can is a 2002 comedy-drama crime film loosely based on the life of Frank Abagnale, who, before his 19th birthday, successfully confidence trick millions of United States dollar by posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot, a Georgia doctor and Louisiana prosecutor....
, W.
W. (film)

W. is a 2008 Cinema of the United States biographical film based on the life and Presidency of George W. Bush of George W. Bush. It was produced and directed by Oliver Stone, written by Stanley Weiser, and stars Josh Brolin as President of the United States Bush....
, Network
Network (film)

Network is a satire about a fictional television network, Union Broadcasting System , and its struggle with poor Nielsen Ratings. It was written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet, and stars Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch and Robert Duvall and features Wesley Addy, Ned Beatty and Beatrice Straight....
, Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers

Natural Born Killers is a 1994 in film satire crime film directed by Oliver Stone about two mass murderers and the Mass media coverage given to them....
 and sometimes family-oriented films like Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. (film)

name = Super Mario Bros.|image = Supermariobros.jpg|director = Rocky MortonAnnabel JankelRoland Joff? |writer = Parker BennettTerry RunteEd Solomon...
 and
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 2005 in film fantasy film directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp. Based on the 1964 Roald Dahl Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the film also stars Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket and is the second film adaptation of the book....
.

See also

  • Anthology of Black Humor
    Anthology of Black Humor

    The Anthology of Black Humor is an anthology of 45 writers edited by Andr? Breton. It was first published in 1939 in Paris by ?ditions du Sagittaire and its distribution was immediately banned by the Vichy France....
  • Crude humor
  • Gallows humor
    Gallows humor

    Gallows humor is a type of humour that arises from stressful, traumatic, or life-threatening situations; often in circumstances such that death is perceived as impending and unavoidable....
  • British humour
    British humour

    British humour is a somewhat general term applied to certain comedic motifs that are often prevalent in comedic acts originating in the United Kingdom and its current or former colonies....
  • Macabre
    MACABRE

    Macabre is the second studio album released by Dir en grey on September 20, 2000. It is the band's first record to be released in collaboration of Free-Will's Firewall sub-division and Sony Music Entertainment Japan....
  • Problem plays
  • Black Comedy
    Black comedy

    file:Hopscotch to oblivion.jpgBlack comedy is a sub-genre of comedy and satire in which topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo are treated in a satirical or humorous manner while retaining its seriousness....
    , a play by Peter Shaffer
    Peter Shaffer

    Sir Peter Levin Shaffer is an England dramatist, author of numerous award-winning plays, several of which have been filmed....
  • Charles B. Griffith
    Charles B. Griffith

    Charles B. Griffith was a Chicago-born screenwriter, best known for writing Roger Corman productions such as A Bucket of Blood, The Little Shop of Horrors, and Death Race 2000....
  • List of movie genres
  • Shock value
    Shock value

    Shock value is the potential of an image, text or other form of communication to provoke a reaction of disgust, Acute stress reaction, anger, fear, or similar negative emotion....