Taylor Lee Media Analysis & Criticism Make Em Laugh!

As correctly stated in the musical Singing In The Rain Dont you know everyone wants to laugh? Make em laugh! by Donald OConnor, laughing is the key reaction to the expression happiness. No one hates laughing, which goes hand in hand with the statement that no one hates a good comedic movie. Having the power to bring people together, comedy is, and has been, dominant amongst all genres therefore creating the realistic experience of extreme comfort and overall joy. Whether youre cuddling up with a loved one, or alone on your couch, a decent comedy film will brighten your day instantly. The Marx brothers, Mike Myers, and Adam Sandler, although all widely distinct comedians have made their footprints in American comedy extremely clear. Each comedian touches every aspect of comedy lightly, however all have exceeded in their own category greatly. The Marx brothers portray perfect clowns during the 1930s in Duck Soup, while Adam Sandler, though no Cary Grant; stars in the film that spins off his screwball career with Billy Madison in 1995, which later sparked the auteur in Adam to begin Happy Madison Productions. Shortly following, Mike Myers makes a great impact on the parody point of view with the Austin Powers series focusing on the final contribution, Austin Powers in Goldmember in the early 2000s. Even though not all of them preside in the upmost position of their class, they all made history with merely a great sense of humor. Comedy is also a very broad and versatile tool. As much as it can carry out joy and wellness it can just as well, demoralize. It can clear tension in a room; it comforts people and teaches with excitement, it can bring people together and also tear people apart. While working with comedy it is usually expected to be fun and light hearted, you still have to be cautious not to offend or hurt (Gehring, 2001). Married! I can see you right now in the kitchen, bending over a hot stove, but I cant see the stove. Groucho Marx side steps around an insult directed towards a woman in Duck Soup, a 1930s film starring the four Marx brothers and their loyal leading Marx lady, Margaret Dumont. Duck Soup and the brothers changed American humor with their customized versions of clown comedy. The clowns commonly represented antiheroic elements, most accurately shown by Groucho. Clown comedy, also referred to as personality comedy, is the basic and most evident form of comedy. Its dependent on front-and-center comic figures and commonly follows loose plots. Clown comedy is the clearest with its goals to simply entertain or make one laugh. With this type of humor it is rare to be challenged to think about a joke causing it to fall under the release and relief category in comedy theory (Gehring, 1997). Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, and Chico Marx were the three better known of the brothers, Zeppo occasionally appeared in films with his brothers, such as Duck Soup and Monkey Business. All were icons of the clown comedy, and each had their own special identity. Chico commonly spoofed the ignorant Italian immigrant only looking to con, steal, or make a quick buck. Often Chico got the better of Groucho

Taylor Lee and other characters with his use of objective stupidity in turn showing much enjoyment. Harpo was the Irish Bruiser during the boys early days, but later trademarked a pantomime act speaking only through various sound effects he carried around inside his layers of clothing. Harpo was the main clown of the group, he went from literally chasing women and randomly taking out scissors to snip off the end of a close by tie, to producing implausible items from his pockets, and eating random objects. Originally Groucho played a German character, however this was not popular and often he was booed off stage. Rising from that became his fasttalking in charge persona, and arguably the creation of the king of wordplay. Groucho was best known for his accomplishment in never essentially saying an insult to a woman, but belittling her with creating the illusion for supposed remarks. Decades later, at the age of 17, Adam Sandler unexpectedly began his successful career in comedy and entertainment, when he approached the stage at a local comedy club in Boston. Sandlers career really took off when Dennis Miller discovered the young gift and recommended him to Saturday Night Live boasting about the boys growing talent. A screwball icon was bound to come out after Sandlers two hit movie Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison were both screened within a year of each other. Sandler is famous for; his lack of creativity or, a man who sticks with what works, either way he has a habit of recycling the same plotlines in the movies he produces and stars in. The basic outline typically show him as a funny, wealthy man who achieves great success which sometimes ends up being a beautiful female partner, or if not there is always a significant other for Sandler, also, somewhere beside the numerous characters there is a loss of some sort. A few examples of the same essential stories are: Click, Grown Ups, Big Daddy, Happy Gilmore, Mr. Deeds, and Bedtime Stories. Some are so similar for instance in Billy Madison and The Waterboy, the lead female actress has the same initials, V.V. Sandler also plays a successful athlete frequently, such as in The Waterboy, The Longest Yard, and Happy Gilmore. Another Sandler norm was casting a few old SNL guys in Happy Madison films, Rob Schneider being one of the most recognizable. The perfect mixture of witty dialog and physical slapstick is run throughout Adam Sandlers vocation. One conflicting characteristic of the typical screwball comedy is Adam was never viewed as a weak man or less dominant. In turn, he was very good at portraying antihero quality. Also, he executed the child-like attributes and tracked along with the notorious quote-viewing screwball as the comedy of remarriage strikingly (Gehring, 1986). The 1990s produced many legendary comedians, including, but not limited to, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Jim Carrey, and Mike Myers. They were a great example of the perfect combination of new material, and recreation of old performances from early ground breaking comedians. Mike Myers was booming in the parody scene by the late 90s and early 00s. His Austin Powers series was a clear spoof of the James Bond movies with a groovy 70s feel, and many sexual innuendos. Myers was a clumsy and ditzy spy with all great attributes, who somehow showed his brains in sticky situations (Gehring, 1988). Also, Austin always had a lady at his side to impress and victimize to cheesy pick up lines. Myers

Taylor Lee was a shoe in candidate when it came to being goofy or exerting over exaggerated expressions. In addition, when it came down to poking fun at the original versions he was clear when suggesting maybe they took things a little too seriously with his overdone reactions. Since the beginning parodies have been a mainstream American film genre favorite. The feeling of familiarity is in many ways welcomed by people all over, yet parodies also can hold an element of surprise if you are not fully aware of its story or by its basic use of humor throughout. Parodies are construed as simply a film that mocks the same plot and narrative resolutions. Conversely you could look at James Camerons 2009 award winning film, Avatar and the approaching arguments about having the exact same storyline of Disneys classic tale, Pocahontas. This on the other hand, would not be considered a parody, for it does fulfill the basic criteria of either film being a comedy. Taking the gender position youll see that today movies like Easy A and Juno create a whole new image for girls. They show more of a dry, anti-humor, approach that is becoming all the new rage. Ellen Page and Emma Stone do an outstanding job of switching the stereotypical dumb teenage girl from the goody two shoes, prude, all American daughter, to a very confident honestly gut-splitting funny- family girl. Women are making their way into the genre loudly with Tina Fey, Zooey Deschanel, and Anna Farris all making huge impacts on screen with their own styles of the genre. We will always have Charlie Chaplin, with the famous roll dance, the Marx brothers with the mirror trick in Duck Soup to learn and mimic. Including the many other comedians who have contributed and molded comedy into what it is today. There will always be room for more jokes, and new perspectives. Laughter will never go out of style, constructing the need and want amongst society for a slice of comic relief.