It was spring break, I was watching movies on a plane and I saw one particular movie that I had not seen for a long time called The Blues Brothers. The Blues Brothers is now regarded as a classic as it was released in 1980 and is a comedic blues/jazz movie about two brothers in Chicago singing, dancing, and various other activities. All this while they were also on the run from the entire Chicago Police Department. As I was watching the movie, I couldn’t help but admire the fact that it never took itself too seriously–its unrealistic over-the-top physics, and its overall super funny nature. While I highly doubt that cars could go around flying and crashing through roads with little to know trauma, we are watching it through the lens of this gratifying movie world that it just makes sense. Movies have branched away from this slapstick comedy genre in the 1980s to early 2000s to more developed genres including animation, action, fantasy and superheroes seen today.
Comedy on camera can date as far back as 1910’s with humorous actors such as Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Ben Turpin. As the decades went by slapstick comedy became even more popular with comedians such as Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, and The Marx Brothers. This comedic value that these figures carried out on the screen resonated with the general public and with the invention of television finding its ways in many American households brought comfort and escape from the outside world. The genre of comedy would leave its mark, and as video and film began to advance onto the big screen theater, comedy movies played a prominent role in Hollywood for decades.
The 1960s to 1970’s was a time of counter-culture which liberated conservative attitudes in Hollywood. This free-thinking evolution changed movies in terms of content and production, paving the way to easily understood plots and easy marketing. The slapstick comedies prevailed in the 1980s to early 2000s based purely on entertainment and thrill. The characterization of these films comes from the physical comedy of gags, jokes, and pranks. While there is no denying that movies attempt to insert this comedy in a variety of genres, it certainly is not the same. Movies today are more developed in their plots, characters, and humor. This reflects the change in society in terms of humor, morals, and popular culture.
The 1990’s popularized technological advancements that would change the course of cinema forever, Computer Generated Imagery (CGI). CGI allowed many movie makers to expand their ideas and visions in ways before, nobody could ever imagine. Movies such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Avatar, and Marvel utilized CGI as a way to tell their story. One common theme one may notice is that CGI is often used in fiction/fantasy. These fictional movie genres often require a complex story, otherwise people will lose interest, and the mythical, magical, alien-like creatures they bring only popularize the genres in cinema even more.
In my opinion, this increase in high-stake, adventure packed films may have taken away from the genre of comedy. While humor is certainly implemented, it’s very difficult to find a movie that is purely dedicated to it. It can be argued that you can still find movies focused on comedy, the first movies that came to mind for me were Stepbrothers, Grown Ups, Ted, and 21 Jump Street. But for some odd reason, comedy movies today often rely on shocking, inappropriate, potty-humor jokes, and while this isn’t bad in and of itself, this template has certainly been overused and drawn out. You may claim that vulgar, flashy jokes have been present in film for decades, but I believe that, while present, it wasn’t as blatant and in-your-face as it is today.
Slapstick comedy is a specific area in the comedy genre that has been absent in cinema for a long time. This transition may just simply be the fact that public opinion has changed its mind about what is considered enjoyable or funny. But to me, seeing the return of these classic styled comedy movies with little to no stakes, absence of goals, and quick witted humor would be amazing to see, especially with the serious, dividing, and tense nature of the world that we are living in today.