Comedy & America
I was writing something else and this came out. It didn't belong so I cut it but I don't want to kill it yet. So it goes here for now.
I was just wondering why Expressionism has had a few blips in the American creative world but hasn't had the huge impact it did in Europe. But we like our comedies so much that I'm not sure that we just don't like anything more complicated than a trip to the circus. It's well noted that Americans f'ing love comedy - it's a huge part of how we think, if we can make jokes about something we start to feel like we can get a handle on it. And it's a huge part of how we relate, from teasing to snark, we find our tribe through humor.
It's certainly not that Americans like Absurdist art. Pretty sure that's not so if we take the movie Hang Over as a case study. That's a little more like the Greek idea of things ending well for the protagonists after a lot of hectic and unexpected twists and turns. But people coming together, sharing an experience, ending on better footing, is the key. I'm not claiming Americans at large go to these terrifically absurd (little "a") movies in order to be challenged - I'm pretty sure it's the opposite - but does the genre of comedy thrive in an artistic environment that values naturalism because we are reassured that we can handle whatever nonsense in which we find ourselves?
I was just wondering why Expressionism has had a few blips in the American creative world but hasn't had the huge impact it did in Europe. But we like our comedies so much that I'm not sure that we just don't like anything more complicated than a trip to the circus. It's well noted that Americans f'ing love comedy - it's a huge part of how we think, if we can make jokes about something we start to feel like we can get a handle on it. And it's a huge part of how we relate, from teasing to snark, we find our tribe through humor.
It's certainly not that Americans like Absurdist art. Pretty sure that's not so if we take the movie Hang Over as a case study. That's a little more like the Greek idea of things ending well for the protagonists after a lot of hectic and unexpected twists and turns. But people coming together, sharing an experience, ending on better footing, is the key. I'm not claiming Americans at large go to these terrifically absurd (little "a") movies in order to be challenged - I'm pretty sure it's the opposite - but does the genre of comedy thrive in an artistic environment that values naturalism because we are reassured that we can handle whatever nonsense in which we find ourselves?