We've been watching Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors in Philosophy and a quote that really sticks out to me was the pompous television producer's statement that "Comedy is tragedy plus time."
I completely agree with this statement. For example, say you do something completely embarrassing. Right after the fact you're mortified and want nothing more than to dig a hole head-first into China. If this is where the story ends, it's a tragedy, mainly because it ends in misery. However, say that you use that situation of utter embarrassment as the topic of your college essay. The essay sets you a part, and ultimately helps you receive admission to your dream school. At first, it was a tragedy. However, after some time the story takes a turn and ends in happiness, effectively turning it into a comedy. Now this is an extremely simplified example. However, I think it shows how in time, things tend to work out. Though this may not be true for all stories (Oedipus?) , I think this statement does hold a lot of truth.
2 comments:
When I first read your post I could only think about that cliche saying, "time heals all wounds." But the more I thought about it, it really is true, the cliche and the statement that comedy is just tragedy plus time, both. Much Ado about Nothing, for example, is a comedy that if the story line wouldn't have progress into a happy ending would have been a tragedy. Comedies in general are just tragedies backwards. It just seems that many comedies start in order, go to disorders and makes it's way back to order.
How you described a comedy as a backwards tragedy makes perfect since. For example the movie Shrek starts out as a lonely ogre who hates other creatures (disorder/tragedy). But as the movie progresses the story of Shrek changes to a happy one through much comedic relief. The exact opposite story line would have been a tragedy if it started in order and everyone was happy (Shrek knew donkey and married Fiona ) and then turned tragic when he ended up alone.
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