StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

British and American Comedy - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The comedies have a great sense of humor attached to them. The paper presents a detailed discussion on the two movies, Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) and Some Like It Hot (1959), based under some key heads and endeavors to catch the essence of romantic comedies. …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER96.8% of users find it useful
British and American Comedy
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "British and American Comedy"

?British and American Comedy Introduction The films, which are generally characterized to be comedy, have a great sense of humor attached to them. Further, these types of films like Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) and Some Like It Hot (1959) characterized as comedy also have a comfortable and happy ending. A look at the two films mentioned reveals that the British and American comedy differs on one main salient point, the presence of irony. Bridget Jones’s Diary reflects a strong inner meaning; a play of minds in the midst of humor attached while Some Like It Hot reflected a more humoristic and straightforward appeal rather than portraying emotion. The paper presents a detailed discussion on the two movies based under some key heads and endeavors to catch the essence of romantic comedies. Bridget Jones and Her Men Bridget Jones is stuck in a real dilemma for the existence of two men in her life, Daniel and Mark. Daniel turns out to be her boss and Mark is the person whom she meets at the Christmas Party hosted by her parents. Bridget Jones in the initial stage in more busy involved in a relationship with Daniel Cleaver who also reflects a kind of possessiveness over girls and woman. Bridget despite knowing the fact that Daniel is an occasional flirter continues to share a strong relationship with him by going to dates. The attraction, which Bridget has for Daniel, becomes contested, as Mark gradually moves to win her heart. Mark through one of her colleagues discloses his liking for Bridget. Mark, the son of an old family friend of Bridget’s parents also gets the access to meet Bridget in many occasions like parties and in events like book launches. Bridget on hearing about Mark’s feelings about her also develops a soft corner for him. Daniel on learning about Bridget’s feelings about Mark tries to dissuade her by making false allegations about Mark. However of late Bridget gets a clear picture of Daniel’s perverted character when she discovers him with another woman. Bridget finds that the things heard about Daniel Cleaver is true and decides to break up from him. This break up from Daniel helps to reduce Bridget’s dilemma of whom to depend upon as her relationship with Mark starts developing. However, Daniel again returns back to the scene, which again makes Bridget run into the dilemma. Bridget gets stuck between Daniel’s attractive personality and Mark’s close associations with her. This dilemma of Bridget gets solved through the information she learns from her mother about the real truth of the conflict between Daniel and Mark. Bridget learns that Daniel owing to his flirting character had contributed to breaking the relationship between Mark and Mark’s wife. Thus successfully coming out of the dilemma she decides to stay on with Mark (Maguire, 2001). Dilemma to Comedy In my perception, Bridget Jones’s Diary is truly a romantic comedy. Bridget in her relationship with the two people Daniel and Mark shows a reflection of good amount of emotion and romance, which culminates to putting her into dilemma. The movie in the midst of a romantic whirlpool becomes successful in portraying a comedian character of Bridget Jones. Bridget who frequently takes into alcohol and cigarettes takes the pledge to reduce her overweight. The way Bridget records the same in her diary attracts attention in making it as one of best comedy films. Further, the film has employed many funny dialogues, which owing to their simplicity and straightforwardness made it have a comedy appeal. The flirting activities, which Bridget carries on out of her fantasy for her boss, Daniel Cleaver, also encourage a sense of comic actions. The comedy is best exposed in a boat scene where Daniel in an endeavor to balance himself between two boats one run by him and the other by Bridget loses balance and eventually falls into water. Bridget Jones Diary earns success in becoming a comedian film also because of the way the characters are portrayed in the movie. Bridget’s character enacted by Renee Zellweger has become the main attraction owing to her comedian moves and endeavors to make the people laugh along the film. Even the way Bridget fantasizes about her boss Daniel Cleaver is shown in a comedian fashion to project not only romance in her minds but a sense of cutting wickedness and an interest in flirting. Thus, Renee Zellweger through her physical movements coupled with a bunch of witty dialogues and surprising antics have somewhat made the movie earn a comedian face. Bridget Jones stuck in the dilemma of whom to stay with between Daniel and Mark in her obsessed figure portrays a comedian character in the way of fantasizing her boss and the occasional meeting ceremonies with Mark in parties and book events (Maguire, 2001). Roles in Some Like It Hot The main roles in the movie Some Like It Hot is played by Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in the movie play the roles of two musicians who were struggling to settle their career and earn a better livelihood. The names of the musicians, which Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon portray in the movie, are that of Joe and Jerry. However, these people in a search for a better life and have become the center of chase having seen a murder make an endeavor to flee to Florida. The uniqueness in the portrayal of their character involves the turnaround where these two persons, Joe and Jerry decide to hide their original identity and join a musical band group maintained by girls. Joe and Jerry in their disguise name themselves as Josephine and Geraldine respectively. Marilyn Monroe on the other hand known as ‘Sugar Kane’ in the movie plays the role of a principal vocalist and plays a musical instrument for the band. These two people, Joe and Jerry start felling attracted to her owing to her glamorous stand. In that, Joe and Jerry endeavor to reflect their feelings for her without letting off their false identities. On reaching Florida, Joe decides to make the principal lady of the band ‘Sugar Kane’ his own. Thus Joe again changes his disguise and gets changed from the woman to a multi-millionaire and earns the name as ‘Junior’. Geraldine the transformed identity of Jerry further changes the name to Daphne who really becomes proposed by a millionaire man. This millionaire man, Osgood Fielding the third, enacted by Joe E. Brown, feels deeply romanticized by Daphne’s thoughts and makes plans to marry her. (Wilder, 1959) The comedy factor of the film Some Like It Hot is built up as Joe and Jerry, the male musicians struggling to get to a newer life and out of Chicago decide to wipe off their male identities. These people decide to put off their male identities by taking on to female clad dresses, wearing wigs and also in the style of getting their legs shaved off. Jerry enacted by Jack Lemmon creates the comedian scenes through the use of dialogues where she feels uncomfortable in walking wearing those ladies outfits. She infers that how do women tread about wearing such things and even comes to state that he is feeling naked in such wears. Even the dialogue used by Jerry in seeing Sugar Kane (enacted by Marilyn Monroe) dance invites comedy as he comments that she must be having some ‘built-in motors’ which makes her swing like that. Further the conversations, which Jerry has with the millionaire, Osgood also reflect stark comedy. Osgood who is deeply in love with Daphne the female face of Jerry and has already proposed her for marriage reveals again reveals his feelings for her. To this Daphne tries to convince Osgood that she would not be able to marry him for in truth she is not a female. Jerry dressed as Daphne reflects all the masculine features like smoking cigarettes and disability in bearing a baby to Osgood. However, Osgood deeply in love stays unperturbed and goes on suggesting solutions for the hindrances cited. Finally when Jerry also reveals his masculine identity, Osgood in a romantic mood states that ‘Well nobody’s perfect’ (Wilder, 1959). This reflects the comedic portrayal of the characters in the movie. Comic Scenes The best comedy scene that I liked in the movie Bridget Jones Diary is the boat-riding scene in which Daniel Cleaver and Bridget Jones go on date. This scene appeared to me as one of the best comic scenes in the movie owing to its style of representation. Daniel in an endeavor to transfer himself from his boat to that of Bridget’s tries to balance himself on the two boats. Eventually, Daniel loses his balance and lands himself into the water. This scene depicts a show of antics, which reflects a comical touch as felt by me. In Some Like It Hot the best comic scene enjoyed by me stands out to be the one where Jerry and Joe dressed as Josephine and Geraldine walk along the railway platform to catch their train to Florida. The way Jerry was walking and the manner of his conversation with Joe invoked a sense of laughter inside me. Jerry in his expression of being uncomfortable dressed in such female attire even said that he was feeling naked. This scene was thus felt by me as one of the best comical scenes of the movie. Concluding remarks in my opinion, the film Bridget Jones’s Diary is a romantic comedy for it successfully blends the romantic set up of the movie to the comical moves of the characters inside it. The film which depicts a romantic conflict between Daniel and Mark over Bridget and draws emotions also successfully highlights comedian scenes brought through conversations and body movements. I also think that Some Like It Hot is a romantic comedy for it also reflects romantic relationship between two couples. However, the movie in its depiction earned a comical tone for the activity of the two characters, Joe and Jerry in getting transformed into females. The activity, consisting of body movements and witty conversations, transformed it to a romantic comedy. References 1. Bevan, T., Fellner, E. & J. Cavendish (producers), Maguire, S. (director), (2001), Bridget Jones’s Diary [motion picture], London: Working Title Films. 2. Wilder, B. (producer & director) (1959), Some Like It Hot [Motion Picture], United States: Mirisch Corporation, Ashton Productions. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“British and American Comedy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/visual-arts-film-studies/1407927-british-and-american-comedy
(British and American Comedy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 Words)
https://studentshare.org/visual-arts-film-studies/1407927-british-and-american-comedy.
“British and American Comedy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/visual-arts-film-studies/1407927-british-and-american-comedy.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF British and American Comedy

War and Postwar British Cinema: Ealing Drama and Comedy

Anyway The Board of Trade was rather happy to have the opportunity to rely on USA import and american companies were of importance as they handle percentage of produced British films.... In the result the Ealing comedy gave rise to the next generation of comedies(Street 1997).... Ealing Drama and comedy: InteractionCharles Barr (Ealing Studios, script writer) wrote (Lou 2003): "The drama is Ealing's picture of how things have to be in a society which rightly inhibits individual deems and desires for self-fulfillment....
12 Pages (3000 words) Essay

British Television Comedy

The essay "British Television comedy" presents a discussion of the positive and negative sides of British Television programs.... Turn on any TV and you can watch a comedy, a thriller, reality TV, almost anything.... Before the average american child leaves elementary school, researchers estimate that he or she will have witnessed more than 8,000 murders on television....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Comedy, Culture and the Media

The assessment for this module requires you to produce a comedy Portfolio that combines in-depth academic theoretical discussion with documentary evidence that you have collected during the duration of the module.... The specific nature of this documentary evidence is to be… ned by you, but it might include photocopies of cartoons published in newspapers, publicity stills from comedy television programmes or films, photocopies of satirical publications, publicity of stand-up performers, media reviews of stand-up shows, and so on. The following As will hopefully become clear from this comedy Portfolio good, bad, or even indifferent comedy has the capacity to influence, as well as reflect popular culture through its presentation and its subsequent transmission by the mass media....
15 Pages (3750 words) Essay

Sexuality in America comedy show

Many comedy shows normally show the way females are scrutinized, objectified, derided by uncovering the steady stream of sexism and misogynist in shows.... It is apparent that most people do not get the real It is obvious that comedy shows tend to replicate the environment which fits the society regardless of the degree of contamination of the environment.... Last Holiday is a comedy movie directed by Wayne Wang and is a remake of a 1950 British comedy that involves a woman who decides to enjoy pleasure when she finds out that she is going to die....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

British Film Industry

Longer films with a narrative structure came soon afterward in which a short comedy or a longer more intense moral story was presented to the audience.... In this essay, the author explains how the fortunes of the british film industry have varied widely over time.... hellip; Clearly, the story of british cinema is confusing, to say the least since there is no consistency in the output.... The birth of the british cinema can be said to come soon after the first public picture film show which took place at the Regent Street Polytechnic in 1896....
20 Pages (5000 words) Essay

Film and Television Genres

The purpose of this study is to determine the degree and ways in which the successful British television comedies such as Cavell's Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood comedy of Remarriage; Great Brit-coms: British Television Situation comedy by Koseluk; were all driven by social criticism.... In Stanley Cavell's Pursuits of Happiness, the author focused on the differences between the famous classical stories that are classified as the remarriage comedy genre....
10 Pages (2500 words) Case Study

Tactical Withdrawal or a Hasty Retreat of the British Empire

The United States of american had won the Spanish american War of 1898, built the Panama Canal and industrialized rapidly with its new Pacific Territory.... The paper "Tactical Withdrawal or a Hasty Retreat of the british Empire" states that Britain's aim was to preserve the value of the pound and to find a method to funnel money into their war-torn land.... Americans made no secret of their antipathy for british imperialism as expressed through its colonies in India and its oppressive regime sin Palestine and Greece....
13 Pages (3250 words) Coursework

The Development of The American Broadway as Theatre and Culture

The present paper examines the significance of this genre to american theatre with the emphasis on Broadway.... The history and development of the american Broadway Musical are traced with a view to demonstrating its place in american theatre and culture.... hellip; Historians typically attribute the beginning of the american Broadway Musical to the production of Show Boat which debuted on December 27, 1927.... In this regard, american Musical Theatre is divided into two distinct eras: Pre-Show Boat and post-Show Boat....
13 Pages (3250 words) Research Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us