Monday, October 15, 2018
Thursday, September 20, 2018
Anarchic Comedies
Adrian, Alejandro, Kerriyon
Our example for Anarchic Comedy that we have chosen is a chase scene from Kung Fu Hustle. The action in the scene makes absolutely no sense, as it lacks a realistic narrative - but is comedic gold. As the scene progresses, you'll notice that it becomes more and more chaotic. The protagonist is stabbed several times on accident trying to kill the crazy landlady and is bitten on the lip by cobras. He is then chased by the landlady, in which the two start running at the speed of a motor vehicle. The scene ends with the landlady crashing into a billboard. The scene is similar to The Eric Andre Show because you don't see a narrative, which is called an anti-narrative. An example would be the intro to the show, where he destroys the set. Also, the majority of the skits. Actually, pretty much all of them. The further you watch, it becomes more hilarious and more absurd.
Madi, Pat, Dulce, Madeline
Watching the clip “A Day at the Beach” with Brandon Rogers, I was reminded of the Eric Andre show. It has the same type of chaotic style. There was definitely no narrative, and it wasn’t the anti talk show type either. It was bit after bit of obnoxious jokes. They were super random segments with little to no connection which gives off the anarchic style of the anti narrative. Rogers plays most of the characters in his videos which is something new we see, but his videos still include elements of the anarchic style of comedy. He is jabbing and insulting in a comedic but over the top manner.
Michela May, Harley Fonseca, Lianna Pena, Jonathan Garcia
National Lampoon’s Vacation demonstrates its qualities as an anarchic comedy by providing random gags that fit within the narrative structure that provide enough of a shock it elicits a strong response from the audience. One example of that is when they strap their dead Grandmother to the roof of their car, and then leave her on the front porch of their relatives in an effort to make it to their destination on time. This film revolves around the Griswold family, who are driving cross country in their family car to vacation at the Walley World amusement park along the West Coast. The trip has been planned minute by minute, but quickly falls into chaos from several instances of bad luck. At the climax of their journey, after so many things have happened to them, they arrive at Walley World, only to find it closed for maintenance. They don’t give up there, though, and even go so far as hold security guards at gunpoint on rides.
Another example of anarchic comedy is the dog being killed. Of course, the scene of the dog dying on the road is not shown but it is implied. The reason this is an example of anarchic comedy is due to the darker element of the dog being forgotten that it was tied to the car before the family took off. Palmer’s theory of plausibility/implausibility plays out in this scene. Completely forgetting to bring the dog back into the car before taking off is somewhat implausible; however, with the police officer pulling the car over, angrily shows Clark the leash hanging in the back of the car is plausible. The reaction that Clark and the police officer has is a normal reaction in the case of the anarchic comedy joke is over when the realization sets in.
Katherine Cade, Nikko Brown, Wade Harris, Kyrah Weathersby, Kurt Wilkinson
The show Jackass is our anarchic comedy because there is so much random self-inflicted violence as well as harm taking place on the show. The show also has no narrative whatsoever, consist of multiple gags, and is loosely structured. The characters in the show are constantly all over the place and taking part in crazy things. For example, in season one episode three of Jackass it starts off with the characters shocking themselves with a dog collar. Shortly after that, one of the characters, Johnny goes as tries to purposefully get sprayed by a skunk, which does happen. Then, one of the characters starts to fight his dad while he is laying in bed and trying to do stuff throughout the day. This shows that Jackass has many characteristics of an anarchic comedy and is random as well as crazy overall.
John Carlson, George Udeani Jr., Alejandro Cano, and Pablo Mendoza
The film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is a perfect example of anarchic comedy. Ostensibly, it is a comedy film structured around the classic tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table seeking the Holy Grail, however the film only loosely follows this plot (and at some points abandons it altogether), instead focusing on gags and absurdity that defy expectations. Right from the get-go after a lengthy opening credits gag, the film shows Arthur traversing England on foot, mimicking horseback riding and having his servant make horse hoof noises with two halves of a coconut. The very first person he speaks to immediately questions how this is possible, as coconuts are tropical fruits. The rest of the film is filled with similar moments of logical absurdity until it ends abruptly with Arthur and his Knights arrested by the modern day British Police.
One especially absurd moment is Arthur and company being chased by an animated monster, only to be saved when the animator dies of a sudden heart attack, seen in this clip:
Mohammed Hayan, Berge Bassett, Ronnie Owens, Tasha Vasquez
Mel Brooks’ Star Wars parody “Spaceballs” showcases numerous examples of anarchic comedy, a form that relies on quick, atomistic scenes of comedy (“bits”), a form of comedy that sometimes subverts the viewers expectations but more often relies on little jabs at societal/cultural norms to get laughs. In other words, anarchic comedy uses informed and even controlled anarchy to put us at ease and get us to laugh. In “Spaceballs,” every bit exists in a vacuum, which is to say that many of the jokes would work just the same in a completely different movie. This modularity is a staple of the anarchistic. An example of anarchic comedy: when Lord Dark Helmet, Rick Moranis’ parodic take on Darth Vader, and some of his lackeys are watching a radar monitor, the display suddenly cuts to footage from the “Spaceballs” movie itself and eventually fast-forwards to the current scene. As the characters realize they are looking at a video of the backs of their heads, they continuously look back over their shoulders to find whatever camera is putting them on the screen. Notwithstanding Brooks’ use of metacomedy in spoofing Star Wars at the cultural height of its popularity--or even the characters themselves breaking the fourth wall to draw a clear line between the “smart” audience and the “dumb” character antics--Brooks’ film uses Star Wars as framework to bring the audience onboard for the ride, but it is the stupidity of the characters (viz. Dark Helmet is continuously an idiot, despite efforts to be menacing) that solidifies our impulse to sit back and relax. Brooks tells us that it is safe to laugh.
Analeah Chirinos
Matthew Taylor
Sergio Lovenbury
Jenkins describes anarchic comedy as rejecting narrative ambitions which integrate gags in favor of more loosely structured, relatively self-contained scenes of performance. Happy Tree Friends is an animated YouTube series of cute forest animals that get themselves in graphic situations such as pain, injuries, bloodshed and death. In the episode ‘Nuttin’ but the Tooth’, Nutty visits his dentist Toothy for a rotten tooth extraction. It is apparent that Toothy does not know what he is doing as he flips through his dentistry book and randomly begins harming his patient by stabbing him with a needle, drilling through his head and tying the tooth to a doorknob. The Episode concludes with Toothy never being able to remove the tooth even after all the chaotic damage he caused but the tooth falls out on its own. ‘Nutting but the Tooth’, is a good example of anarchic comedy because of it’s nonsensical and extreme absurdity style of humor. Viewers are expected to laugh at Toothy’s outrageous decision making resulting to the disturbing pain aimed towards Nutty.
Crystal Chavez
Brandy Syma
Lavinia Hays
Taylor Rodriguez
Me myself and Irene
Our example of Anarchic Comedy is the movie Me Myself and Irene. This movie is an example of Anarchic Comedy from the main character to the situations he gets himself into. The movie follows the main character Charlie who is a Road Island state trooper who has multi personality disorder than makes him turn into tough guy Hank. His character is white male who was married to a white lady and gave birth to their three black kids. The scene we chose to outline the example of Anarchic Comedy is when the main character is on the run and eating at a diner in a small town. In the scene, a young boy is drinking a milkshake and staring at Charlie. Charlie is annoyed and Hank comes out. Hanks responds to the kid looking at him saying, “What are you staring at F$%^&”. The kid drops his shake in shock while Hank confronts the child of being on the verge of having a fight with him. When the father confronts Hank, Hank explains that it is between him and the kid. While most people ignore children’s annoying behavior since they are children, this comedy shows an off the social acceptable responds. Also, shows a man ready to fight a kid for his behavior. We would never fight a kid but the reaction to the kid was one of the funniest scenes in the movie.
Gary Clay
Matthew Ochoa
Monica Vera
Shameless is a perfect example of an anarchic comedy due to its rampant use of taboo comedy throughout the series. In the most recent episode of the comedy, one of the main characters realizes that she is not getting equal pay like her male co-workers. Her boss cites her constant need to use the restroom. In response, the character comes back to work, wearing an adult diaper so that she can go anytime she wants without taking a small break. In another episode, the family decides to “borrow” an elderly woman, whose social security checks that have been stealing, from a retirement home in order to pass her off as their grandmother. That more than qualifies for the absurdity part of anarchic comedy. The slapstick aspect is also a big part of this series, as the family is always literally carrying Frank, the deadbeat father, out of their lives and throw him in either a body of water or a dumpster.
Our example for Anarchic Comedy that we have chosen is a chase scene from Kung Fu Hustle. The action in the scene makes absolutely no sense, as it lacks a realistic narrative - but is comedic gold. As the scene progresses, you'll notice that it becomes more and more chaotic. The protagonist is stabbed several times on accident trying to kill the crazy landlady and is bitten on the lip by cobras. He is then chased by the landlady, in which the two start running at the speed of a motor vehicle. The scene ends with the landlady crashing into a billboard. The scene is similar to The Eric Andre Show because you don't see a narrative, which is called an anti-narrative. An example would be the intro to the show, where he destroys the set. Also, the majority of the skits. Actually, pretty much all of them. The further you watch, it becomes more hilarious and more absurd.
Madi, Pat, Dulce, Madeline
Watching the clip “A Day at the Beach” with Brandon Rogers, I was reminded of the Eric Andre show. It has the same type of chaotic style. There was definitely no narrative, and it wasn’t the anti talk show type either. It was bit after bit of obnoxious jokes. They were super random segments with little to no connection which gives off the anarchic style of the anti narrative. Rogers plays most of the characters in his videos which is something new we see, but his videos still include elements of the anarchic style of comedy. He is jabbing and insulting in a comedic but over the top manner.
Michela May, Harley Fonseca, Lianna Pena, Jonathan Garcia
National Lampoon’s Vacation demonstrates its qualities as an anarchic comedy by providing random gags that fit within the narrative structure that provide enough of a shock it elicits a strong response from the audience. One example of that is when they strap their dead Grandmother to the roof of their car, and then leave her on the front porch of their relatives in an effort to make it to their destination on time. This film revolves around the Griswold family, who are driving cross country in their family car to vacation at the Walley World amusement park along the West Coast. The trip has been planned minute by minute, but quickly falls into chaos from several instances of bad luck. At the climax of their journey, after so many things have happened to them, they arrive at Walley World, only to find it closed for maintenance. They don’t give up there, though, and even go so far as hold security guards at gunpoint on rides.
Another example of anarchic comedy is the dog being killed. Of course, the scene of the dog dying on the road is not shown but it is implied. The reason this is an example of anarchic comedy is due to the darker element of the dog being forgotten that it was tied to the car before the family took off. Palmer’s theory of plausibility/implausibility plays out in this scene. Completely forgetting to bring the dog back into the car before taking off is somewhat implausible; however, with the police officer pulling the car over, angrily shows Clark the leash hanging in the back of the car is plausible. The reaction that Clark and the police officer has is a normal reaction in the case of the anarchic comedy joke is over when the realization sets in.
Katherine Cade, Nikko Brown, Wade Harris, Kyrah Weathersby, Kurt Wilkinson
The show Jackass is our anarchic comedy because there is so much random self-inflicted violence as well as harm taking place on the show. The show also has no narrative whatsoever, consist of multiple gags, and is loosely structured. The characters in the show are constantly all over the place and taking part in crazy things. For example, in season one episode three of Jackass it starts off with the characters shocking themselves with a dog collar. Shortly after that, one of the characters, Johnny goes as tries to purposefully get sprayed by a skunk, which does happen. Then, one of the characters starts to fight his dad while he is laying in bed and trying to do stuff throughout the day. This shows that Jackass has many characteristics of an anarchic comedy and is random as well as crazy overall.
John Carlson, George Udeani Jr., Alejandro Cano, and Pablo Mendoza
The film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is a perfect example of anarchic comedy. Ostensibly, it is a comedy film structured around the classic tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table seeking the Holy Grail, however the film only loosely follows this plot (and at some points abandons it altogether), instead focusing on gags and absurdity that defy expectations. Right from the get-go after a lengthy opening credits gag, the film shows Arthur traversing England on foot, mimicking horseback riding and having his servant make horse hoof noises with two halves of a coconut. The very first person he speaks to immediately questions how this is possible, as coconuts are tropical fruits. The rest of the film is filled with similar moments of logical absurdity until it ends abruptly with Arthur and his Knights arrested by the modern day British Police.
One especially absurd moment is Arthur and company being chased by an animated monster, only to be saved when the animator dies of a sudden heart attack, seen in this clip:
Mohammed Hayan, Berge Bassett, Ronnie Owens, Tasha Vasquez
Mel Brooks’ Star Wars parody “Spaceballs” showcases numerous examples of anarchic comedy, a form that relies on quick, atomistic scenes of comedy (“bits”), a form of comedy that sometimes subverts the viewers expectations but more often relies on little jabs at societal/cultural norms to get laughs. In other words, anarchic comedy uses informed and even controlled anarchy to put us at ease and get us to laugh. In “Spaceballs,” every bit exists in a vacuum, which is to say that many of the jokes would work just the same in a completely different movie. This modularity is a staple of the anarchistic. An example of anarchic comedy: when Lord Dark Helmet, Rick Moranis’ parodic take on Darth Vader, and some of his lackeys are watching a radar monitor, the display suddenly cuts to footage from the “Spaceballs” movie itself and eventually fast-forwards to the current scene. As the characters realize they are looking at a video of the backs of their heads, they continuously look back over their shoulders to find whatever camera is putting them on the screen. Notwithstanding Brooks’ use of metacomedy in spoofing Star Wars at the cultural height of its popularity--or even the characters themselves breaking the fourth wall to draw a clear line between the “smart” audience and the “dumb” character antics--Brooks’ film uses Star Wars as framework to bring the audience onboard for the ride, but it is the stupidity of the characters (viz. Dark Helmet is continuously an idiot, despite efforts to be menacing) that solidifies our impulse to sit back and relax. Brooks tells us that it is safe to laugh.
Analeah Chirinos
Matthew Taylor
Sergio Lovenbury
Jenkins describes anarchic comedy as rejecting narrative ambitions which integrate gags in favor of more loosely structured, relatively self-contained scenes of performance. Happy Tree Friends is an animated YouTube series of cute forest animals that get themselves in graphic situations such as pain, injuries, bloodshed and death. In the episode ‘Nuttin’ but the Tooth’, Nutty visits his dentist Toothy for a rotten tooth extraction. It is apparent that Toothy does not know what he is doing as he flips through his dentistry book and randomly begins harming his patient by stabbing him with a needle, drilling through his head and tying the tooth to a doorknob. The Episode concludes with Toothy never being able to remove the tooth even after all the chaotic damage he caused but the tooth falls out on its own. ‘Nutting but the Tooth’, is a good example of anarchic comedy because of it’s nonsensical and extreme absurdity style of humor. Viewers are expected to laugh at Toothy’s outrageous decision making resulting to the disturbing pain aimed towards Nutty.
Crystal Chavez
Brandy Syma
Lavinia Hays
Taylor Rodriguez
Me myself and Irene
Our example of Anarchic Comedy is the movie Me Myself and Irene. This movie is an example of Anarchic Comedy from the main character to the situations he gets himself into. The movie follows the main character Charlie who is a Road Island state trooper who has multi personality disorder than makes him turn into tough guy Hank. His character is white male who was married to a white lady and gave birth to their three black kids. The scene we chose to outline the example of Anarchic Comedy is when the main character is on the run and eating at a diner in a small town. In the scene, a young boy is drinking a milkshake and staring at Charlie. Charlie is annoyed and Hank comes out. Hanks responds to the kid looking at him saying, “What are you staring at F$%^&”. The kid drops his shake in shock while Hank confronts the child of being on the verge of having a fight with him. When the father confronts Hank, Hank explains that it is between him and the kid. While most people ignore children’s annoying behavior since they are children, this comedy shows an off the social acceptable responds. Also, shows a man ready to fight a kid for his behavior. We would never fight a kid but the reaction to the kid was one of the funniest scenes in the movie.
Gary Clay
Matthew Ochoa
Monica Vera
Shameless is a perfect example of an anarchic comedy due to its rampant use of taboo comedy throughout the series. In the most recent episode of the comedy, one of the main characters realizes that she is not getting equal pay like her male co-workers. Her boss cites her constant need to use the restroom. In response, the character comes back to work, wearing an adult diaper so that she can go anytime she wants without taking a small break. In another episode, the family decides to “borrow” an elderly woman, whose social security checks that have been stealing, from a retirement home in order to pass her off as their grandmother. That more than qualifies for the absurdity part of anarchic comedy. The slapstick aspect is also a big part of this series, as the family is always literally carrying Frank, the deadbeat father, out of their lives and throw him in either a body of water or a dumpster.
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Anarchic Ace Ventura
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls is the second film of a series that showcases the character Ace Ventura, played by Jim Carrey, who is a well known “pet detective” of missing domestic and wild animals. Throughout the film, there are rather abrupt comedic gags that interrupt the story, but does not try to take too much away from the plot. Instead, the comedic pieces move along with the narrative, and build the intensity of a scene through its absurdity rather than actual drama. First starting in tha Himalayan mountains, the story remains in underpopulated, “uncivilized” areas, that help further play into the humor later on, as Carrey faces poison darts, bats, and is called “White Devil”.
The reason this movie would be considered anarchistic is the nature of the Ace Ventura character that Jim Carrey portrays (like many of his other famous characters). He is finding new ways to call people different names (“and YOU must be the Monopoly guy! Thanks for the Free Parking”) then punching them in the face as Ace then lifts their unconscious body over his shoulders, spreading open their legs and arms while still draped over Ace’s shoulders. His over exaggerated physical humor (such as spreading his butt cheeks to mimic the George of the Jungle-type of yell from a tree, over emphasizing most of his dialogue such as one liners (“Like a glove!”), and even singing a cheery song about a car as he’s destructively driving through the jungle and singing to his passenger rather than staring at the road (“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” scene). Even when he’s trying to go on a stakeout, it starts to get hot inside the fake rhino he’s camping out in. Because the front entrance through the mouth won’t open, he finds a small light coming through the model rhino’s “backdoor” entry, forcing him to strip naked before squeezing himself out this rubber rhino as tourists stare in horror while watching this rhino “give birth” to a human man
Michela May, Harley Fonseca, Dulce Gomez
Monday, September 10, 2018
The Last Sharknado: It's About Time—and It's Anarchic Comedy!
Check out this trailer for The Last Sharknado: It's About Time
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