Research into Genre - Storylines

Research into genre – Dark/Black comedy

Dark/black comedy is a comic style that is based on topics that are seen to be serious and mostly controversial. The reason for this comedy is to make the audience experience both laughter and discomfort based on the range of themes that most people will relate to a number of topics include:

·         Death

·         Murder

·         Suicide

·         Violence

·         War

·         Drug abuse etc.

This style of comedy came from theorist Andre Breton in 1935, the Frenchman focused on empathy from the audience towards the wit of the victim. The idea of this style of comedy is based on keeping a funny tone throughout but having a serious theme throughout such as, a police story or hospital story.

Some films that are in this sub-genre include:

Shaun of the Dead

The film is based on a zombie apocalypse, during the film Shaun meets his friends and family, however the apocalypse becomes too much and Shaun slowly loses everyone. The military police save the day however the comedy is classed as dark as it plays on the element of losing family but the film has numerous comedic elements such as the amusing way of killing zombies and other interactions with people throughout. This film inspired the character within our film, someone who does not like their job and a shake-up changes his life.

Snatch

This film is set around a number of stories such as bare knuckle boxing, a robbery and illegal gun trade. The film has comedic elements such as stereotyping and also the misfortune of others. The dark comedy feeds off of other characters having problems that escalate such as bribery during a boxing match.