Serious Comedy in Movies
The mark of a true comedic genius is the ability to provoke thoughtful laughter. It is one thing to fill a movie with slapstick humor, and an entirely different matter to make the viewer think. This is the mark of a good serious comedy. Two such movies are Ronald Neame’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie(1969) and Anthony Asquith’s The Importance of Being Earnest.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie depicts an Edinburgh schoolteacher (played by Maggie Smith) who influences her students greatly, and teaching them not only schoolwork, but also lessons about life as seen through her eyes. The movie is based on the novel by Muriel Sparks, and “rarely has the spirit of a book been so well captured on film”. The exaggerated characters, especially Miss Jean Brodie, create a light comic atmosphere throughout the play, despite the serious issues that are dealt with later in the movie. I think that the movie did a good job in creating a serious comedic effect, even though the ending is not very satisfying. The ending is somewhat of a compromise, with nothing actually solved. The movie overall, however, provokes thoughtful chuckles with its sincere characters.
I was somewhat disappointed with Asquith’s film. Oscar Wilde’s play “The Importandce of being Earnest” was hilarious in my opinion, if one can understand the constant puns and how Wilde makes fun of society and everything in it. “Wilde’s play is one of the hallmarks of British theatre and it represents the height of his genius”. The movie, however, was dull. I don’t believe that it used the play to its full effect. There were many strong points, of course, such as the exaggerated characters and speech, but that got old after a while. Although it is called “the most outstanding comedies to grace any screen, large or small”, it failed to keep my interest for longer than the first act, despite the brilliant material that was being acted out. The play itself, however, is a perfect example of a serious comedy. In order to understand the jokes, the viewer must think about them.
The Importance of Being Earnest and The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie are two good examples of serious comedies. In both films, the humor comes not from watching people fall on their faces, but from thinking. Both leave the viewer thinking, and need to be watched more than once, simply to understand all the small puns and jokes.
