Film- The Earliest Origins of Film Comedy

The origins of film comedy began with the birth of humankind.  Comedy appeared the first time someone tripped over a log, the first time one person performed an impression of another, or the first time someone did something foolish and looked around to make sure that no one had seen it.

Freud had explained how comedy is an alternative to repression of thoughts and actions that are taboo.  Instead of holding back, comedy rewards an outward display of forbidden subjects through the safe expression of laughter. 


The comic character as an outsider—one that exists within society, but is not necessarily a part of it, is a common theme that recurs throughout the different eras of comedy. Perhaps the human tendency to seek heroes and role models is what draws people to many non-comic presentations. Throughout history the same comic characters, as well as similar situations and themes recur in notable comedies and across art forms—as some of the common threads that I have already mentioned that appear to be constant across many subgenres of comedy.  Film reviewers and scholars form opinions about what makes a good film and what does not—often on the basis of critics and scholars of the past who have researched other forms of comedy.  As I guide the reader through the various eras of comic presentation and comic theory, it will become apparent that critical views of particular comic works change over time, from favorable to unfavorable and vice versa.  The section headings that I have chosen are a general way of demarcating different eras and distinct forms.  For some sections, terms within the heading may pertain to different cultures or different artistic media in different ways, which the subheadings should clarify.

Classical Comedy (Greece: 600~250 BC; Rome: 250 BC~100 AD)

The first records of comedy and theories of comedy come from about 2,500 years ago. From the earliest examples of comic plays, one can see the foundations for contemporary film comedy.

Since its birth, comedy has been the enjoyable, yet less praised sibling of Tragedy.  One important thing to understand about the first comedies is that they began as private exhibitions for the wealthy, much like Classical music of the Eighteenth Century.  Only later did playwrights present comedies for the public, a change that critically marks a shift in favor of comedy, recontextualized for the masses.  We will see this difference once again when we examine film comedy specifically, for some films seem to appeal only to critics while some capture audiences and disappoint critics.
Certainly, presentations of comedy occurred across the world before the first records in ancient Greece, but unfortunately, it is impossible to analyze directly the ancient comedies that have continued through oral tradition.

Traditionally, we separate the styles of Classical comedy into Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New Comedy.

Old Comedy

During this period, intellectuals began to write about comedy. Already, different styles of comic characters appear.  One is the clumsy buffoon that does not fit within the society—a pariah.  It is important to realize, however, that in Ancient Greece, it would have been more respectable to exist in society as someone to be mocked than to face exile from the society.  Another is the more refined character that relies on verbal rather than physical comedy. The reader may note that the comic character did not exist for its own purpose, but rather as an obstacle to test the hero—an almost proto-taboo figure.  In addition to these two distinct comic types, we also find the first examples of the “straight-man”. The straightman serves to contrast with the comic characters so that the audience may have a point of reference by which to judge how funny the comic characters are.  

Aristophanes (ca. 446-386 BC) was the most prolific comic writer from this time period. However, his works did not find universal acceptance. His social criticism of Greek society actually caused him trouble.
Scholars praise Aristophanes for the sentimental qualities of his comedies that he is able to elicit, much in the same way that they praise Chaplin. Both artists show that touching moments need not be removed from comedy. Aristophanes was one of the first playwrights to explore the potential of parody.  Parody finds a source of comedy in mocking an original serious idea, instead of creating an original idea. Aristophanes assumes his audience has prior knowledge of the original work that he parodies.  

Middle Comedy

After Aristophanes, Greek Comedy entered its second stage, now known as Middle Comedy. No major comic works of this period that will later influence film comedy vary from the conventions previously established in Old Comedy.  However, during this time period, philosophers began to theorize about comedy and to create philosophies of comedy. By far the leading philosopher of this time period when it comes to many things, Aristotle never actually created a theory of comedy as he did for tragedy.

New Comedy

The New Comedy works present us with something drastically different from the Old and Middle Comedy. While plays hearkening back to the style of Old Comedy still existed, just as films in that style still exist, New Comedy presented a formula that clearly demarcated it from the qualities of the other styles of comedy. It is important for the reader to realize that this style of New Comedy did not end with Ancient Greece.  Many scholars would argue that New Comedy never really died.  It certainly can be found in many of the comedies of Shakespeare, the operas of Mozart, the films of Lubitsch and Cukor, and in the Screwball Comedies of the 1930s and 1940s.

Litterateurs credit Menander (ca. 341-290 BC), the most prolific comedy writer of Greek New Comedy, with giving women a higher place in comedy. Throughout history, especially in the works of Shakespeare and Jane Austen, as well as in the Screwball Comedies, we find comedies in which a female character is no longer the object of comedy, but rather the instigator of comedy.  The role of a female protagonist as a controller of the comedy is another theme that recurs across eras and subgenres of comedy.  The fact that comedy allows for strong female characters also reminds us that comedy allows for what may be seditious topics at the time, such as women holding positions of authority in the Ancient World. Comedy only truly works when the audience expects to encounter a comedy.  However, a joke can only work if the punch line is unexpected.  As Menander’s Misanthrope teaches us, and so many film comedies echo, one must understand the conventions of comedy in order to appreciate comedy fully.

Roman Comedy

Plautus was the first great Roman comedian. The key to understanding the negative attitude towards Plautus has to do with the fact that he wrote many of his plays for the purpose of receiving income, instead of for strictly artistic reasons.  The commercial appeal/ aesthetic appeal debate is as old as art criticism itself and is most definitely still a factor for films.  Plautus was extremely popular with audiences of the time. Time and again we see comedy as a way to safely criticize one’s own society.

Succeeding Plautus, Terence (Anglicized from Terentius) was highly influenced by the Greek comedies and became one of the most prolific Roman writers of comedy. One can see that ancient critics recognized the merits of comedy.  Of the two Roman playwrights profiled here, Terence is closest in style to Menander. Throughout the different eras, we see how multiple styles of comedy enrich one another in any given era.  For example, one could never confuse the comic style of Groucho Marx with that of Cary Grant. Regardless of which writer one may favor personally, scholars concede that both men created a style that succeeded and went on to influence later styles and eventually film comedies.  The different comic approaches used by Plautus and Terence, helped to lay the foundations of the different subgenres of film comedy that exist today.

Many scholars credit the writers of New Comedy in creating the conventions of romantic comedies, or what became the Screwball Comedies in the mid-1930s. Even in Ancient Rome, the comedy of manners became something distinctly different from the physical comedy, now known as slapstick.  The zany situations and fast-paced banter define the former style, just as the pratfalls characterize the latter.  While the contrast between these comic styles becomes even more apparent with the films of the early sound era, it began in ancient times. In every art form, one finds that innovation occurs in two ways: an artist choosing to expand upon the foundations set down by another, or an artist reacting against the foundations set down by another, instead deciding to travel in a new direction.  In this way, Classical comedy has influenced the comedies of every subsequent era, whether writers wished to follow in the Classical model or wished to avoid it. Comedy draws from real life—one reason why the same or similar gag can elicit laughter for a millennium.  Gags seen in nearly every film comedy have their roots in earlier eras.