Comedies at the Oscars...
My personal response to (http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/02/23/why-dont-more-comedies-win-oscars?smid=tw-nytimesarts&seid=auto)
Everyday I wake up and read the news, of some type. Some days I go all in and read CNN, News 360, and get the local newspaper, but some others I just feel satisfied with twitter.
A year ago I hardly understood what a hash tag meant, and not that today it all makes perfect sense, but I became one of the sheep that follows others wondering where exactly they are all going.
I have also recently discovered I like writing. It didn’t come as a surprise, I’ve always enjoyed it, I studied film maybe hoping to be a script writer, I think I just never believed in me, until I decided to do it for no one else but myself.
For the pleasant feeling of the new discovery of medias I had not even tasted, for the fact that writing is the voice of someone that is transcendent and today internet makes it universal, and for the fact that as one grows up, one has to start expanding the comfort zone and peeking into what is said in other countries, other cultures, other religions, and other media. I admit today I have became addicted to the whole reading, writing, posting, blogging, liking, tweeting, etc…
However my new hobby is a bit risky. The thing is, I have never been a morning person, and the real essence behind my lack of social skills ante meridiem is that I feel waking up is a transition moment, very small but significant, it happens every day and we take it for granted. And I personally like taking my time to welcome the new day without no one disturbing it.
I though until yesterday twitter was the least risky wake up, it normally just makes me laugh when someone says something stupid, and people rarely tweet bad news.
However yesterday I read, from the new york times art a tweet that talked about comedies being left out at the Oscars, and as I read it I realized the big disappointment was due to Bridesmaids not getting nominated for best picture.
The conversation was interesting, it is true Comedies tend to get less credit at any film award, and for this reason, some, like the Golden Globes have the “Best Comedy” section.
The thing is, it’s not a question of reputation or fake appearances like the article said. It’s more due to the simple factor comedies are harder, more subjective and less classified as chef d’oeuvre. It is certainly unfair that this stereotype is not caused by the fact less comedies win awards but vice versa, this stereotype is the cause of this, we assume less effort was put into it, the acting surely is spontaneous and the script is full of clichés. And for this reason we automatically give up on the film.
I objectively can tell that the rare good comedies shold get more credit than a good drama. Honestly, writing a drama is much easier, writing a good piece of drama, that has not been done before, is as hard. But in order to come up with the development of a dramatic story you almost need to play the game of “now what?”, and be a fan of Murphy’s work. Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
In comedy, you have to be smarter, you have to write something through someone else’s mind and develop something that seems unnatural in a situation that was unpredictable, laughter. Because if you see the laughter coming, it kills it.
My conclusion is that comedy is like sneezing. It has to come from within, has to be unexpected and it gives you a nice fun feeling within.
So I would way, rather than blame it on the Oscars and make them sound like fat cats just don’t give up, make more comedies, and make them better because a film is 80 percent a good story, whether this one makes you cry from laughter, joy or sadness.
Now, what really surprised me, shocked me, is this obsession with bridesmaids. I waited for this film to come out for months, I thought it would be so fun, I queued at the cinema just to know it was sold out and I finally watched and I felt the same disappointment I felt yesterday morning as I read the tweet blaming it on the Oscars instead of blaming it on the comedies.
Bridesmaids is innovative, it’s risky, it’s avant-garde because it shows to the world girls can be stupidly funny too, and that we are not afraid to be ourselves to make you laugh.
This is all great, but what happened to the script? It’s like instead of composing music someone bought one of those keyboard with prerecorded sounds and keep o pressing the fart, poop, nervous breakdown button over and over again.
This was the moment to invert chick flicks and get them out of the stereotype, make them smarter, make them funny for everyone, and make them enjoyable. What was done was go to its complete opposite, the 5 year old boy humour but wearing pink dresses. That’s not enough. I used to dress like my mum every day as I child, but I still was 5 years old. So girls, you can have all the “funny“ bowel movements you want, but you are still girls playing a boys game.
So instead of complaining, instead of trying to fit in desperately by pushing other people around, let’s make comedies stand out. It is possible (Amelie proved this a long time ago). It’s not about making people laugh it’s about being as good as any other film through laughter.
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