Comedy has now reached the era of the highest dividends.
Anything that can make people laugh can be fame and fortune, such examples are not uncommon.
But for a comedy, is it enough to be funny? Does the work itself have meaning?
This question scores most people and a small number of people.
This more and less score two levels, one is the general audience and the professional audience, the other is the creator and capital, the position and purpose are different, the definition of comedy works is different, funny and meaningful there is a difference.
Doesn't a funny comedy make sense? The answer is no.
Comedy begins with "hi" and ends with "drama", that is to say, the purpose of the plot is to serve the concept of "hi".
After making the audience laugh, the audience can continue to laugh or become crying, this laugh can be black humor, this cry can be a mixture of sad and happy.
Ru Ninghao's comedies all range from laughter, sneering, and laughter to ridicule and bitter laughter, from the progression of laughter and different meanings to interpret what is meaningful comedy.
Whether it is "Crazy Stone", "Crazy Racing", or "No Man's Land", "Heart Flower Road Release", at the beginning it makes people laugh, and then it makes people sad.
He is like a "ghost tailor", stitching together the reality that we have torn apart in his films, and this stitching seems to be disorganized, but it is actually the sadness of desire that is difficult to achieve.
Ning Hao said in an interview:
"I think comedy is actually a kind of criticism, laughter is a kind of criticism, and people tend to laugh when they see things that are worth criticizing." 」
It can be seen that gloomy comedy, social comedy, improvisational comedy, humorous comedy, joyful comedy, positive comedy, absurd comedy, light comedy and farce, must first be funny.
Funny is not the measure of a comedy, but it is the standard by which a work is determined to be a comedy.
So "laughter" makes sense because it defines comedy, because all nine genres of comedy contain the word "comedy."
So, what does this meaningful mean?
Meaningful refers to reflection and reflection, through a work, to get something out of it, rather than simply laughing.
Just like "Bright Sword" and "My Regiment Leader My Regiment", they are both anti-Japanese dramas and good works, but the ideas of the two are different.
"Bright Sword" is a cool drama that makes people look happy and don't need to use their brains; "My Regiment Leader My Regiment" is a thinking drama, which makes people look uncomfortable and need to use their brains.
According to this, it is funny and meaningful to analyze.
For most ordinary audiences, comedy movies and variety shows are pastime, and watching them is to make people feel comfortable and comfortable, because thinking will make people tired.
For a small number of professional audiences, comedy should have connotations, should not be spilled dog blood, there is no nutrition, because the work is not for the moment but for the classic.
This leads to the main categories of comedy, which are mainly three.
The first, when you look at it, you feel funny, but after reading it, your brain is empty, and it is the same as burning after reading.
The second is to portray the bitterness of life through comedy works, so that the audience can feel empathy; the third, to see compassion in laughter, wrap the desolate spiritual core under dense laughter.
Which one will they choose for creators and capital?
Funny can resonate with the audience, get the heat of the moment and quick money, but the work may be overwhelmed by superficial evaluations.
Meaningful comedies may reject a part of the audience, cannot empathize with the audience, and cause the wallet to become flat, but will receive a tidal wave of praise in the future.
Fame or profit? As far as the current environment is concerned, capital seeks profits and basically chooses to do the first kind of comedy.
For example, Chen Sicheng's "Detective Chinatown" series is a typical example, first using "Detective Chinatown 1" to set the tone, then using "Detective Chinatown 2" to raise the box office, and then sacrificing "Detective Chinatown 3" to harvest.
When the film's reputation is regurgitated by the audience, they will try to move closer to the comedy of life, which is the second kind of comedy.
It's just that the roots of their creations have not changed, and the bittersweet and bittersweet of life is the coat they use to whitewash, like a dragonfly dotting water, no pain or itch.
For example, in Stephen Chow's "Mermaid", environmental protection is the gimmick of the film, farce is the core of the film, and the environmental protection appeal at the beginning and end of the film is a cover for the poor quality of the film itself.
Their essence is still to make money, not to leave a work worth talking about.
It is precisely because of the laziness of creators, the speculation of capital, and the connivance of the audience that the current comedy only stays in laughter and loses its meaning.
So", which is more important for a good comedy, "funny" or "meaningful"? "This issue is worthy of being discussed."
Because the creators now forget the essence of the work, that is, making the work "good" is the basis, and then they can talk about funny and meaningful, and now it is completely inverted.
So can it be funny and meaningful at the same time? Of course, you can raise a bear that catches fish.
However, it is too difficult to do both, and in the 116 years since the birth of Chinese films, there have not been many such good works, until the 1970s, When Chinese films began to slowly diversify.
At this time, the past opera forms, model drama forms and bitter enmity were gradually shaken off, the people's living standards improved, the spiritual and cultural pursuits transitioned to pleasure, and comedy ushered in a period of development.
Xu Guanwen's "Half a Pound, Eight Two" and Yan Kaishun's "A Q Zheng Biography" all belong to black humor.
Zhou Xingchi came to the top, from "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er" to "Journey to the West to Descend the Devil", his works are both funny and meaningful.
It's just that after "Journey to the West", Zhou Xingchi is still the same Zhou Xingchi, but his work is no longer the third comedy, but the first comedy to make quick money.
In fact, this kind of funny and meaningful good works, at the turn of the century, six years back and forth, there are many in the mainland.
Such as various sitcoms, "The Story of the Editorial Department", "The Story of the Cooking Class", "The Tale of the Martial Arts", "Underground Traffic Station".
There are also many TV dramas, such as "Ma Dashuai", "The Story of Xi Gengtian", "Late At Night", "The Happy Life of Poor Mouth Zhang Damin".
The movie is not to mention more, "Fallen Leaves Return to the Roots", "There is something to say", "Party A and Party B", "No Thief in the World", "Crazy Stone".
But now, why is there more and more farce?
For in the last century, being funny was as important as being meaningful; in the nineties, being funny was important, followed by meaning.
From 2000 to 2008, being funny was as important as being meaningful; from 2008 to the present, being funny was important and meaningful was irrelevant.
How did this change come about?
It's about the actors, it's about the screenwriter, it's about the director, it's about the audience, it's about the market.
The changing times have made the definition of comedy different, and perhaps after a few years, comedy has returned to its original form, not only pursuing amusing, but also emphasizing meaning.