Comic Relief in a Little Dragon

One of my favorite forms of comedy is comic relief.  I think it has something to do with the fact that in a serious moment with a lot of built up tension there is a natural inhibition to want to break the tension and comedy is a great way of achieving that.  Disney has seemed to master this relief technique through their use of comic relief stock characters that are usually the protagonist's sidekick. Mushu the dragon from Mulan, Olaf from Frozen, and Gus and Jaq from Cinderella are just a few of the many examples of comic relief characters from animated Disney movies.  I think the reason Disney uses the comic relief character so regularly is because in children's movies there needs to be alleviation of dense storylines in order to keep children engaged while at the same time offering a laugh for adults as well. 

When I was little I remember watching Mulan constantly, but unlike most little girls who loved the beautiful Chinese princess, my favorite character was Mushu.  He never ceased to make me laugh no matter how many times I watched the movie.  His sassy, quick wit in combination with his physical humor is what makes him the most memorable character to me.  A great example of Mushu's comedy is when Mulan and the rest of her Chinese infantry are under an attack by the Huns.  Mulan narrowly escapes by causing an avalanche which prevents the Hun from continuing their attack, but it puts her and her gang at risk of getting caught in the avalanche as well.  In the link above Mushu is rushing around on top of the falling snow in search of Mulan and he mistakenly pulls up a Hun out of the snow and realizing his mistake shoves him back under the snow. As a child it didn't phase me that Mushu sends a Hun to his death by shoving him back down into the snow after he realizes his mistake because of the comic incongruity of searching for Mulan, but instead finding the opposite, a Hun.  The avalanche scene continues to be funny because Mushu makes a snarky comment after he happens to save the lucky cricket who he doesn't always get along with which alleviates the tension created by the intense scene.  
These two examples illustrate different parts of the same concept of comic relief.  The first illustrates it by showing that something unexpected and wrong happened and then is corrected.  It results in someone dying (specifically the Hun), but because it is done comically there is no sadness or remorse felt by the audience.  Disney makes sure the humor of the accident occurring is in the forefront of our mind, not the death of the Hun soldier.  This deflection of the thought of death through humor is a type of euphemistic tactic so children don't have to think about the fact people are dying.  The second example is the actual tension breaker which takes the viewer away from the situation at hand through a comic interlude.  The situation is very dire, but Mushu very casually decides it's appropriate to make a joke about the fact that the cricket is lucky for being found and saved by him.  This type of comic relief that takes the viewer out of the given situation gives viewers a break from the treachery and enables them to laugh even though bad things are still occurring in the scene around them.  
For me the character of Mushu is so great because he brings so much to the storyline and serves as a huge importance in the movie by making people laugh even during tragic scenes.  I think comedy helps people cope with pain even when they don't realize it.  Comic relief is used in movies time and time again because it is proven to evoke feelings of catharsis which is satisfying to the audience.  Do you think comic relief is necessary?  Do all movies need it in order to be successful?  

Fame

How fame and comedy coincide is a weird phenomenon.  When I see my favorite comedian on television I am put in an elated mood knowing he or she will likely do something that will make me laugh.  Will Ferrell is an example of a famous comedian who doesn't have to do much to make people laugh, but is always funny.  I think it is a combination of his mastery of the artform of comedy and the fact that audiences know he is funny, so he doesn't need to do much to get them to laugh.  Because he has already proved himself as a recognizable, funny person, he can elicit laughter easier through this association audiences have with him.  Now when dealing with a famous person who is not a comedian, audiences laugh easier because they feel like they know the person making their stories relatable and funnier.  Jennifer Lawrence on SNL is funny not because she is a great comedian, but because so many people feel like they understand and relate to her and it is funny seeing your "friend" dress up and act crazy.  This friendly facade famous people create that makes them seem more like regular people ironically separates them even further from normalcy, by making them even more famous.  Keyu said she liked the comedian in the movie because she felt like she knew him and I find that true of comedians that I like the most as well.

Vine

I remember Sophomore year in high school deleting Vine because it was so distracting and took up so much of my time.  It's ironic spending hours on Vine watching six-second videos, but that's what inevitably happens.  Last night is a great example because I was in a friend's room with others trying to do homework, when Kelly opened her Vine account.  We all stopped what little homework we were doing and gathered on Kelly's bed, laughing through all hours of the night.  This is the reason why Vine is so poisonous because the short length of the videos tricks people into assuming they won't be sucked into watching for extended periods of time.  Like the little girl on the beach crying that she needs to sleep, most of us need a little break from the stresses of everyday life.  Vine offers that stress relief and because the videos are so short, if they aren't funny then you only wasted six seconds of your life as opposed to a five-minute comedy sketch that is a much bigger time commitment.  In today's fast-paced world, people don't have time to waste on long comedy sketches, they are looking for the quickest, most convenient laugh.  So whether you have seconds between classes or hours at night, Vine is a quick and convenient source for laughter.

Gidget

Jessica's post reminds me of car trips I used to make coming back from a friend's farmhouse on long weekends.  Her mom made us watch old tv shows and movies as well and some of them certainly held up better than others through the test of time.  There was one movie in particular that I remember crying to because I was laughing so hard, however it wasn't what the writer had intended to be funny.  The movie was called Gidget and it was about a girl in the 1950's who lived near the beach and just wanted to surf with the boys.  Her nickname was Gidget because she was a short girl, or girl midget, and most of her frustration came from her not being able to do what the boys could do.     I remember her getting made fun of by a boy in a relatively harmless manner and her running home crying to her mother.  It was funny because it was such a dramatic and ridiculous reaction for such a minor incident.  The reflection of how girls close to my age at the time reacted to different things was funny because it was so seemingly weird and foreign to me.  Why didn't she just stand up for herself instead of wimping out?  Why did the boys openly think it was ok to call her Gidget? Why did the movie studio think that was an appropriate title?  The gap in time from then to now has shown what was once normal then is now so weird, it is funny.  (We also couldn't help but laugh at the terrible greenscreen effects of the surfing.  I'm sure at the time it was fine, but with all the realistic special effects we have today to compare it to it was laughable how fake it looked).

Why Are You Laughing, Seriously?

For some reason, I always laugh when I am in a stressful or adverse situation.  Something about the mixing of high strung emotions will elicit laughter from me often times in inappropriate situations.  When a friend tells me about her horrible day, I laugh.  When someone tells me about a terrible natural disaster, I laugh.  When I'm at a funeral for a loved one, I laugh.  I think it is some sort of coping mechanism that I have developed over the years in order to keep from processing my emotions.  

When I was a child I cried when I was upset and laughed when I was happy.  I was always clear when conveying my emotions because my emotions weren't very complex.  Much like in the new Pixar movie Inside Out, I didn't have but a few set of emotions when I was young; however, as I grew up my emotions became more complex and harder to clearly convey.  As I grew I developed ways to cope with high amounts of emotion and for me that was laughter.  I ignore the terrible sorrow I feel and instead giggle because trying to process crushing information is difficult and it is easier to instead laugh.  

Many standup comedians attribute their success to difficult childhoods and good repression or coping of those hard times.  They made jokes when they were growing up as a way to combat the hard life they were living in order to escape the reality of the hard truth. Everyone has different ways of dealing with emotions, what are yours?