Conventions of the comedy genre
The comedy genre is rarely referred to as just comedy. This is because there are so many types of comedy these range from the romantic comedy to the black comedy type.
The romantic comedy focuses on two people and possibly their friends and relatives who find love with each other. The stereotyped plot line follows the "boy-gets-girl", "boy-loses-girl", "boy gets girl back again" sequence, however there are multiple variations of this plot line. This genre is generally seen as light hearted and sometimes simply referred to as a “chick flick” this means that it is believed that the film is aimed at a female audience. Examples of the romantic comedy include: It's a Wonderful World (1939), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), Sabrina (1954), When Harry Met Sally... (1989), Pretty Woman (1990), and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994).
A parody or spoof is a film that uses scenes or concepts from other films and employs sarcasm, stereotyping and/or mockery of these scenes or concepts for comedic effect. Examples of parodies or spoofs include Blazing Saddles (1974), Airplane! (1980), and Young Frankenstein (1974).
A film that uses the Black comedy genre is one that employs topics or scenarios that would normally be considered taboo for comedic effect; examples of these scenarios include death, murder, suicide and/or war. Examples of films that use the Black comedy genre include: The Loved One (1965), MASH (1970), Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983), The War of the Roses (1989), Heathers (1989), Keeping Mum (2005), and Burn After Reading (2008).
A film that uses the Gross out comedy genre is one that employs vulgar, sexual or toilet humor into the film for comedic effect. Examples of such films include: Porky's (1982), Dumb and Dumber (1994), There's Something About Mary (1998), and American Pie (1999).
As well as the standard comedy genres there are also hybrid genres of comedy, these can range from the Action comedy to the comedy horror.
The Action comedy genre is a genre that includes comedic antics like slapstick or jokes with aspects of the action genre like a thrilling plot or daring stunts. These could also be martial arts slapstick films like the many starring Jackie Chan and others. Other examples of the Action comedy genre could be the buddy films, whereby mismatched partners find themselves in a situation that they solve over the course of the film in a comedic manner. Examples of films that use the Action comedy genre include: Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Hot fuzz (2007) The forbidden kingdom (2008) and Hancock (2008)
The comedy horror genre is a type of horror film in which the usual dark themes of horror are treated with a more humorous approach. These are often spoof movies that are simply parodies of horror movies for example Scary movie (2000) which was a parody of many movies of the time including Titanic (1997) The matrix (1999) etc etc. Other comedy horror genre films include zombieland (2009) and Shaun of the dead (2004). These comedy horrors focus less on the horror aspect of their genre but reflect the horrific moments as comedy like a parody.
A film that uses the fantasy comedy genre is one that magic, supernatural and or mythological figures for comic purposes. Most fantasy comedy includes an element of parody, or satire, turning many of the fantasy conventions on their head such as the hero becoming a cowardly fool. Examples of these films include Being John Malkovich(1999), Princess Bride (1987), Night at the Museum (2006), Groundhog Day (1993), Click (2006) and Shrek (2001).
