When comparing ‘golden age’ Slapstick comedy and ‘Chaplin shorts’ with modern media I find the greatest similarities in more nontraditional media, not tv or film but social media and wider internet content. In “Pie and Chase: Gag, Spectacle and Narrative in Slapstick Comedy” Donald Crafton explores how gags are integrated and balanced within in the narrative of a film. Slapstick can be seen as a ‘bad element’ where a narrative is only used to ‘hang the gag on.’ However gags can successfully be the focus of a film, as Crafton addresses the slapstick- gag film genre has been adored by many throughout film history. While narrative is important in any story being told the narrative doesn’t have to be the most important element of that story. Much of modern content can be evidence for how the gag can be the most critical part of a clip. The narratives place can be to just serve the gag.
Viral social media videos and compilations of comedy skits are able to have the gag overtake the narrative due to their short form. The asdfmovies are a collection of web cartoons popular during the early days of Youtube. Created by user TomSka, the fast paced, simplistically animated skits have racked up millions of views online. They have basic narratives which is crucial as each skit lasts only for seconds. The set up and narrative are kept simplistic so viewers can quickly understand what is happening, catching on in time for the gag. The twists and turns of a complex narrative would not appeal in this content, the punchline is everything. The short form and joke foreword focus allowed for the popularity of the series. As jokes are memorable and easy to reference. Sometimes narratives can even be completely absurd, like Desmond the moon bear or I baked you a pie, which subverts the common pie in the face gag which the user expects. Narrative can be thrown out of the window with storylines being nonsensical but the viewer is quickly invested due to the comedy of the absurd. The skit The Science Show, perfectly shows how asdfmovies successfully unequally balances ‘pie’ and ‘chase.’ The skit starts by replicating a tv opening with a musical jingle and The Science Show title card and then shows the excited presenter. By simply referencing the forms of popular tv, the viewer quickly understands that they are parodying a tv show, a unoriginal narrative set up. The figure then shouts “piano” before being crushed by one falling out of the sky. The presenter then breaks the fourth wall within the skit, calling out to the tv crew, complaining about “whose idea was this.” The narrative set up is not unique, a tv show exploring science, and the creator even uses the commonness of this set up to allow their viewer to catch on quicker. The joy of the clip comes from the slapstick moment as the piano falls. The ‘chase’ is a side thought, there to only serve the ‘pie’ however this is not a negative but the reason the series works so well. The gag is the priority, making people laugh in the priority.
asdfmovie 1-5 (complete collection)