Within all the ever changing trends over the last few years in the world of cinema, from the changing technology and way we consume film to the differing trends that flow in and out, one thing has remained a constant - the steady decline of the comedy genre and it's popularity amongst the viewing public.
Whilst the horror genre has enjoyed a resurgence recently with a fresh and innovative outlook on a traditional theme, the comic film has unfortunately suffered box office showings and critical analysis highlighting the drop off in quality in what was once a much loved genre.
Ask anyone who was lucky enough to experience the golden era of comedy in Hollywood from the late 70's, 80's and 1990's and they will all probably have a comedy or two in their top 5 favourite films of all time. The Life of Brian, Airplane, Animal House, Caddyshack, Dumb and Dumber and even up to the likes of Old School and Anchorman had audiences in stitches with the SNL troupe from the US and Monty Phyton from the UK contributing largely to the laughs enjoyed by young and old alike.
Recently though the comedy film has taken a battering in the box office and critically as we turn our back on an old favourite. Granted, a few gems appear every now and again such as The Big Sick, Grand Budapest Hotel and Trainwreck to name a few but our comedy kicks these days tend to come in the form of comic relief in superhero movies such as Deadpool and Thor Ragnarok or in family films like Paddington and Despicable Me. With this being the case, a whole audience of cinema goers are missing out on the best laughs they are likely to experience inside a movie theatre because they are not fans of the superhero or family film genres.
The burning question at this point is however is - why is the comedy movie dying and what are the chief reasons behind it's demise?
There are many feasible and plausible factors at play to explain why our love for and the popularity of the comedy film is slowing fading away.
Firstly, the internet for all it's various wonderful uses has not been an ally of the comedy film. Youtube, facebook and various other platforms with their thirty second comedy clips have stripped us of our patience for the slow build up gag and has us constantly craving instant gratification for our comedy kicks! The production line is also now more plentiful with every owner of a smart phone already a clown school graduate showcasing their wares and by the time the latest Hollywood produced comedy attempts to lampoon the latest meme or social trend it's already yesterdays laugh.
The audiences attention spans too have taken a pounding in recent times with a 90 min comedy too short to reinforce a strong gag (unlike television) yet too long to constantly build up hilarious scenarios that may or may not hit their mark!
Judd Apatow writer and director who is largely credited with giving new life to the R-rated comedy genre in the 21st century thanks to critical and commercial hits “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up." flagged the wane in comedy film almost two years ago when he told IndieWire: "After the last writers’ strike, it felt like the studios decided not to develop movies. They used to buy a lot of scripts, and they had big teams of people giving notes, and they worked for years with people in collaboration on those scripts. I feel like the studios don’t buy as many scripts now. It used to be you’d open up Variety, and you’d see a movie studio had just bought a big high-concept comedy. Now it seems like they’d rather things come in packaged: a script, a cast, a director. As a result, a lot of great comedy writers are going to television instead of sitting at home and trying to write a script for a film, write the way I was". Apatows theory would certainly explain such recent comedic turkeys as Baywatch which tended to market itself on Dwayne Johnsons star power rather than any comedic quality or substance.
Apatow also went on to faults the critics for making the comedy genre an easy target for bad press.“When you do a big, broad comedy and it fails, it’s an easy target for criticism,” he said. “I also don’t think critics have a great respect for the effort it takes to make people piss their pants laughing. They think it’s more honorable to show someone in torment, but being able to do that doesn’t make you more of an artist than being able to make ‘The Naked Gun.’ It’s not hard to make people cry.”
Apatows insights almost two years ago seem to be accurate and unfortunately likely to continue as this traditional kingpin genre of the movie industry continues it's decline.
The only solution is to hope for a change of circumstance, quality and investment in the comedy film and until then sit back and enjoy the comedic greats of years gone by when comedy was golden!
