The art of writing cinematic comedy

The book "The Art of Writing Cinematic Comedy" presents a scientific and methodological study of the art of comedy, from ancient Greek comedy and the development of this art in three stages: the ancient era, the medieval era, and the modern era, until the invention of cinema. It reviews the prominent writers of comedic plays, then the transition of theater, in its tragedy and comedy forms, to Roman theater, followed by a pause due to religious circumstances, when Christianity appeared and religious figures controlled affairs and people's preoccupations in Europe. Then came the Renaissance, during which arts and literature flourished in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. The book is divided into five chapters and 18 sections, reviewing comedic structures and ideas, as well as the fundamentals of humor, tricks, and the first comedic characters. It also sheds light on Charlie Chaplin, Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Harry Langdon. Additionally, it explores spoken comedy, including voice, structure, dialogue heritage, clown heritage, and satirical heritage. The book highlights that there are eight cinematic comedic plots that have fundamentally changed the structures through which cinematic comedy and its human material are coordinated. The film participates with six out of eight in both drama and narrative. It also indicates that the comedy film says something about the relationship between humans and society, as comedy either supports social values and assumptions and encourages the comedic character to reform their behavior to match societal expectations, or supports anti-social behavior, considering itself superior to social principles. The book points out that spoken comedy is structural, not physical, written in a comedic manner. Spoken comedy largely depends on dialogue, structure, and the screenwriter, who plays a significant role in shaping the comedic film before the director. It notes that cinema was invented in the late 19th century, specifically in 1895, and its industry began to spread. Most of the early films, made by the Lumière brothers, lasted no more than two or three minutes. They mostly depicted simple comedic situations relying on movement, which is the essence of this cinematic art, such as scenes of workers leaving a factory or a train arriving at a station. Mac Sennett was the most famous producer of silent comedy. Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Harry Langdon, the four silent clowns, produced successful and beloved feature films in the 1920s. They were roughly equal in size, popularity, and wealth. Lloyd and Langdon made films that remained very funny, unique, and entertaining, but their glow seemed dimmer compared to the brilliance of Chaplin and Keaton.