Shedding Light on Dark Comedy
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Shedding Light on Dark Comedy: Humour and Aesthetics in British Dark Comedy Television Rebecca Louisa Collings Submitted for the qualification of PhD University of East Anglia School of Art, Media and American Studies September 2015 © “This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived there from must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution”. Abstract The term ‘dark comedy’ is used by audiences, producers and academics with reference to an array of disparate texts, yet attempts to actually define it perpetuate a sense of confusion and contradiction. This suggests that although there is a kind of comedy that is common enough to be widely noted, and different enough from other types to require separation, how and why this difference can be perceived could be better understood. Accordingly, I investigate what is enabling the recognition and distinction in respect of British dark comedy programmes, and use this as a basis for considering how this type of comedy works. I argue that the programmes may be distinguished primarily by aesthetic features, placing their rise on British television in a broader context of aesthetic trends towards a display of visual detail, spectacle, and excess that puts the private and the taboo on greater show. Using the theories of Freud, Bakhtin, and Bergson about taboo, the uncanny, the grotesque, and the appearance of mechanical actions in humans, I examine in detail examples of British comedy television programmes that are typically referred to as ‘dark’, demonstrating their consistent depiction of subjects that are often repressed or avoided, particularly those around which taboo restrictions and prohibitions have evolved (such as violence and death, illness, and transgressive sexuality). These areas are strongly linked with the body and physicality, and are also ones which occasion negative feelings of unease and denial that are connected to concerns about mental and corporeal fragility and fallibility. I conclude therefore that dark comedies provide a space where viewers may confront and ultimately minimise fears surrounding the human condition, enabling a ‘safe’ exploration of them that can be enjoyed as humorous. i Contents Abstract i Contents ii List of Figures v Acknowledgements x Introduction 1 Contemporary Dark Comedy Terminology 2 Historical Usage: Umour and Humour Noir 7 Chapter Structure 13 CHAPTER 1 Contextualising Dark Comedy 16 Introduction 16 Televisual Context 20 Generic Expectations and Generic Pleasures 28 Hybridity and Liminality 32 In Summary 35 CHAPTER 2 Odd Visions 36 Introduction 36 A Visual Approach 37 The Body 38 Dark Comedy = Horror + Comedy? 43 Freud 47 The Uncanny 48 Taboo, Mourning and Ambivalence 58 The Interpretation of Dreams, and Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious 66 Bakhtin 69 ii The Carnivalesque 70 The Grotesque 72 Bakhtinian Uncanny 76 Bergson 77 The Appearance of Mechanical Actions in Humans 78 Bergsonian Uncanny 79 A Three-fronted Approach 80 CHAPTER 3 Dark comedy aesthetics of the horrific (body horror, monsters, ghosts/supernatural, the uncanny, violence/crime) 83 Introduction 83 Reacting to ‘Abnormal’, ‘Broken’ or ‘Horrific’ Bodies 86 Faces, Masks and the Mechanical 90 Gross-out, Defilement and the Breakdown of Authority 98 Surreality, the Uncanny and Horror 102 Monsters, Psychopaths and Latent Threat 106 Conclusions 112 CHAPTER 4 Dark comedy aesthetics of sexuality (gender and sexualised bodies, nudity, sex, fertility, grotesque, fake/mechanical appearance, age and gender-blurring) 115 Introduction 115 Excessive Appearances and Excessive Performances 119 Unsettling Appearances and Gender-Blurring 133 Conclusions 148 CHAPTER 5 Dark comedy aesthetics of illness and death (disability, injury, mental health problems, addiction, death rituals and moments of death) 152 Introduction 152 iii Stigmatising Symbols and ‘Normal’ Bodies and Appearances 153 Representations of Mental Health and Drug Use 168 Representations of Disease and Death 177 Conclusions 192 CHAPTER 6 Non-bodily examples of dark comedy aesthetics, excess, and boundary-breaking (filming and editing techniques, hybridity, intertextuality, pastiche and parody, language) 197 Introduction 197 Points of View 201 Disorientating Editing, Parody and Pastiche 208 Non-Visual Comic Elements, Dream Work and Joke Work 214 Conclusions 223 Conclusion 227 Sex, Death, and the Strangely Familiar 227 The Un-topia of Dark Comedy 236 A Summary of the Workings of Dark Comedy 248 The End? 251 Bibliography 254 iv List of Figures Page No. Figure 3.1 The Silent Singer Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 91 Figure 3.2 Cartoon Head Ideal (BBC Three, 2005-2011) 91 Figure 3.3 Alan Modern Toss (Channel 4, 2006-2008) 95 Figure 3.4 Facial Distortion Limmy’s Show (BBC Two Scotland, 2010-2013) 95 Figure 3.5 Police vomit on a corpse Cardinal Burns (Channel 4, 2012-) 100 Figure 3.6 Parker and Harris Tittybangbang (BBC Three, 2005-2007) 100 Figure 3.7 Kilroy impersonated in Jam Jam (Channel 4, 2000) 104 Figure 3.8 Kilroy impersonated in Jam (2) Jam (Channel 4, 2000) 104 Figure 4.1 A Touch of Cloth A Touch of Cloth (Sky 1, 2012-) 122 Figure 4.2 A Touch of Cloth (2) A Touch of Cloth (Sky 1, 2012-) 122 Figure 4.3 Lola and Dudley Funland (BBC Three, 2005) 127 Figure 4.4 Lola and Dudley (2) Funland (BBC Three, 2005) 127 Figure 4.5 Lola and Shirley Funland (BBC Three, 2005) 127 v Figure 4.6 Lola and Shirley (2) Funland (BBC Three, 2005) 127 Figure 4.7 Barbara The League of Gentlemen (BBC 2, 1999-2002) 134 Figure 4.8 Emily Howard Little Britain (BBC Three, 2003-2004; BBC 1, 2005-2006) 134 Figure 4.9 Bubbles DeVere Little Britain (BBC Three, 2003-2004; BBC 1, 2005-2006) 136 Figure 4.10 Bubbles and Desiree Little Britain (BBC Three, 2003-2004; BBC 1, 2005-2006) 136 Figure 4.11 Daffyd Little Britain (BBC Three, 2003-2004; BBC 1, 2005-2006) 139 Figure 4.12 Maxine Bendix Tittybangbang (BBC Three, 2005-2007) 139 Figure 4.13 Mr Jelly Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 141 Figure 4.14 Mr Jelly (2) Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 141 Figure 4.15 DI Fowler Catterick (BBC Three, 2004) 143 Figure 4.16 Craig David Bo’ Selecta (Channel 4, 2002-2004) 143 Figure 4.17 Pauline The League of Gentlemen (BBC 2, 1999-2002) 143 Figure 4.18 Dwayne Red Dwarf (BBC 2, 1988-1999; Dave 2009-) 145 vi Figure 4.19 Angelos Shooting Stars (BBC2, 1993-1997; 2008-2011) 145 Figure 4.20 Andy Little Britain (BBC Three, 2003-2004; BBC 1, 2005-2006) 145 Figure 4.21 Tubbs The League of Gentlemen (BBC 2, 1999-2002) 145 Figure 4.22 Michelle Human Remains (BBC 2, 2000) 145 Figure 4.23 Dean Tavalouris The League of Gentlemen (BBC 2, 1999-2002) 146 Figure 4.24 Gilbert The Morgana Show (Channel 4, 2010) 146 Figure 4.25 Jolly Boy John Burnistoun (BBC 2 Scotland, 2009-2012) 146 Figure 5.1 Chuck Wocheck Tramadol Nights (Channel 4, 2010) 161 Figure 5.2 Robin Atkins Tramadol Nights (Channel 4, 2010) 161 Figure 5.3 Mr Jelly (3) Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 164 Figure 5.4 Mr Lomax Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 164 Figure 5.5 Joy and Jennifer Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 166 Figure 5.6 Joy and Jennifer (2) Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 166 vii Figure 5.7 Phyllis Church and Mister Doggie Little Britain USA (HBO, 2008) 170 Figure 5.8 Phyllis Church and Mister Doggie (2) Little Britain USA (HBO, 2008) 170 Figure 5.9 Limmy’s office worker Limmy’s Show (BBC Two Scotland, 2010-2013) 172 Figure 5.10 Soup becomes blood Limmy’s Show (BBC Two Scotland, 2010-2013) 172 Figure 5.11 Mr Jolly’s funeral Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 183 Figure 5.12 Jill enters Terry’s funeral Nighty Night (BBC 2, 2004-2005) 183 Figure 5.13 Maureen’s deathbed Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 186 Figure 5.14 Oops Upside Your Head Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 186 Figure 5.15 Finney kills Joy Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 189 Figure 5.16 Taking pleasure in it Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 189 Figure 6.1 The Silent Singer (2) Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 202 Figure 6.2 Jeremy Goode Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 202 Figure 6.3 Jeremy sees the Singer Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 203 Figure 6.4 Passers-by do not see him Psychoville (BBC 2, 2009-2011) 203 viii Figure 6.5 Blair Witch Project-style handheld and shaky-cam footage in Catterick Catterick (BBC 2, 2004) 207 Figure 6.6 Blair Witch Project-style handheld and shaky-cam footage in Catterick (2) Catterick (BBC 2, 2004) 207 Figure 6.7 Visual distortion and blurring Jam (Channel 4, 2000) 209 Figure 6.8 Alcoholic POV shot Jam (Channel 4, 2000) 209 Figure 6.9 Knight Rider parody Tramadol Nights (Channel 4, 2010) 210 Figure 6.10 Five Children and It parody Tramadol Nights (Channel 4, 2010) 210 Figure 6.11 ‘Village Rebrand’ Modern Toss (Channel 4, 2006-2008) 216 Figure 6.12 Unequivocal, corporeal language Modern Toss (Channel 4, 2006-2008) 216 Figure 6.13 Visual sexual metaphor in Catterick Catterick (BBC 2, 2004) 221 Figure 6.14 Visual sexual metaphor in Catterick (2) Catterick (BBC 2, 2004) 221 Figure 7.1 Phoenix Nights Phoenix Nights (Channel 4, 2001-2002) 237 Figure 7.2 Dark and uncanny imagery Phoenix Nights (Channel 4, 2001-2002) 237 ix Acknowledgements I wish to express my great thanks to my supervisors, Dr Brett Mills and Dr Su Holmes, for their ideas, advice and support throughout this project, and also to the wider staff and postgraduate community of the School of Film, Television and Media Studies at the University of East Anglia for providing such an encouraging and dynamic academic environment to be involved in.