Trial and Errors: Comedy's Quest for the Truth
UCLA UCLA Entertainment Law Review Title Trial and Errors: Comedy's Quest for the Truth Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/42k3x409 Journal UCLA Entertainment Law Review, 9(1) ISSN 1073-2896 Author Gupta, Rajani Publication Date 2001 DOI 10.5070/LR891027026 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Trial and Errors: Comedy's Quest for the Truth Rajani Gupta* But I would rather have you learn, first, the art of terrestrial comfort; teach you how to laugh-if, that is, you really insist on remaining pessimists. And then it may perhaps happen that one fine day you will, with a peal of laughter, seen all metaphysical palliatives packing, metaphysics herself leading the great exodus. Nieztchel Comedy is a social phenomenon, a reflection, if not critique of the prevailing (or narrow-minded) beliefs of a given culture. It develops as a community outgrowth, a moment of light attack on the existing norms of a given population. Comedy finds its way into the smallest forms of human communication and expression, extending from tiny-witticisms or ill-mannered jokes to the full-blown parodies or comprehensive sat- ires of human existence often found long-form in the mediums of novels or films, or, in other words, through the outlets of pop culture itself. Comedy defines itself in relation to social categories 2; directed as an often derisive attack on the status quo, it situates itself as a disre- spectful observer of a given situation, society, culture, or even a partic- ular human behavior. While comedy consists of universal components attributable to many facets of human interaction and activity, its true thrust (and intended goal) depends on its ability to delve into a commu- * J.D., University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, 2001.
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