{"id":170,"date":"2015-04-08T17:02:57","date_gmt":"2015-04-08T22:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zachbarnesonwriting.wordpress.com\/?p=170"},"modified":"2015-04-08T17:02:57","modified_gmt":"2015-04-08T22:02:57","slug":"drama-and-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/04\/08\/drama-and-comedy\/","title":{"rendered":"Drama and Comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

I think the line between TV dramas and comedies is drawn in wealth. \u00a0And Maslow, or something.<\/p>\n

These things are important, from a writer-ly perspective. \u00a0It’s good to identify the tropes, so that you can tweak them to your own design and not fall prey to clich\u00e9 (hey, that’s catchy). \u00a0It’s also good to understand societally erected boundaries (the middle-schoolers among us are snickering), so that you know what to expect if\/when you break them.<\/p>\n

Comedy thrives\u00a0in upper middle class environments. \u00a0Think\u00a0Friends, Modern Family, Big Bang Theory<\/em>, and even\u00a0Family Guy<\/em>. \u00a0Sure, the cast occasionally talks about money issues, but they’re never a real problem. \u00a0I mean, no one is ever threatened with starvation, probably because starvation is definitely not funny. \u00a0And that’s the whole catch: modern comedies exist in an illusory world, where the jokes can be focused upon because they’re not being threatened by reality. \u00a0Unless you’re talking dark comedy, but that’s another story.<\/p>\n

\"llama<\/a><\/p>\n

Drama, on the other hand, exists on the extremes. \u00a0Things are dramatic if you either have no money or too much money. \u00a0Too little power, or too much. \u00a0Game of Thrones, How to Get Away with Murder, Soap Opera, Downton Abbey…<\/em> Everyone is rolling in the $$$ or dirt-poor. \u00a0Probably because things get complicated when you move toward each extreme. \u00a0Life is dicier, and drama thrives on dicey schtuff.<\/p>\n

\"Dramatic<\/a>
Dramatic tree is dramatic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An interesting practice is to identify where on this slider a show\/your character falls. \u00a0What makes situations funny? \u00a0What makes them dramatic? \u00a0You might agree with what I’ve said above, or you might find something different (and if you do, please share it!)<\/p>\n

As for the writing process, understanding this spectrum and pinpointing where your characters fall is a great tool that you can use to explore the nature of your work or your character more deeply.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m on facebook at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zachbarnesonwriting<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

And Twitter: @ZacharyBarnes4<\/span><\/p>\n

Like or follow me if you enjoy\u00a0the blog!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t steal\u00a0my words. \u00a0They\u2019re mine. Zachary Barnes 2015\u00a9<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As for the writing process, understanding this spectrum and pinpointing where your characters fall is a great tool that you can use to explore the nature of your work or your character more deeply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[11,16,27,48,49,50,52],"tags":[59,61,75,87,190,197],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/01\/15\/review-of-patrick-rothfuss-name-of-the-wind\/","url_meta":{"origin":170,"position":0},"title":"Review of Patrick Rothfuss' NAME OF THE WIND","date":"January 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Name of the Wind is a frame story, and is the first in the Kingkiller Chronicle trilogy. It's great as a bildungsroman, but also deals with the afterward of that oft-told tale: of a man who has become a legend in his own time. It's a self-acknowledged story about\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Book Reviews\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/02\/19\/review-of-steven-eriksons-gardens-of-the-moon\/","url_meta":{"origin":170,"position":1},"title":"Review of Steven Erikson's GARDENS OF THE MOON","date":"February 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a tricky review for me because I absolutely love this series (books 2, 3 and 4, specifically). But I didn't love it at first. In fact, I had a pretty hard time getting through it. So here's the deal: if you read this, you need to treat it\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Book Reviews\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1551,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2017\/04\/17\/writing-challenge-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":170,"position":2},"title":"Writing Challenge #1","date":"April 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Ahoy, folksies. I have a new idea! And it stems from my perceived inability to write tension without a threat of violence. But before I get all ahead of myself, let's take a breath and explain. Athletes need to warm up (well, not according to Tallahassee from\u00a0Zombieland, but whatever) and\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Exercise\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}