We play far too little comedy – Diepresse.com

« The press »: You philosophize about the comedy in your new book, because we are right away. Anyone who comes from a visit to the theater or cinema likes to say: « I was only in a comedy. » Or: « Of course it was a terrible nonsense, but very funny. » Where does this low appreciation come from?

Robert Pfaller: A long tradition took the view that the comedy allegedly socially lower figures occur, while the tragedy acts with significant personalities. This can be found from Aristotle to Schlegel. But the Screwball Comedies of the 1930s show us the opposite: it is about members of the top social classes. We not only watch a few insignificant fools in their involvement in unimportant affairs. Comedies can even be about life and death. But they always act on illusions that we see through and that only naive others can fall for. Then we look down contemplatively.

They complain that there are hardly any good comedies in our time. Why is that?

Today we act less comedic in everyday life. We only want to be completely ourselves and never play a role in order to be pleasant or amusing to others. Because we fear that we would otherwise reveal our true self, « alienate » and not act « authentically ». This also expects our understanding of the comedy. What the sociologist Richard Sennett described as the « tyranny of intimacy » has become a lived conviction with identity policy for many people. As a result, we have lost a lot of lightness and charm compared to previous generations. We could learn a lot from older film comedies.