Comedy vs. Tragedy

SPOILER ALLERT: If you are anxiously awaiting the release of “A Little Bit of Heaven” and do not want me to ruin the end do not read this post. I however do not know anyone who feels this way about this particular show and actually don’t know many people who will ever watch this show so I feel relatively safe posting the following.

This post is a bit off topic from my usual rambling about my kid. This post is a public service announcement in hopes of educating the greater population. Apparently the difference between a Comedy and a Tragedy is not as well understood as it ought to be so I felt it my responsibility to inform everyone that in order for a movie to qualify as a "Comedy" it needs to be funny! A comedy would also imply no tragic deaths of the main characters. A "Tragedy" on the other hand does not have to be funny and a tragic death of most of the main characters is required. The only circumstance where this rule can be broke was by Shakespeare because apparently some of his tragedies were quite comical. Until we have another playwright like Shakespeare this rule cannot and should not be broke. I think we all know the writers of EVERY chick flick out there do not hold up to the standard of writing of Shakespeare and are not talented enough to pull up a comical tragedy or a tragic comedy so they should not try.

Please feel free to pass this information on to your friends and family that might be confused and particularly if you know the folks responsibly for categorizing movies so they don’t make this awful mistake again.

In case you’re wondering I realized the need for this information to be shared this weekend when we rented “A Little Bit of Heaven”. Brianna I know you are probably cringing knowing that I watched yet another dumb chick flick, and I'm sorry (sort of). The bottom line for me though is provided it is mildly entertaining, not disgusting or offensive I’ll watch it. I don’t really care if it is award winning material. I don’t really care if the script is that well written or if the actors are fantastic. I like a legitimately good movie just as much as the next guy but I don’t have such high standards that I can enjoy the mediocre entertainment. Its an excuse to eat popcorn and relax on the couch without feeling too guilty. I don’t know what it is about relaxing on the couch doing absolutely nothing but when I’m doing that my mind instantly wanders to my endless to-do list and I feel guilty. If I’m otherwise occupied I can easily avoid that lovely to-do list and the associated guilt (hence the dumb chick flicks.)

Well, we checked out Redbox online and it described the show as: Comedy, Drama, Romance. Two of the three descriptive words indicate ROMANTIC COMEDY and a little added drama to give the movie some depth beyond your average chick flick sounded like a good idea. WRONG! This movie should have come with a disclaimer “WARNING: MAIN CHARACTER DIES!”

I can handle a movie where the main character dies on occasion; I might even chose one of those touchy feely tragic ending shows on purpose from time to time. But it is very important that one of those shows is not misrepresented as a romantic comedy. A hormonal pregnant woman who sobs during most TV series season finales should not be stuck watching a tragedy disguised or mislabeled as a comedy. Luckily I was far to annoyed about the whole situation to sob through the whole film but that is beside the point.  If you would like to go watch a show where the main character dies an untimely, relatively unexpected death after living a sad unfulfilling life please do go rent this movie. Otherwise I would strongly recommend relaxing on the couch doing absolutely nothing until your guilt about the unfinished to-do list eats away at you enough to drive you off the couch into productivity.