These Bad vs. Good videos require a ton of time and effort, so please remember to like, share, and subscribe. Thanks! Also, please consider supporting the channel on Patreon: www.patreon.com/WriterBrandonMcNulty
I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts on mo lei tau, a comedic style in Hong Kong--the movie Kung Fu Hustle is a great example. I think the comic timing is perfect, but my friends are divided on it.
I don't know if anyone else is in my same shoes, but I would be happy to donate via Patreon at a $1/month level. I wouldn't need anything in return, just a way to support. These videos are so very great, and I can tell that tons of hours go into them, and so first and foremost: thank you for your incredibly valuable and engaging insight that's helped me hone my writing craft no small amount. $3/month is very reasonable in return, but until my screenplay sells, it is unfortunately beyond my very tight budget.
Hello there, I'm Ashiraf,m u may call me Arsey, i'm a story writer, but i'm afraid to release my stories, i have this list of stories, 1. Great Guardians 2. Mimics 3. Dynamic duo 4. Hot to Handle the first 2 include fantasy, romance, power etc Number 3 is a sci-fi mystery aand romance with high school life The last one is non-fiction romance, highschool life of mine when i crushed on my crush. i'll send the first chapter of each story, if u don't mind and see if i'm quite good enough for a book. I'm also trying mystery with horror. Genres i'm good at include, fiction, fantasy, action and some romance
''Is a great movie if you ignore the first two hours of it'' See, I liked that, it was natural, well timed , appeared orgnaically, was delivered in a deadpan way that fits the narrator's usual tone.
@@Zimtbiss1 I wish I did the same as you. Granted I grew up with the prequels, but I wished I had given up on it in my late teens at least, so as to spare myself the nonsense of the franchise and ESPECIALLY the fandom in the following years.
@@Zimtbiss1 I grew up with the prequels, and I can't say I agree. There's obviously a stark difference in the execution and competence of the prequels, but I don't think it really lost its "spirit" specifically until the Disney sequels came along.
Always love a good vs. bad. One thing I appreciated here is that you mentioned that comic relief doesn't necessarily have to be a joke, it can be a lighthearted moment instead. I never thought of it that way!
@WriterBrandonMcNulty There is one type of comic relief you missed - Dark Comedy !! But I can understand the good and bad videos are a lot of hard work.
@@AnujChatterjee-q5b Dark humor is hard in the US. our culture is not used to it and often american audiences do not react well to it. I remember watching a Mexican movie were an annoying kid drowns and its played off as a joke, but it was hard for me to watch
@@benjaminwatt2436 That sounds like a bad Dark comic relief scene but I think its possible to make a good dark comic relief scene and not make it like a funeral joke similar to Thor Raganaork as used in the video.
Something I really appreciate about this series is the fact that, rather than just telling us what makes a show/movie good or what makes it bad, you also highlight bad elements of good movies/shows and good elements of otherwise not-great ones. I find this really helpful, it's a reminder that a story doesn't have to be PERFECT to be good. It just needs to make the most of what it is. And I love that approach - it makes writing good stories feel like a far more obtainable goal and it gives some much deserved appreciation to scenes/character/etc. that generally get overlooked due to the overall quality of the work they're a part of.
Absolutely. There's I think a big problem in how we consume media nowadays, that we hold up the most well-loved and successful stories as perfect and put them on pillars. But being honest and clinical about something's flaws makes the act of creating something great feel more accessible. It's PROOF that you don't need perfection.
This is a great example of a good director's choice. An unplanned moment which should normally belong to the outtakes, but Spielberg realized the potential of that unscripted scene and left it in, ignoring the actually planned one (which would feel dull in comparison). With three of the bad examples shown by Brandon (both Badman and the Thor one) I wonder if those were even in the script or just left in because they made the cast lough. I know it from theatre that we sometimes change parts of a play because of an off-hand joke or funny situation that occured. Just to cut it with the next rehearsal, because it doesn't work anymore. Films are similar in that fashion and a good director should be able to tell moments that work from funny one-offs, but sometimes your own humor gets the best of you.
When I saw Luke toss the lightsaber in theaters, one guy said, “Ha,” and everyone else was dead silent. We were too busy being gripped by a new sense of dread for the next two and a half hours
As a person with a raging "internal monologue", I don't find myself bothered by the so-called "soft fourth wall breaks" (up to a point at least). Great video, as always!
Hey thanks for requesting this video! It helped that you mentioned Jar Jar in your request--that gave me something to build around. Anyway, glad you enjoyed it! Best of luck with your writing
Jack Sparrow can be a good example of good versus bad in both cases in the various points of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and also provides a compelling argument why the decision to make an initially comedic support character into a protagonist after the original story has run its course is usually a bad idea. Jack works at the start because outside of being generally roguishly charismatic and having some pointed humor in places, Jack is a good world-weary foil to Will Turner's good-intented yet naive understanding of the pirate world and his own heritage. His physical comedy starts off hilarious but grounded, in that it doesn't go off the rails and keeps to his nature as a trickster trying to staying just one step ahead of defeat. Jack, however, gets increasingly more and more insufferable once Jack waddles into Jar Jar territory with the scale of his antics becoming all the more goofier as the movies proceeds, and his lack of meaningful character development in the latter sequels when he's the protagonist, only makes it apparent that his humor can't carry a movie.
Thor: Love and Thunder is the MCU equivalent of Cars 2 or Planet Sheen. It was Marvel making two rookie mistakes. They gave the director no discipline and made the comic relief the main star. Korg is the textbook example of milking a joke. He immediately overstayed his welcome.
You beat me to this comment. I got so frustrated with that movie because every time they started going somewhere meaningful they would immediately undercut with "relief" that wasn't even that funny as if they were apologizing for making the story an actual story!
Korg could have been redeemed as an annoying character if he died in "Thor: Love and Thunder". He should have died, and it seemed like we were experiencing a moment of actual drama, and then it turned out that somehow (cue Poe Dameron clip), his decapitated head survived.
Terminator 2 knows what is and sticks to it but it also includes comedy and nuanced character moments amid the action. And it doesn’t stop the film cold when it shifts tone.
A very common rule I hear is that for non-comedy centric movies is that you should NEVER make the lead character of a movie/show the main comic relief at the same time, because you’ll have too many joke moments that get in the way of their serious scenes, hence why most comic relief characters are secondary characters. The major error often manifests itself in sequels/prequels. A few infamous examples of this include Mater taking over as lead character in “Cars 2” and Dr Ian Malcom Taking Over As Lead in “Jurassic Park: The Lost World.” Now if you want a rare good example done right… Saul Goodman in “Better Call Saul.” Because his usual BB-like comedy moments this time are only done when it’s appropriate in each episode, while everything else is focused to his tragedy and character development over the prequel series.
The main character usually sets the tone, so if you make a comic relief main character, you have a comedy whether you want it or not. Unless you're very careful with it.
I am the only person who genuinely likes Cars 2 and Kronk's new grove. I will forever personally think that serious plots with lighthearted protagonists are severely overhated.
Honestly I disagree. Some of my favourite protagonist are goofy af. But that could just be me, If I had to give the best example of a "comic relief protagonist" it would be my pfp aka Monkey D. Luffy.
Two other great examples of comic relief: Sohka from Avatar the Last Airbender (the animated series) and Bolin from Legend of Korra. Both characters served as the comic relief; but grew into stronger characters as the shows progressed.
What I like about ATLA is that, while Sokka is the go to comic relief, he's not the only character allowed to be funny. All the other main characters have plenty of humor and time for jokes as well. Katara less so than others, but she still has her moments. And also, despite being the prime comic relief, Sokka is usually also the one who keeps everyone on track the most. He comes up with the plans, schedules, and reminds everyone where they need to go. In any other show all of that would go to Katara.
I'm old and have no particular interest in cartoons, but my son made me watch ATLA and the Clone Wars show with him, and those are two of the best TV shows I've ever seen.
I disagree about Bolin. His only purpose in the story is to be the obligatory comic relief and the “lovable idiot.” He feels like a poor interpretation of Sokka for someone who’s only watched a few episodes of ATLA. Sokka on the other hand is funny, but he’s not an idiot. He’s arrogant at worst and makes some dumb choices, but all the characters do to an extent and learn from those experiences. Sokka is funny because he doesn’t try too hard and when he does try, it’s funny because he just cracks dad jokes that aren’t supposed to be good. In addition, as another commenter mentioned, every other character in the story provides plenty moments of comedic relief. Toph and Iroh (especially), Aang, Katara (See? Fun!), Appa and Momo, and even Zuko has many moments. Most notably his “that’s rough buddy” response to after Sokka bluntly states his first girlfriend turned into the moon. In Legend of Korra? Bolin is the epitome of random = funny. Even in serious moments for him we’re just supposed to not take it seriously like after Korra kisses and Mako right as he stumbles across them. It’s very rare any characters aside from Bolin provide comic relief. I’ll admit I’m pretty biased against Legend of Korra, but that’s my perspective on how both series handle comic relief. Sorry for the long winded comment lol
I think the Gordon scenes works because Gordon sometimes talks to himself making quick jokes. Like in Arkham Knight, when Batman disappears and Jim says “every damn time.” I just accepted it as part of his character over the years.
its a great video but yeah I agree the Gordon scene isn't bad. He's a good cop at heart and a family man so I don't think its out of character for him to say something like that outloud. Its also the intro to a fun, action packed scene so it almost works as a good way to shift the tone slightly. But I get Brandon's point as other movies will do the same thing but much worse. It's indicative of a larger problem when it comes to bad writing even if it isn't the best example of it. TDKR example is very valid though. It got a laugh in the theater but yeah Batman shouldn't be saying comedic one liners like that.
Finn's "comedy" was played for the Michael Bay School of Comedy where talking fast and loud constantly is somehow supposed to equal smiles and laughter from the audience. So yeah, Boyega was Shia LaBeoufing.
This is the second best explanation of comedy I've seen. But nothing tops Sideshow Cecil's audition to be Krusty's sidekick. The pie gag is only funny when the sap's got dignity!
My main rule is that comic relief should not be a character. At most it could be part of a character, but preferably a shared role. And if it's the main character, you've got a comedy.
Man you must have put so much time into this. The editing, the planning. I was incredibly impressed and was not only entertained but learned so much from it. Thank you for doing this. I have a bad cold and this really made me smile and engaged me.
A tip I once heard for writing comic relief characters is to make it their secondary role. The person who gave me that tip gave Hades in Disney's Hercules as an example; he's the one who cracks the most jokes, but he's the villain _above_ that. Of course, the fact that the entire movie has a more comedic tone than most of Disney's films makes him fit in more there.
Loud talking characters who shout every line they speak. Loud talking is among the top ten most annoying sounds. This is why characters like B.E.N. from “Treasure Planet” is so disliked. He is loud in every scene he’s in, and has the problem of coming in when comic relief is not what’s needed. On the other hand, Mushu from “Mulan (1998)” works better. Yes he’s loud, but he was also quiet when the scene requires it. Like when he was comforting Mulan after the army learned she was a woman.
Hey, Brandon. I hope you get to see this. Can you make a video about Bad *MANIPULATIVE CHARACTERS* vs Good ones? I don't really understand what differentiates a good manipulative character from a bad one. The most recent example that comes to mind, to me, of a bad manipulative character, would the first Thor movie's Loki. I never understood any of his motivations and goals because they consistently kept changing. I'd love for you to expand on this topic, manipulative characters are fascinating when done right, but I don't know what constitutes a good one.
No way, I was thinking of that idea too. I really want a video like that. For me a bad manipulative villain can be Pitch Black from Rise of Guardians because the manipulations are like the typical "join me proposals" with over the top theatrics. A good example can be Rumpelstiltskin from Shrek Forever After where he targets Shrek's vulnerabilities and manipulates him into a signing the contract or a better example, Lord Shen who target's Po's vulnerabilities and despite being physically weaker than him, he is able to mentally break down Po and that makes him a unique multi-dimensional villain.
That's actually an interesting topic. I think Loki was alright within the first Thor movie, but I'd agree that his motives kept shifting as the MCU went on. I think a good manipulative character would be someone like Johan Liebert from Naoki Urasawa's Monster or the Joker from The Dark Knight. An example of a bad manipulative character may be Lex Luthor from the DCEU, especially Batman v. Superman.
@krraika1847 Yeah, Joker is definitely a great example. Another could be Koba from Dawn of Planet of Apes. He targets the vulnerabilities of Caesar's son, Blue Eyes who distrusts the humans. I like the trope of manipulating a supporting character. Because then there are chances of the character being completely manipulated unlike the main protagonist because of plot armor.
@@AnujChatterjee-q5b I need to watch the Planet of the Apes movies. As for the other trope you mentioned, I'm not sure if this counts but I think a good example would be Tony Stark/Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War. While a huge character in the MCU, he has a supporting/semi-antagonistic role in the film, often placed at odds with Steve/Capt. America. It's this that lets him believe Zemo's lies and manipulations even though Zemo himself isn't directly doing anything to Tony, at least up until the end where Zemo pits Tony against Steve by showing Tony the murder of his parents.
You said it yourself: a good manipulative character has strong & clear motivations. His true personality should be very clear, dark and selfish & some people in the world should obviously dislike or fear that character, for unknown reasons. But a good manipulator should appear harmless, helpful or friendly to the ones he wants to manipulate, which mostly are the protagonists. A good manipulator will show NO interest in characters that are not able to benefit his goals, which can be shown in scenes when an unimportant character tries to befriend the manipulator and fails due to the manipulators lack of interest. His goals should be obvious, especially after you learn the characters backstory and motivations. good manipulators live from foreshadowing, something should feel off about them the whole time, but they must appear harmless or friendly enough that nobody cares too much. A great example would be jar-jar binks. Joker is a bad example for a manipulator (in my opinion): when you meet the joker you know he will betray you. It's bad writing that people get close to him, calling him a master-manipulator all the time. He's not, he's an anarchist. What he does okay-ishly in the Dark Knight is creating distractions, which is a thing your manipulator can do, but NOT in a way people can directly link the distraction to the manipulator. If your character wants to disguise as friendly, he should be good with words. He always tells the truth, but a version of the truth that makes people fulfill his goals or might even share their world-view (Tyler Durden, Hannibal Lecter, Barney Stinson). If your manipulative character disguises as harmless he should appear as unimportant or clumsy (jar jar binks, wormtails). Jack Sparrow is a good mixture of these traits. When the manipulator appears as friendly, he should just help others, but only if the ones he helped are important to his plans or if he can directly feed his own power, influence or prestige from helping others (witches like Ursula, who also appear old & weak or some politicians) Your manipulator CAN be an emotionless sociopath, you can state this be revealing he never told anyone even his real name. A manipulator like this will stay pretty much unknown to anyone else, while knowing everything about others. Or your manipulator can be a normal person who has to do what needs to be done, in that case they could appear a little sad or regretful in some scenes, but again, it should not be revealed WHY they are, it should just feel a little off. You should reveal a character to be a manipulator around the first third of your story if the character should be likable. If the character should be a surprise or be unlikable or a villain, reveal it around the climax of your story or in the middle. If you want to produce multiple stories, such a character can be revealed in the end, functioning as a cliffhanger
The soft 4th wall break reminds me of the Doctor Who episode 'The Feast of Steven', which is sadly missing. This is episode 7 in the 12 episode 'Dalek's Master Plan' serial. The broadcast of this episode lined up on Christmas day, so this episode takes a break from the tension that had been building up for the last 6 episodes and goes thematic around Christmas, even unto William Hartnell looking directly into the camera at the very end and saying "Merry Christmas to all the viewers at home".
My biggest gripe with the Marvel stuff is there's too much comic relief. I understand they're comic book movies, but when you make a quip every 5 minutes, you're reminding the audience that they don't really need to worry, and everything will be fine. There's no danger.
Matrix Reloaded beginning when Neo fights the 3 agents. The movie starts with a scary tone, impending attack, scattered alliance, and even a visit from Mr. Smith. Then the new agents attack, and Neo, in a very robotic, true-to-character way, says, "Hmm, upgrades," making it clear they're no threat to him in a funny way.
The best bit of funeral humour that comes to my mind was in Seinfeld when George was at the funeral for his fiancee Susan who died from licking the invitation envelopes with the cheap glue. George, standing next to the casket, demonstrates what kind of character he is by asking out one of Susan's friends.
On of my favorite comic relief moments is (spoilers) from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End when Will and Elizabeth get married during the climactic battle. It’s absurd in all the fun ways the PotC films are when they’re at their best. It’s so appropriately macabre for the ceremony when, will giving vows, they’re still fighting the enemy while people are dying all around them. Plus, Geoffrey Rush hams it up in all the right ways.
I've wondered whether Luke tossing the lightsaber away would have worked at least a little better as the last scene of Force Awakens rather than the first of Last Jedi. For one, because subverting expectations works better when said expectations have been formed over minutes/hours rather than months/years. Secondly, because those expectations leaving TFA would then be focused on *why* Luke did that and what it means, rather than simply "what happens next?"
What is the opposite of comic relief like when a generally comedy show has serious moment like in scrubs where its listed as a comedy but it can get deep and serious at times
The worst comic relief, imo, is in the movie Bright. Will Smith's wisecracks fell flat each and every time, were never funny and made his character seem like a hateful bully. You could tell Smith wasn't into his character because his lines were delivered with no heart. This would have been such a good movie if they'd utilized Will Smith properly instead of trying to use him.
Good comic relief = Gimli in the LOTR trilogy. Lines such as "don't tell the elf" or "that still only counts as one", blowing on the mist of the Dead, etc etc.
Other than those, Gimli has pretty terrible dumb moments where he comes off as too much of a buffoon. Luckily most of those belong to the extended cuts (eg. the drinking contest, facing the Dunharrow ghosts).
I hate what they did to Gimli with this comic relieve stuff. He's supposed to be a serious warrior on par with everyone else in the fellowship not a goon who chacks cheep jokes.
Bathos is an important concept, but you get it wrong. Bathos means "descent" in Greek and refers to a shift in tone from the grand or elevated to the mundane or trivial. The unexpected appearance of the mundane in a situation where we have been led to expect something lofty is what creates the comic effect.
The Thor Raganarok one wasn't bad writing, because Thor had done what he needed to do. He got everyone out and made sure no lives were lost, because Odin told him Asgard isn't a place, it's a people. Thor and the others didn't care nearly as much about the place Asgard as the people Asgard. It was still a solemn moment, but not as much as it seems, and a joke there was, I think, completely appropriate.
@sweetsummerchild8156 Some puns can be ironic, but not used for comic effect. It's a very dramatic scene, Bond is dead serious, he feels betrayed, Elektra is taunting him. In fact, she's doing the pun. The double entendre brings ambiguity and tension. "I never miss": does he mean when he shoots, he always kills, or he means he won't miss Elektra when she's dead?
Extraction 2. Third act. Tyler is escaping with his sister-in-law and young niece. Lots of shooting and fighting. The trio enter an elevator and as they begin the ride down Tyler winks at the little girl to calm her. A light and tender moment of relief that also reveals Tyler's character. One of my favorite scenes in the movie.
A movie that has surprisingly consistent humor is The Lego Movie. The rapid-fire pace of jokes mix well with the hectic Lego visuals, poke fun in a unique way at the movie’s Lego setting (like how Bad Cop uses his “claw hands” to signify air quotes) and even gets recontextualized once you find out the story is in a child’s imagination (such as the real-world items acting as “super weapons” like a box cutter and the Kragle.
I think you could have also included good and bad Dark Comedic Relief Scenes Also I like it when comedy in injected into the themes and they make them less preachy. Like in Kung Fu Panda 4, we have Po resisting change from dragon warrior to spiritual leader whose duties are to pass wisdom and hope and to bring peace without resorting to violence. At around the mid point, Po comes across a Den of thieves and he gets his "inner Shifus" telling him to find a way to bring peace without kicking butt. So Po comes up with "He who resorts to violence now will only find more violence later" and the thieves misinterpret it as "if we do less violence now, we can do more violence later". It was point of character development and they made it a good comic scene as well.
The one I always found jarring is in Blood Diamond when Jennifer Connely takes a break and has a good laugh with the African kids doing some kind of sudden out of the blue photoshoot.
I agree with everything you said except the Gordon scene. He didn't say "I gotta get me one of those" out of no where or directed it at the audience. He was responding to what Batman had just said in their conversation. Gordon: "I'll get my car." Batman: "I brought mine." Gordon: "I gotta get me one of those." So to me it was natural and organic humor that lands hard and that was reinforced with the "It's a black....tank" line afterwards.
My father was a High School English teacher for 50 years. He explained to me that "comic relief" isn't intended to be funny; it's "bas relief" where you etch away the surrounding material to make the drama or tragedy stand out more. It's like you're keeping the pot bubbling at just the right temperature; you don't want it to overheat and ruin the dish, but you don't want to take it off the burner and let it cool down, either. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio is stabbed in a duel by Tybalt, but his friends - and the audience - don't realize it immediately. Mercutio's antics are played for a laugh, as his friends assume he's hamming it up. Only gradually, one by one, do they come to realize that they are watching their friend die slowly in front of them. That makes his death much more poignant than simply "fight-stab-die", and it avoids dragging the death scene into cartoonish melodrama.
Jar-Jar: a major character who could be completely removed from the story with zero change to the outcome. Completely destroyed my interest in the prequels.
I thought Ragnarok was hilarious. Asgard being destroyed and them making a joke about it really nailed the tone of the movie. They already lived with the prophecy that Ragnarok is the end, plus they agreed that Asgard was not a place, but a people…so I didn’t see that part as not fitting the tone of the movie. Just my opinion 😂
Way way worse. The Luke gag is not bad. What is bad is putting Star Wars examples in every single video you make. It shows a stunning lack of creativity. It's a very Jar Jar Binks move.
@@glentz716 Gawd, I know, right?! You'd think the _Star Wars_ franchise is a very well-known and recognizable property that has truly _massive_ amounts of bad writing, or something.
Yes. I agree with you 100%. The lightsaber gag pays off over the course of the next hour plus. That lame telephone joke doesn’t go anywhere and could have been served with a less goofy route. Then a few moments later you have some intense death scene with the bombers. Just doesn’t work at all.
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty If I were writing him, I'd fix his voice, have his comedy come more from his contrasting values to Qui Gon, and hav3 the suspicious-Ness of him come from an inconsistent competence rather than an overly lacking competence.
I hate it when comic relief scenes are done in serious moments like in the introduction scene of a serious, menacing villain. A bad example comes from How To Train Your Dragon 2. A little over the mid-point of the movie, we finally meet the main antagonist of the movie, Drago Bludvist. Previously in the movie, they did a lot of build-up for Drago. We get a flashback sequence of his backstory with Stoick - During a gathering of Viking chieftains to discuss the dragon situation, Drago proposed that he alone could control the dragons and keep the people safe if the chieftains followed him as their leader. The Vikings laughed at him and in rage Drago orders armored dragons under his control to burn down the hall. All the chieftains except Stoick die. We also learn about his plan to create a dragon army to conquer the world. So Drago has been setup to be a merciless villain and a threat to dragons and mankind. Now the other dragon riders - Astrid, Fishlegs, the Twins and Snotlout finally find Drago's lair but get caputred and brought to Drago. The initial part of his intro does portray him as a menacing villain with his ominous soundtrack, his physical appearence and how he is able to dominate a Monstrous Nightmare and we also get a lot of serious moments. But unfortunately, the other dragon riders crack some unfunny jokes and they bring down the seriousness of the scene. Now a good example comes from the sequel How To Train Your Dragon 3. The main antagonist is Grimmel the Grisly, a professional dragon hunter with the reputation as the night fury killer. Grimmel is introduced as a serious and threatening villain in his opening scenes and later at around the mid-point of the movie, the riders attack his base but fail and eventually retreat. However, one of the twins, Ruffnut is left behind. Grimmel takes her as prisoner but she becomes a non-stop annoying chatter box much to the frustration of Grimmel. Later Grimmel releases her so that he can follow her to the hideout of the dragon riders. The comic relief scene works because its meant to be a comic scene. We have seen Grimmel being serious before and seeing him getting annoyed and frustrated feels amusing. Only previously we had a tense action scene so it is time for the audience to relax with a good comic scene whereas for Drago's opening scene, it was supposed to be a menacing one without any comedy and also because previously only we have had light hearted moments with Hiccup, his mother and Toothless.
Another good example from a franchise adjacent to the one you’re referencing is that in the second How To Train Your Dragon book (How To Be a Pirate), Alvin the Poor but honest farmer, who is obviously a pirate pretending to be a good guy, starts off as a joke character and even after revealing himself as the villainous Alvin the Treacherous still cracks a joke about how his evil is society’s fault but then he starts to say things like “I’m rotten to the core and I like being rotten. The treasure has got me and I like being got” and manages to be evil as sin. And even though the early sequels also have one or two joke scenes with him, he quickly becomes much more of a serious threat to the point where, by the end, he’s the Voldemort of the How To Train Your Dragon universe and the books do a great job of it
@@matityaloran9157 Okay. I haven't read any of the books. I have watched the Netflix shows and it has the chaacter of Alvin the Treacherous but I kind of skipped some filler episodes and also focused on the plot-driven episodes.
I don't see how the second example is any better than the first at all. For me this is all subjective. I think it's safe to say Grimmel wasn't well developed and the third movie is infinitely worse than the second.
@@ender5892 Okay. I respectfully disagree. I am a defender of the 3rd movie and I think its an improvement over the 2nd in "some" respects if not overall: - 1) I personally think Grimmel was slightly better than Drago. Both are great villains but I like Grimmel more because he is the more brains over brawn type. Not saying that Drago is dumb, he makes a lot of smart decisions but Grimmel is more strategic. Like how he can mind-control the Death grippers with their own venom. He also captures the entire dragon flock by threatening to kill the Light Fury and forcing Toothless to do so. 2) I also think Toothless had a better arc in Hidden World than in 2. In the 2nd movie, he is mostly a lovable cute and cuddly dragon until he has to fight against the alpha's control but in the 3rd he gets a lot of conflicts about choosing between Hiccup and choosing the Light Fury and he even gets his own scene of flirting with her. 3) What made Drago's intro even worse was Astrid's role. Like she gives him every valuable info "We have an island full of dragons", "We have tracker dragons", "The heir of Berk has a night fury". This is eventually what makes Drago an actual threat because before this he was just making preparations. So the reason Drago becomes a threat to the characters is because of Astrid's stupidity. I know she is a hot-headed character but giving away so much to Drago was really a stupid decision and did she really think that Drago would be frightened and would release them. The guy who killed so many chieftains and is building a dragon army ? I think Ruffnut's comic relief scene with Grimmel works because its meant to lighten things up after a tense action scene and she is established as a stupid character so her leading Grimmel to the lair is not bothering. These are just my humble opinions.
Check out the movie Willow for good comic relief in an otherwise serious & violent movie. "Willow You Idiot!" Is one of my all time favorite lines, and is quoted often in my family.
I look forward to these videos all the time. I have no idea how this channel hasn't blown up. It's so informative and helpful, and the delivery is amazing too.
Luke tossing away the lightsaber reminds me of a scene in RWBY when Ruby loses her scythe, and when Jaune brings it back to her, she's reluctant to accept it. In a later scene, Yang and the others pick up the weapon that she dropped, try to hand it to her, and she jumps back letting it fall to the ground. The main differences here are 1, it wasn't played off as a joke, and 2, there was a lot of buildup over several episodes of her having PTSD and doubts about her role as a huntress, so the rejection of her weapon didn't come completely out of nowhere.
The best single moment of comic relief in movie history is in Fellowship of the Ring, at the end of the council, when Elrond has just christened the main characters with his iconic "you shall be.. the Fellowship of the Ring" over Howard's Shore's swelling orchestral music... and then Pippin says "right... where are we going?" I cannot imagine the Jupiter-sized brass balls you would need to put a comedic line right at that moment, knowing that if it didn't land, millions of Tolkien fans would be out for your blood...
It *really* didn't land for me. I walked out of Fellowship disappointed because of how they undercut so many characters' core traits of the book. Of course adaptations should have changes, but not Merry and Pippin as bumbling fools there literally by accident instead of supportive friends who'd packed weeks ago to be there for Frodo.
Love the new video Brandon as always. I think with comedy just like real life has to be natural. My favorite movie of all the Casblanca is filled with humor moments but never does it take away from the tone of political unrest and tension between the characters. Each humor moment is within the character’s personality.
One of my favorite scenes comes from The Walking Dead. The Survivors have been walking in the heat for days, being followed by a herd and low on water. They finally arrive at Alexandria and as the gate opens they hear shuffling just outside the gate. Daryl pulls up his trusty crossbow and shoots the thing. He grabs the item. It's a possum and he says, "Brought dinner." 😂😂😂
I thought there would be a mention that cautions against intentionally making annoying characters--like Jar Jar. There's never an upside. If you succeed, then you have an annoying character, and no one likes being annoyed. If you fail, your character will probably still be annoying and your audience will know you also can't write.
One of my favorite soft fourth wall breaks is in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty when [SPOILER] : : : : : Walter finds out where the missing picture is, and for the only time in the movie glances directly at the camera as if to say "You've GOT to be kidding me."
When something that maybe was funny once gets overused and becomes annoying: when in Avengers the Hulk grabs Loki and smashes him on the floor, they reused that over and over until it became very annoying
Upon seeing this more fleshed out explanation of what comic relief can be, a particular example comes to mind. Breaking Bad, as everyone knows, is loaded with comic relief, in all of its forms. I could think of countless examples but the one that popped in my head after thinking about the more subtle side of it, with a strong emphasis on the word "relief", is near the beginning of Ozymandias. I'll keep this somewhat vague and spoiler-free. It's the scene when Walt is on foot rolling the barrel through the desert, and that country song is playing, which culminates with him buying the old truck off of the native man. It's an absurd situation that's grounded in the events that came before it - which were the most cataclysmic of the story - and it adds levity in a dark circumstance, which is a signature of the show, all while not making it laugh-out-loud, over the top, unrealistic, or taking any emotion away from the weight of the episode's opening.
Respectfully, I completely disagree with your Batman begins take. a lot of times when I'm by myself and see a nice car. I'm going to comment to myself about liking the car. If anything, it shows that commissioner Gordon is human like everyone else.
Same here. Or maybe it's because I relate to James Gordon the most in the trilogy. He's battling with the mob, ordinary criminals, and police corruption. And this vigilante shows up on his fancy car. I'd feel the same.
I also think Gordons mumbling lands, because I don't see it as a fourth wall break. It's a thing people might say in that situation. But I agree that it could've conveyed without words and thus might've not such a shift from the actual scene. I would BET that this was an unscripted moment left in.
I'd love to see a video on how to use MacGuffins: what makes a good MacGuffin, how do you make it connect with your theme, how to avoid pitfalls. A good example to me is the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. A bad example would be anytime a character is reduced to little more than a MacGuffin. That's how America Chavez came across to me in Multiverse of Madness.
The Holy Grail isn't a macguffin though?? It's not an arbitrary 'thing' that can be replaced with any random thing without affecting the story - the Holy Grail specifically relates to the story being told, it's not a meaningless object that could've been anything. America Chavez too is not a macguffin?? She's an actual character with history, lore, rules regarding how her powers work, etc ...sure, maybe the character is reduced to just an object sometimes and that's a valid critique, but she's not a macguffin per say. Perhaps you've worded your request wrong My go-to example of a macguffin is the suitcase in Pulp Fiction. It's just some random thing the story needs to progress, and the thing could've been anything really. The guys arrive at the scene to take back [a suitcase with something valuable inside] and that allows the scene to happen, and [the suitcase] isn't relevant to the rest of the story
I do have a request. I love old movies like from classic and golden age. It would be cool maybe in some of your videos you use them as examples. Be a nice change of pace that’s just me though 🤷🏾♂️
One of my favourite comic relief moments happens in Jurassic Park: Ian Malcom walks up to the Triceratops droppings and says "That's a big pile of shit..." Another small comic relief moment from that movie, that I think a lot of people missed, is where Nedry slips and falls down the hillside in the rain and there is a typical cartoon slip-and-fall whistle sound when it happens.
Something that stuck out to me while you were appropriately eviscerating Jar Jar from Phantom Menace, was how you matter-of-factly said that all the other characters were ultra serious. I would argue that this isn't actually the case, as Qui-Gon especially has a number of lighthearted moments, and Obi-Wan lets his guard down with Qui-Gon a few times, too. These are subtle moments that fit the characters and the tone well, by not trying to be funny, but just letting them have little human moments with the people they trust. That illustrates how corrosive the poorly-written Jar Jar humour was, because it ate up the screen time and attention so that those little moments that WOULD have been the tension breaks (the good kind) are lost on the audience. The good writing was rendered meaningless by the bad writing. There's a lesson there for all of us.
One of the best weirdly comedic films ever is Withnail & I, which is weird considering how dismal its mood is; but after watching it you just want to keep quoting it, which is usually a sign they got something right.
I do wonder in hindsight if there was a way to simplify and illustrate The Phantom Menace's worldbuilding. Kinda like how the Good Bad and the Ugly uses the civil war as dynamic backdrop. So instead of Jar Jar comic relief we couldve gotten more natural comic story relevant comic relief.
Full Metal Jacket: he is given the name "Joker", he's smart, honest, and relatable, but also subversive and yet uncertain. So many wonderful moments, but the best is his interview: "I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture ... and kill them." It highlights the horror of his reality while subverting expectations.
I have a theory every Jar Jar Binks defendant on the planet was between the ages of 5 and 13 when Phantom Menace came out, and now the rest of us have to suffer their rose-tinted glasses forever because they're all middle-aged and online now, retconning one of the worst characters in history until the older generations die.
I was 5 I think when TPM came out. I did genuinely thought Jar-Jar was an okay character but only when I was maybe 10 or 12, and I had lost that idea soon afterwards. Now, I can't deny he's just not good.
Heh, I wasn't thinking of Drax; I thought of Rocket Raccoon. In Avengers: Endgame, when all the stones are placed into the second gauntlet, Rocket yells "BOOM", breaking the tension. :-D
Epic episode. I could watch many more, especially about the SFF genre. But I like all your videos. So, I never saw the big scene shown with Luke And Rey and that was incredible in every way I can think of.
Jar Jar is the holy fool, jester, more of an archetype than comic relief. He exists to have the serious Jedi exercise tolerance. In my mind he exists to enflesh Qui Gon and Obi-Wan. Btw Star Wars humor is often horrible, Han in the first one: "One thing's for sure, we're all gonna be a lot thinner" groan
I think It Chapter Two is a good example of a film filled with BAD comic relief. It's a shame, because it mostly intends to be very serious, scary and emotional, but yet it does humour in the worst way and moments. EDIT: Talking about character's jokes that are only for the audience, this film has a lot of that, but horror moments as well. I mean, horror moments that don't make sense inside the scene, but are only obviously designed for the people watching, feeling unreal.
For a bad example of comic relief, there's Martin Short's robot in uh, was it Treasure Planet or Atlantis? Bit of a Jar Jar character, really interrupts the atmosphere
Re: The Tone Wrecker... There's a similar character that we see sometimes: the comic relief who is fine in small doses, turns out to be popular with audiences, then gets a movie where he or she is central, and in large doses they're it's just too much. Mater in Cars 1/2. Dory in Finding Nemo/Dory. The Futurama people talked about this in the episode about Zoidberg going back home to mate. Normally he only has a few lines, and when he only has a few lines they can all be 1-liners. But they had to work to adapt him to a show where he was the central character. It's hard work. Pixar didn't pull it off for Mater or Dory.
You included in the intro the two examples of comic relief I would have made sure to cite: The singing scene from Jaws, and John interacting with the Terminator. For a lot of people, comedy is a coping mechanism. It's what people fall back on when they're stressed, angry or sad. So the best comic relief, IMO, involves people just being human. One last type that might be worth touching on is when the scene itself isn't necessarily meant to be funny, but we're led to believe that a character thinks it is. Possibly because they're pleading head games with an adversary, or maybe just because they're nuts. Some examples: #1: Die Hard, when John sends the "Now I have a machine gun" message. #2: Con Air, when Cyrus sings about the undercover agent (allegedly) pissing himself. #3: Hellsing (anime), when... Well, pretty much ANY scene with Jan Valentine. #4: Tim Burton's Batman, when... Well, pretty much ANY scene with the Joker. #5: Hannibal, when the title character feeds one of his victims his own brain. Yes, I know not all of those were genuinely funny. But they all involved a character who thought it was. Maybe you laughed with them, or maybe it just reminded you that this is one sick bastard who is going to be nothing but bad news for the rest of them.
One of my favorite movies in the MCU is crushed by one shitty out of place comedic scene. Dr strange. When he finally accepts who he is and “suits up” with his new found responsibility he’s having the serious look himself in the mirror scene and his cloak wipes a tear. Absolutely dreadful in that moment
These Bad vs. Good videos require a ton of time and effort, so please remember to like, share, and subscribe. Thanks! Also, please consider supporting the channel on Patreon: www.patreon.com/WriterBrandonMcNulty
I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts on mo lei tau, a comedic style in Hong Kong--the movie Kung Fu Hustle is a great example. I think the comic timing is perfect, but my friends are divided on it.
I don't know if anyone else is in my same shoes, but I would be happy to donate via Patreon at a $1/month level. I wouldn't need anything in return, just a way to support. These videos are so very great, and I can tell that tons of hours go into them, and so first and foremost: thank you for your incredibly valuable and engaging insight that's helped me hone my writing craft no small amount. $3/month is very reasonable in return, but until my screenplay sells, it is unfortunately beyond my very tight budget.
Hello there, I'm Ashiraf,m u may call me Arsey, i'm a story writer, but i'm afraid to release my stories, i have this list of stories,
1. Great Guardians
2. Mimics
3. Dynamic duo
4. Hot to Handle
the first 2 include fantasy, romance, power etc
Number 3 is a sci-fi mystery aand romance with high school life
The last one is non-fiction romance, highschool life of mine when i crushed on my crush.
i'll send the first chapter of each story, if u don't mind and see if i'm quite good enough for a book.
I'm also trying mystery with horror.
Genres i'm good at include, fiction, fantasy, action and some romance
''Is a great movie if you ignore the first two hours of it''
See, I liked that, it was natural, well timed , appeared orgnaically, was delivered in a deadpan way that fits the narrator's usual tone.
Plus : it's accurate facts
I'm a great fan of the original Star Wars movies. After watching Episode One, I decided not to watch any of the new stuff. There is no spirit in it.
@@Zimtbiss1 I wish I did the same as you. Granted I grew up with the prequels, but I wished I had given up on it in my late teens at least, so as to spare myself the nonsense of the franchise and ESPECIALLY the fandom in the following years.
😂😂
@@Zimtbiss1 I grew up with the prequels, and I can't say I agree. There's obviously a stark difference in the execution and competence of the prequels, but I don't think it really lost its "spirit" specifically until the Disney sequels came along.
You should make a video on how to have villains be defeated in good/bad ways. Like, “best vs worst villain defeats.”
If he does make it, I really hope Bill Cipher and Belos are included!
@@rubenduenas5881 Gravity falls is such a good show!
That’s a really good idea
Even just Good/Bad villains would be a good series
Yes, this!
My favourite comic relief moment is everytime Brandon mentions the word "somehow" in a video, he pulls that Poe clip😂🤣🤣
For anyone wondering where Poe is: 13:33
Always love a good vs. bad. One thing I appreciated here is that you mentioned that comic relief doesn't necessarily have to be a joke, it can be a lighthearted moment instead. I never thought of it that way!
Thanks! And yeah, there's all this pressure to be funny, but there's no shame in shifting the mood with some lighthearted scenes/moments.
@WriterBrandonMcNulty There is one type of comic relief you missed - Dark Comedy !!
But I can understand the good and bad videos are a lot of hard work.
@@AnujChatterjee-q5b Dark humor is hard in the US. our culture is not used to it and often american audiences do not react well to it. I remember watching a Mexican movie were an annoying kid drowns and its played off as a joke, but it was hard for me to watch
@@benjaminwatt2436 That sounds like a bad Dark comic relief scene but I think its possible to make a good dark comic relief scene and not make it like a funeral joke similar to Thor Raganaork as used in the video.
Good Will Hunting "my wife farts in her sleep"
Something I really appreciate about this series is the fact that, rather than just telling us what makes a show/movie good or what makes it bad, you also highlight bad elements of good movies/shows and good elements of otherwise not-great ones. I find this really helpful, it's a reminder that a story doesn't have to be PERFECT to be good. It just needs to make the most of what it is.
And I love that approach - it makes writing good stories feel like a far more obtainable goal and it gives some much deserved appreciation to scenes/character/etc. that generally get overlooked due to the overall quality of the work they're a part of.
Love this comment. Thank you so much. Thrilled that you’re finding these videos so helpful
Absolutely. There's I think a big problem in how we consume media nowadays, that we hold up the most well-loved and successful stories as perfect and put them on pillars. But being honest and clinical about something's flaws makes the act of creating something great feel more accessible. It's PROOF that you don't need perfection.
One of my favorites is Indiana Jones just shooting the swordsman instead of fighting it out with him.
This is a great example of a good director's choice. An unplanned moment which should normally belong to the outtakes, but Spielberg realized the potential of that unscripted scene and left it in, ignoring the actually planned one (which would feel dull in comparison). With three of the bad examples shown by Brandon (both Badman and the Thor one) I wonder if those were even in the script or just left in because they made the cast lough. I know it from theatre that we sometimes change parts of a play because of an off-hand joke or funny situation that occured. Just to cut it with the next rehearsal, because it doesn't work anymore. Films are similar in that fashion and a good director should be able to tell moments that work from funny one-offs, but sometimes your own humor gets the best of you.
"episode 1 is a great movie if you ignore the first two hours of it" 🤣 always dropping gems.
When I saw Luke toss the lightsaber in theaters, one guy said, “Ha,” and everyone else was dead silent. We were too busy being gripped by a new sense of dread for the next two and a half hours
That's crazy because I heard a guy shout "What the f***?!!!"
The whole movie was horrible, so it did set the correct tone.
As a person with a raging "internal monologue", I don't find myself bothered by the so-called "soft fourth wall breaks" (up to a point at least). Great video, as always!
It was a delight watching this! Thank you very much for following up on my suggestion, Brandon. I've learned some new things about comedic writing
Hey thanks for requesting this video! It helped that you mentioned Jar Jar in your request--that gave me something to build around.
Anyway, glad you enjoyed it! Best of luck with your writing
Jack Sparrow can be a good example of good versus bad in both cases in the various points of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and also provides a compelling argument why the decision to make an initially comedic support character into a protagonist after the original story has run its course is usually a bad idea. Jack works at the start because outside of being generally roguishly charismatic and having some pointed humor in places, Jack is a good world-weary foil to Will Turner's good-intented yet naive understanding of the pirate world and his own heritage. His physical comedy starts off hilarious but grounded, in that it doesn't go off the rails and keeps to his nature as a trickster trying to staying just one step ahead of defeat. Jack, however, gets increasingly more and more insufferable once Jack waddles into Jar Jar territory with the scale of his antics becoming all the more goofier as the movies proceeds, and his lack of meaningful character development in the latter sequels when he's the protagonist, only makes it apparent that his humor can't carry a movie.
It also hurts that the sequels stop giving him a straight man
Thor: Love and Thunder is the MCU equivalent of Cars 2 or Planet Sheen. It was Marvel making two rookie mistakes. They gave the director no discipline and made the comic relief the main star.
Korg is the textbook example of milking a joke. He immediately overstayed his welcome.
You beat me to this comment. I got so frustrated with that movie because every time they started going somewhere meaningful they would immediately undercut with "relief" that wasn't even that funny as if they were apologizing for making the story an actual story!
I couldn't make it past the first scene despite trying twice because the bathos was so strong.
Yep - classic example of humour over sincerity. They underestimate their audience and think everything has to be a joke
Korg could have been redeemed as an annoying character if he died in "Thor: Love and Thunder". He should have died, and it seemed like we were experiencing a moment of actual drama, and then it turned out that somehow (cue Poe Dameron clip), his decapitated head survived.
Aliens: Hudson played by Bill Paxton. Those are some iconic moments.
_"Hey, maybe you haven't been keeping up on current events, but we just got our asses kicked, pal!"_
Terminator 2 knows what is and sticks to it but it also includes comedy and nuanced character moments amid the action. And it doesn’t stop the film cold when it shifts tone.
A lot of that is to humanise him, so it clearly checks the character moment part of it.
In the first Harry Potter book when Hermione says something like, We'll be killed, or worse, expelled!
A very common rule I hear is that for non-comedy centric movies is that you should NEVER make the lead character of a movie/show the main comic relief at the same time, because you’ll have too many joke moments that get in the way of their serious scenes, hence why most comic relief characters are secondary characters.
The major error often manifests itself in sequels/prequels. A few infamous examples of this include Mater taking over as lead character in “Cars 2” and Dr Ian Malcom Taking Over As Lead in “Jurassic Park: The Lost World.”
Now if you want a rare good example done right… Saul Goodman in “Better Call Saul.” Because his usual BB-like comedy moments this time are only done when it’s appropriate in each episode, while everything else is focused to his tragedy and character development over the prequel series.
You do realize that Sonic the Hedgehog exists too, right?
The main character usually sets the tone, so if you make a comic relief main character, you have a comedy whether you want it or not. Unless you're very careful with it.
I am the only person who genuinely likes Cars 2 and Kronk's new grove. I will forever personally think that serious plots with lighthearted protagonists are severely overhated.
@@LightningAdrian Less of the passive aggression
Honestly I disagree. Some of my favourite protagonist are goofy af. But that could just be me, If I had to give the best example of a "comic relief protagonist" it would be my pfp aka Monkey D. Luffy.
Two other great examples of comic relief: Sohka from Avatar the Last Airbender (the animated series) and Bolin from Legend of Korra. Both characters served as the comic relief; but grew into stronger characters as the shows progressed.
What I like about ATLA is that, while Sokka is the go to comic relief, he's not the only character allowed to be funny. All the other main characters have plenty of humor and time for jokes as well. Katara less so than others, but she still has her moments. And also, despite being the prime comic relief, Sokka is usually also the one who keeps everyone on track the most. He comes up with the plans, schedules, and reminds everyone where they need to go. In any other show all of that would go to Katara.
Bolin felt like someone doing a bad, unfunny Sokka impression
I'm old and have no particular interest in cartoons, but my son made me watch ATLA and the Clone Wars show with him, and those are two of the best TV shows I've ever seen.
I disagree about Bolin. His only purpose in the story is to be the obligatory comic relief and the “lovable idiot.” He feels like a poor interpretation of Sokka for someone who’s only watched a few episodes of ATLA.
Sokka on the other hand is funny, but he’s not an idiot. He’s arrogant at worst and makes some dumb choices, but all the characters do to an extent and learn from those experiences. Sokka is funny because he doesn’t try too hard and when he does try, it’s funny because he just cracks dad jokes that aren’t supposed to be good.
In addition, as another commenter mentioned, every other character in the story provides plenty moments of comedic relief. Toph and Iroh (especially), Aang, Katara (See? Fun!), Appa and Momo, and even Zuko has many moments. Most notably his “that’s rough buddy” response to after Sokka bluntly states his first girlfriend turned into the moon.
In Legend of Korra? Bolin is the epitome of random = funny. Even in serious moments for him we’re just supposed to not take it seriously like after Korra kisses and Mako right as he stumbles across them. It’s very rare any characters aside from Bolin provide comic relief. I’ll admit I’m pretty biased against Legend of Korra, but that’s my perspective on how both series handle comic relief.
Sorry for the long winded comment lol
I think the Gordon scenes works because Gordon sometimes talks to himself making quick jokes. Like in Arkham Knight, when Batman disappears and Jim says “every damn time.” I just accepted it as part of his character over the years.
Thank you I thought I was the only one
its a great video but yeah I agree the Gordon scene isn't bad. He's a good cop at heart and a family man so I don't think its out of character for him to say something like that outloud. Its also the intro to a fun, action packed scene so it almost works as a good way to shift the tone slightly. But I get Brandon's point as other movies will do the same thing but much worse. It's indicative of a larger problem when it comes to bad writing even if it isn't the best example of it. TDKR example is very valid though. It got a laugh in the theater but yeah Batman shouldn't be saying comedic one liners like that.
Same, thank you!
And as someone who makes snarky comments and thinks out loud to myself out loud IRL, it does not seem all that odd to me in general.
Finn's "comedy" was played for the Michael Bay School of Comedy where talking fast and loud constantly is somehow supposed to equal smiles and laughter from the audience. So yeah, Boyega was Shia LaBeoufing.
Good bathos: In Memento, the scene where Leonard doesn't know whether he's being chased or is chasing the other guy until the other guy shoots at him.
That line's great! "I'm chasing someone." Turns corner and gets shot at. "Nope, he's chasing me."
I was going to mention Leonard's line,it was funny and it made sense as we see him adapt to his memory gaps.
I also thought of that one. You beat me to it.
I laughed out loud at the scene where he breaks down the door of that random guy's hotel room.
This is the second best explanation of comedy I've seen. But nothing tops Sideshow Cecil's audition to be Krusty's sidekick.
The pie gag is only funny when the sap's got dignity!
My main rule is that comic relief should not be a character. At most it could be part of a character, but preferably a shared role. And if it's the main character, you've got a comedy.
this
We need a video on building relationships and how to make each of them unique when handling many characters
Man you must have put so much time into this. The editing, the planning. I was incredibly impressed and was not only entertained but learned so much from it.
Thank you for doing this. I have a bad cold and this really made me smile and engaged me.
I've heard a fan theory that Jar Jar was made a general in the hope that he would be killed on the battlefield.
A tip I once heard for writing comic relief characters is to make it their secondary role. The person who gave me that tip gave Hades in Disney's Hercules as an example; he's the one who cracks the most jokes, but he's the villain _above_ that.
Of course, the fact that the entire movie has a more comedic tone than most of Disney's films makes him fit in more there.
This can be tricky stuff.
Absolutely. Humor is tough because it requires creativity, style, the right content, and timing, among other things
Loud talking characters who shout every line they speak. Loud talking is among the top ten most annoying sounds. This is why characters like B.E.N. from “Treasure Planet” is so disliked. He is loud in every scene he’s in, and has the problem of coming in when comic relief is not what’s needed.
On the other hand, Mushu from “Mulan (1998)” works better. Yes he’s loud, but he was also quiet when the scene requires it. Like when he was comforting Mulan after the army learned she was a woman.
Hey, Brandon. I hope you get to see this. Can you make a video about Bad *MANIPULATIVE CHARACTERS* vs Good ones? I don't really understand what differentiates a good manipulative character from a bad one.
The most recent example that comes to mind, to me, of a bad manipulative character, would the first Thor movie's Loki. I never understood any of his motivations and goals because they consistently kept changing.
I'd love for you to expand on this topic, manipulative characters are fascinating when done right, but I don't know what constitutes a good one.
No way, I was thinking of that idea too. I really want a video like that. For me a bad manipulative villain can be Pitch Black from Rise of Guardians because the manipulations are like the typical "join me proposals" with over the top theatrics.
A good example can be Rumpelstiltskin from Shrek Forever After where he targets Shrek's vulnerabilities and manipulates him into a signing the contract or a better example, Lord Shen who target's Po's vulnerabilities and despite being physically weaker than him, he is able to mentally break down Po and that makes him a unique multi-dimensional villain.
That's actually an interesting topic. I think Loki was alright within the first Thor movie, but I'd agree that his motives kept shifting as the MCU went on.
I think a good manipulative character would be someone like Johan Liebert from Naoki Urasawa's Monster or the Joker from The Dark Knight. An example of a bad manipulative character may be Lex Luthor from the DCEU, especially Batman v. Superman.
@krraika1847 Yeah, Joker is definitely a great example.
Another could be Koba from Dawn of Planet of Apes. He targets the vulnerabilities of Caesar's son, Blue Eyes who distrusts the humans.
I like the trope of manipulating a supporting character. Because then there are chances of the character being completely manipulated unlike the main protagonist because of plot armor.
@@AnujChatterjee-q5b I need to watch the Planet of the Apes movies.
As for the other trope you mentioned, I'm not sure if this counts but I think a good example would be Tony Stark/Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War. While a huge character in the MCU, he has a supporting/semi-antagonistic role in the film, often placed at odds with Steve/Capt. America. It's this that lets him believe Zemo's lies and manipulations even though Zemo himself isn't directly doing anything to Tony, at least up until the end where Zemo pits Tony against Steve by showing Tony the murder of his parents.
You said it yourself: a good manipulative character has strong & clear motivations. His true personality should be very clear, dark and selfish & some people in the world should obviously dislike or fear that character, for unknown reasons. But a good manipulator should appear harmless, helpful or friendly to the ones he wants to manipulate, which mostly are the protagonists.
A good manipulator will show NO interest in characters that are not able to benefit his goals, which can be shown in scenes when an unimportant character tries to befriend the manipulator and fails due to the manipulators lack of interest. His goals should be obvious, especially after you learn the characters backstory and motivations.
good manipulators live from foreshadowing, something should feel off about them the whole time, but they must appear harmless or friendly enough that nobody cares too much.
A great example would be jar-jar binks. Joker is a bad example for a manipulator (in my opinion): when you meet the joker you know he will betray you. It's bad writing that people get close to him, calling him a master-manipulator all the time. He's not, he's an anarchist. What he does okay-ishly in the Dark Knight is creating distractions, which is a thing your manipulator can do, but NOT in a way people can directly link the distraction to the manipulator.
If your character wants to disguise as friendly, he should be good with words. He always tells the truth, but a version of the truth that makes people fulfill his goals or might even share their world-view (Tyler Durden, Hannibal Lecter, Barney Stinson). If your manipulative character disguises as harmless he should appear as unimportant or clumsy (jar jar binks, wormtails).
Jack Sparrow is a good mixture of these traits.
When the manipulator appears as friendly, he should just help others, but only if the ones he helped are important to his plans or if he can directly feed his own power, influence or prestige from helping others (witches like Ursula, who also appear old & weak or some politicians)
Your manipulator CAN be an emotionless sociopath, you can state this be revealing he never told anyone even his real name. A manipulator like this will stay pretty much unknown to anyone else, while knowing everything about others.
Or your manipulator can be a normal person who has to do what needs to be done, in that case they could appear a little sad or regretful in some scenes, but again, it should not be revealed WHY they are, it should just feel a little off. You should reveal a character to be a manipulator around the first third of your story if the character should be likable. If the character should be a surprise or be unlikable or a villain, reveal it around the climax of your story or in the middle. If you want to produce multiple stories, such a character can be revealed in the end, functioning as a cliffhanger
The soft 4th wall break reminds me of the Doctor Who episode 'The Feast of Steven', which is sadly missing. This is episode 7 in the 12 episode 'Dalek's Master Plan' serial. The broadcast of this episode lined up on Christmas day, so this episode takes a break from the tension that had been building up for the last 6 episodes and goes thematic around Christmas, even unto William Hartnell looking directly into the camera at the very end and saying "Merry Christmas to all the viewers at home".
My biggest gripe with the Marvel stuff is there's too much comic relief. I understand they're comic book movies, but when you make a quip every 5 minutes, you're reminding the audience that they don't really need to worry, and everything will be fine. There's no danger.
hey I remember someone a few videos ago literally mentioned this title to do on, & you did it so!
Yep, it was a good fit for Bad vs Good!
One of my favorite balances between comedy and seriousness is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It's a classic all around.
Rules to a knife fight?!
@@headlessnotahorseman “Think you used enough dynamite there Butch?”
Matrix Reloaded beginning when Neo fights the 3 agents. The movie starts with a scary tone, impending attack, scattered alliance, and even a visit from Mr. Smith. Then the new agents attack, and Neo, in a very robotic, true-to-character way, says, "Hmm, upgrades," making it clear they're no threat to him in a funny way.
The best bit of funeral humour that comes to my mind was in Seinfeld when George was at the funeral for his fiancee Susan who died from licking the invitation envelopes with the cheap glue. George, standing next to the casket, demonstrates what kind of character he is by asking out one of Susan's friends.
On of my favorite comic relief moments is (spoilers) from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End when Will and Elizabeth get married during the climactic battle. It’s absurd in all the fun ways the PotC films are when they’re at their best. It’s so appropriately macabre for the ceremony when, will giving vows, they’re still fighting the enemy while people are dying all around them. Plus, Geoffrey Rush hams it up in all the right ways.
How about: "Bad deus ex machina vs Good deus ex machina"?
thats an interesting one 👍
I knew who would be the bad example of #3 the moment you called it "tone wrecker" 😆
I've wondered whether Luke tossing the lightsaber away would have worked at least a little better as the last scene of Force Awakens rather than the first of Last Jedi. For one, because subverting expectations works better when said expectations have been formed over minutes/hours rather than months/years. Secondly, because those expectations leaving TFA would then be focused on *why* Luke did that and what it means, rather than simply "what happens next?"
What is the opposite of comic relief like when a generally comedy show has serious moment like in scrubs where its listed as a comedy but it can get deep and serious at times
The worst comic relief, imo, is in the movie Bright. Will Smith's wisecracks fell flat each and every time, were never funny and made his character seem like a hateful bully. You could tell Smith wasn't into his character because his lines were delivered with no heart. This would have been such a good movie if they'd utilized Will Smith properly instead of trying to use him.
Good comic relief = Gimli in the LOTR trilogy. Lines such as "don't tell the elf" or "that still only counts as one", blowing on the mist of the Dead, etc etc.
The Gimli/Legolas kill count jokes always make me smile
Other than those, Gimli has pretty terrible dumb moments where he comes off as too much of a buffoon. Luckily most of those belong to the extended cuts (eg. the drinking contest, facing the Dunharrow ghosts).
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty same
And Gimli is still a bad badass, AND caring, proud, dignified. He can make you laugh, bit if he cries, you cry with him.
I hate what they did to Gimli with this comic relieve stuff. He's supposed to be a serious warrior on par with everyone else in the fellowship not a goon who chacks cheep jokes.
Bathos is an important concept, but you get it wrong. Bathos means "descent" in Greek and refers to a shift in tone from the grand or elevated to the mundane or trivial. The unexpected appearance of the mundane in a situation where we have been led to expect something lofty is what creates the comic effect.
The Thor Raganarok one wasn't bad writing, because Thor had done what he needed to do. He got everyone out and made sure no lives were lost, because Odin told him Asgard isn't a place, it's a people. Thor and the others didn't care nearly as much about the place Asgard as the people Asgard. It was still a solemn moment, but not as much as it seems, and a joke there was, I think, completely appropriate.
Bond: The World is Not Enough:
"You wouldn't shoot me... You'd miss me.."
After she dies:
"I never miss ..."
I'm not sure if it was comedic, but for me, it was the best Brosnan moment, in a movie I have mixed feelings about.
@@ludovico6890 War do you mean you are not sure? It's a pun.
@sweetsummerchild8156 Some puns can be ironic, but not used for comic effect. It's a very dramatic scene, Bond is dead serious, he feels betrayed, Elektra is taunting him. In fact, she's doing the pun. The double entendre brings ambiguity and tension. "I never miss": does he mean when he shoots, he always kills, or he means he won't miss Elektra when she's dead?
Extraction 2. Third act. Tyler is escaping with his sister-in-law and young niece. Lots of shooting and fighting. The trio enter an elevator and as they begin the ride down Tyler winks at the little girl to calm her. A light and tender moment of relief that also reveals Tyler's character. One of my favorite scenes in the movie.
A movie that has surprisingly consistent humor is The Lego Movie. The rapid-fire pace of jokes mix well with the hectic Lego visuals, poke fun in a unique way at the movie’s Lego setting (like how Bad Cop uses his “claw hands” to signify air quotes) and even gets recontextualized once you find out the story is in a child’s imagination (such as the real-world items acting as “super weapons” like a box cutter and the Kragle.
I'd also include The Lego Batman movie. They both had a surprisingly amount of good humor through most, if not all, of the characters.
I think you could have also included good and bad Dark Comedic Relief Scenes
Also I like it when comedy in injected into the themes and they make them less preachy.
Like in Kung Fu Panda 4, we have Po resisting change from dragon warrior to spiritual leader whose duties are to pass wisdom and hope and to bring peace without resorting to violence. At around the mid point, Po comes across a Den of thieves and he gets his "inner Shifus" telling him to find a way to bring peace without kicking butt. So Po comes up with "He who resorts to violence now will only find more violence later" and the thieves misinterpret it as "if we do less violence now, we can do more violence later". It was point of character development and they made it a good comic scene as well.
The one I always found jarring is in Blood Diamond when Jennifer Connely takes a break and has a good laugh with the African kids doing some kind of sudden out of the blue photoshoot.
I agree with everything you said except the Gordon scene. He didn't say "I gotta get me one of those" out of no where or directed it at the audience. He was responding to what Batman had just said in their conversation. Gordon: "I'll get my car." Batman: "I brought mine." Gordon: "I gotta get me one of those." So to me it was natural and organic humor that lands hard and that was reinforced with the "It's a black....tank" line afterwards.
My father was a High School English teacher for 50 years. He explained to me that "comic relief" isn't intended to be funny; it's "bas relief" where you etch away the surrounding material to make the drama or tragedy stand out more. It's like you're keeping the pot bubbling at just the right temperature; you don't want it to overheat and ruin the dish, but you don't want to take it off the burner and let it cool down, either.
For example, in Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio is stabbed in a duel by Tybalt, but his friends - and the audience - don't realize it immediately. Mercutio's antics are played for a laugh, as his friends assume he's hamming it up. Only gradually, one by one, do they come to realize that they are watching their friend die slowly in front of them. That makes his death much more poignant than simply "fight-stab-die", and it avoids dragging the death scene into cartoonish melodrama.
Jar-Jar: a major character who could be completely removed from the story with zero change to the outcome.
Completely destroyed my interest in the prequels.
If you removed a lot of the nonsense from the story (Chosen One, Jar-Jar), nothing would change. Just one way the prequels are like the sequels.
I thought Ragnarok was hilarious. Asgard being destroyed and them making a joke about it really nailed the tone of the movie. They already lived with the prophecy that Ragnarok is the end, plus they agreed that Asgard was not a place, but a people…so I didn’t see that part as not fitting the tone of the movie. Just my opinion 😂
I feel like I'm the only one who actually liked the Luke lightsaber gag...
The beginning scene between Hux and Poe is worse imo.
Way way worse. The Luke gag is not bad. What is bad is putting Star Wars examples in every single video you make. It shows a stunning lack of creativity. It's a very Jar Jar Binks move.
The Luke gag is hated because its the beginning of his character assassination. If it had a better payoff it would of be more liked.
@@glentz716 Gawd, I know, right?! You'd think the _Star Wars_ franchise is a very well-known and recognizable property that has truly _massive_ amounts of bad writing, or something.
Yes. I agree with you 100%. The lightsaber gag pays off over the course of the next hour plus.
That lame telephone joke doesn’t go anywhere and could have been served with a less goofy route. Then a few moments later you have some intense death scene with the bombers. Just doesn’t work at all.
@@skullzrodgers8645nah. Luke was handled perfectly in Last Jedi. Loved that it subverted expectations.
Comedy is subjective. Jar-Jar is objectively horrible
Hahhaah
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty If I were writing him, I'd fix his voice, have his comedy come more from his contrasting values to Qui Gon, and hav3 the suspicious-Ness of him come from an inconsistent competence rather than an overly lacking competence.
Jar Jar might have fit in a Star Wars Muppet movie. Maybe.
I hate it when comic relief scenes are done in serious moments like in the introduction scene of a serious, menacing villain.
A bad example comes from How To Train Your Dragon 2. A little over the mid-point of the movie, we finally meet the main antagonist of the movie, Drago Bludvist. Previously in the movie, they did a lot of build-up for Drago. We get a flashback sequence of his backstory with Stoick - During a gathering of Viking chieftains to discuss the dragon situation, Drago proposed that he alone could control the dragons and keep the people safe if the chieftains followed him as their leader. The Vikings laughed at him and in rage Drago orders armored dragons under his control to burn down the hall. All the chieftains except Stoick die. We also learn about his plan to create a dragon army to conquer the world. So Drago has been setup to be a merciless villain and a threat to dragons and mankind. Now the other dragon riders - Astrid, Fishlegs, the Twins and Snotlout finally find Drago's lair but get caputred and brought to Drago. The initial part of his intro does portray him as a menacing villain with his ominous soundtrack, his physical appearence and how he is able to dominate a Monstrous Nightmare and we also get a lot of serious moments. But unfortunately, the other dragon riders crack some unfunny jokes and they bring down the seriousness of the scene.
Now a good example comes from the sequel How To Train Your Dragon 3. The main antagonist is Grimmel the Grisly, a professional dragon hunter with the reputation as the night fury killer. Grimmel is introduced as a serious and threatening villain in his opening scenes and later at around the mid-point of the movie, the riders attack his base but fail and eventually retreat. However, one of the twins, Ruffnut is left behind. Grimmel takes her as prisoner but she becomes a non-stop annoying chatter box much to the frustration of Grimmel. Later Grimmel releases her so that he can follow her to the hideout of the dragon riders. The comic relief scene works because its meant to be a comic scene. We have seen Grimmel being serious before and seeing him getting annoyed and frustrated feels amusing. Only previously we had a tense action scene so it is time for the audience to relax with a good comic scene whereas for Drago's opening scene, it was supposed to be a menacing one without any comedy and also because previously only we have had light hearted moments with Hiccup, his mother and Toothless.
Another good example from a franchise adjacent to the one you’re referencing is that in the second How To Train Your Dragon book (How To Be a Pirate), Alvin the Poor but honest farmer, who is obviously a pirate pretending to be a good guy, starts off as a joke character and even after revealing himself as the villainous Alvin the Treacherous still cracks a joke about how his evil is society’s fault but then he starts to say things like “I’m rotten to the core and I like being rotten. The treasure has got me and I like being got” and manages to be evil as sin. And even though the early sequels also have one or two joke scenes with him, he quickly becomes much more of a serious threat to the point where, by the end, he’s the Voldemort of the How To Train Your Dragon universe and the books do a great job of it
@@matityaloran9157 Okay. I haven't read any of the books. I have watched the Netflix shows and it has the chaacter of Alvin the Treacherous but I kind of skipped some filler episodes and also focused on the plot-driven episodes.
@@AnujChatterjee-q5b I haven’t watched any of the shows but the books are really good
I don't see how the second example is any better than the first at all.
For me this is all subjective.
I think it's safe to say Grimmel wasn't well developed and the third movie is infinitely worse than the second.
@@ender5892 Okay. I respectfully disagree. I am a defender of the 3rd movie and I think its an improvement over the 2nd in "some" respects if not overall: -
1) I personally think Grimmel was slightly better than Drago. Both are great villains but I like Grimmel more because he is the more brains over brawn type. Not saying that Drago is dumb, he makes a lot of smart decisions but Grimmel is more strategic. Like how he can mind-control the Death grippers with their own venom. He also captures the entire dragon flock by threatening to kill the Light Fury and forcing Toothless to do so.
2) I also think Toothless had a better arc in Hidden World than in 2. In the 2nd movie, he is mostly a lovable cute and cuddly dragon until he has to fight against the alpha's control but in the 3rd he gets a lot of conflicts about choosing between Hiccup and choosing the Light Fury and he even gets his own scene of flirting with her.
3) What made Drago's intro even worse was Astrid's role. Like she gives him every valuable info "We have an island full of dragons", "We have tracker dragons", "The heir of Berk has a night fury". This is eventually what makes Drago an actual threat because before this he was just making preparations. So the reason Drago becomes a threat to the characters is because of Astrid's stupidity. I know she is a hot-headed character but giving away so much to Drago was really a stupid decision and did she really think that Drago would be frightened and would release them. The guy who killed so many chieftains and is building a dragon army ? I think Ruffnut's comic relief scene with Grimmel works because its meant to lighten things up after a tense action scene and she is established as a stupid character so her leading Grimmel to the lair is not bothering.
These are just my humble opinions.
Check out the movie Willow for good comic relief in an otherwise serious & violent movie. "Willow You Idiot!" Is one of my all time favorite lines, and is quoted often in my family.
I look forward to these videos all the time. I have no idea how this channel hasn't blown up. It's so informative and helpful, and the delivery is amazing too.
Batman's "So that's what it feels like" works perfectly when it was done in the "Kingdom Come" comic series.
Luke tossing away the lightsaber reminds me of a scene in RWBY when Ruby loses her scythe, and when Jaune brings it back to her, she's reluctant to accept it. In a later scene, Yang and the others pick up the weapon that she dropped, try to hand it to her, and she jumps back letting it fall to the ground. The main differences here are 1, it wasn't played off as a joke, and 2, there was a lot of buildup over several episodes of her having PTSD and doubts about her role as a huntress, so the rejection of her weapon didn't come completely out of nowhere.
LEAVE JAR JAR ALOOONE !!!
The best single moment of comic relief in movie history is in Fellowship of the Ring, at the end of the council, when Elrond has just christened the main characters with his iconic "you shall be.. the Fellowship of the Ring" over Howard's Shore's swelling orchestral music... and then Pippin says "right... where are we going?" I cannot imagine the Jupiter-sized brass balls you would need to put a comedic line right at that moment, knowing that if it didn't land, millions of Tolkien fans would be out for your blood...
It *really* didn't land for me. I walked out of Fellowship disappointed because of how they undercut so many characters' core traits of the book. Of course adaptations should have changes, but not Merry and Pippin as bumbling fools there literally by accident instead of supportive friends who'd packed weeks ago to be there for Frodo.
That was great! This channel deserves likes and subs. The first video I've seen, but definitely not the last. 👍
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it
Love the new video Brandon as always. I think with comedy just like real life has to be natural. My favorite movie of all the Casblanca is filled with humor moments but never does it take away from the tone of political unrest and tension between the characters. Each humor moment is within the character’s personality.
One of my favorite scenes comes from The Walking Dead. The Survivors have been walking in the heat for days, being followed by a herd and low on water. They finally arrive at Alexandria and as the gate opens they hear shuffling just outside the gate.
Daryl pulls up his trusty crossbow and shoots the thing.
He grabs the item. It's a possum and he says, "Brought dinner."
😂😂😂
These are always a delight to watch.
We all knew who the example for #3 was gonna be 😂
“Nobody around to hear the joke”
James Bond: “shocking. Positively shocking”
I thought there would be a mention that cautions against intentionally making annoying characters--like Jar Jar. There's never an upside. If you succeed, then you have an annoying character, and no one likes being annoyed. If you fail, your character will probably still be annoying and your audience will know you also can't write.
One of my favorite soft fourth wall breaks is in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty when [SPOILER]
:
:
:
:
:
Walter finds out where the missing picture is, and for the only time in the movie glances directly at the camera as if to say "You've GOT to be kidding me."
The barbershop scene in Gran Torino is one of my favorites.
When something that maybe was funny once gets overused and becomes annoying: when in Avengers the Hulk grabs Loki and smashes him on the floor, they reused that over and over until it became very annoying
You mean like referencing "Somehow Palpatine returned" in every single video you make?
Upon seeing this more fleshed out explanation of what comic relief can be, a particular example comes to mind. Breaking Bad, as everyone knows, is loaded with comic relief, in all of its forms. I could think of countless examples but the one that popped in my head after thinking about the more subtle side of it, with a strong emphasis on the word "relief", is near the beginning of Ozymandias. I'll keep this somewhat vague and spoiler-free.
It's the scene when Walt is on foot rolling the barrel through the desert, and that country song is playing, which culminates with him buying the old truck off of the native man. It's an absurd situation that's grounded in the events that came before it - which were the most cataclysmic of the story - and it adds levity in a dark circumstance, which is a signature of the show, all while not making it laugh-out-loud, over the top, unrealistic, or taking any emotion away from the weight of the episode's opening.
Respectfully, I completely disagree with your Batman begins take. a lot of times when I'm by myself and see a nice car. I'm going to comment to myself about liking the car. If anything, it shows that commissioner Gordon is human like everyone else.
Same here. Or maybe it's because I relate to James Gordon the most in the trilogy. He's battling with the mob, ordinary criminals, and police corruption. And this vigilante shows up on his fancy car. I'd feel the same.
I also think Gordons mumbling lands, because I don't see it as a fourth wall break. It's a thing people might say in that situation. But I agree that it could've conveyed without words and thus might've not such a shift from the actual scene. I would BET that this was an unscripted moment left in.
I'd love to see a video on how to use MacGuffins: what makes a good MacGuffin, how do you make it connect with your theme, how to avoid pitfalls. A good example to me is the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. A bad example would be anytime a character is reduced to little more than a MacGuffin. That's how America Chavez came across to me in Multiverse of Madness.
The Holy Grail isn't a macguffin though?? It's not an arbitrary 'thing' that can be replaced with any random thing without affecting the story - the Holy Grail specifically relates to the story being told, it's not a meaningless object that could've been anything.
America Chavez too is not a macguffin?? She's an actual character with history, lore, rules regarding how her powers work, etc ...sure, maybe the character is reduced to just an object sometimes and that's a valid critique, but she's not a macguffin per say.
Perhaps you've worded your request wrong
My go-to example of a macguffin is the suitcase in Pulp Fiction. It's just some random thing the story needs to progress, and the thing could've been anything really. The guys arrive at the scene to take back [a suitcase with something valuable inside] and that allows the scene to happen, and [the suitcase] isn't relevant to the rest of the story
@@richardgurney1844 No, America is definitely a MacGuffin.
@@dannypalin9583 She's literally not
Define what you think a macguffin is
I do have a request. I love old movies like from classic and golden age. It would be cool maybe in some of your videos you use them as examples. Be a nice change of pace that’s just me though 🤷🏾♂️
This clears up a lot! Thank you so much!
One of my favourite comic relief moments happens in Jurassic Park: Ian Malcom walks up to the Triceratops droppings and says "That's a big pile of shit..."
Another small comic relief moment from that movie, that I think a lot of people missed, is where Nedry slips and falls down the hillside in the rain and there is a typical cartoon slip-and-fall whistle sound when it happens.
Something that stuck out to me while you were appropriately eviscerating Jar Jar from Phantom Menace, was how you matter-of-factly said that all the other characters were ultra serious. I would argue that this isn't actually the case, as Qui-Gon especially has a number of lighthearted moments, and Obi-Wan lets his guard down with Qui-Gon a few times, too. These are subtle moments that fit the characters and the tone well, by not trying to be funny, but just letting them have little human moments with the people they trust.
That illustrates how corrosive the poorly-written Jar Jar humour was, because it ate up the screen time and attention so that those little moments that WOULD have been the tension breaks (the good kind) are lost on the audience. The good writing was rendered meaningless by the bad writing. There's a lesson there for all of us.
"I've never said this but don't swallow" is the best line I've ever heard. Also thanks for this, I always wondered if I was forcing humor.
Glad you enjoyed the video! And yeah, forcing humor almost never works. I tried doing so in some of my earliest videos and it was disastrous haha
One of the best weirdly comedic films ever is Withnail & I, which is weird considering how dismal its mood is; but after watching it you just want to keep quoting it, which is usually a sign they got something right.
Best: Deadpool Worst: Jar Jar
I do wonder in hindsight if there was a way to simplify and illustrate The Phantom Menace's worldbuilding. Kinda like how the Good Bad and the Ugly uses the civil war as dynamic backdrop. So instead of Jar Jar comic relief we couldve gotten more natural comic story relevant comic relief.
Best moment of Bathos on TV - the funeral scene in Mary Tyler Moore’s “Chuckles Bites the Dust.”
Full Metal Jacket: he is given the name "Joker", he's smart, honest, and relatable, but also subversive and yet uncertain. So many wonderful moments, but the best is his interview: "I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture ... and kill them."
It highlights the horror of his reality while subverting expectations.
If Korg didn't say "now the foundations are gone" it would have been perfect I think
Well I'm biased. Doesnt need the comedic relief but I find his first words hilarious
Or just a simple "Oh. Sorry."
I have a theory every Jar Jar Binks defendant on the planet was between the ages of 5 and 13 when Phantom Menace came out, and now the rest of us have to suffer their rose-tinted glasses forever because they're all middle-aged and online now, retconning one of the worst characters in history until the older generations die.
I was 10 at the time, and I think Jar Jar Binks is quite possibly the single worst character ever conceived in cinematic history.
I was 5 I think when TPM came out. I did genuinely thought Jar-Jar was an okay character but only when I was maybe 10 or 12, and I had lost that idea soon afterwards. Now, I can't deny he's just not good.
The worst example of comic relief I can think of is the entirety of Thor 4 Love and Thunder.
True, the humour and the fact the film is objectively horrible compared to previous thor movies makes love and thunder hard to sit through.
Heh, I wasn't thinking of Drax; I thought of Rocket Raccoon.
In Avengers: Endgame, when all the stones are placed into the second gauntlet, Rocket yells "BOOM", breaking the tension. :-D
Epic episode. I could watch many more, especially about the SFF genre. But I like all your videos. So, I never saw the big scene shown with Luke And Rey and that was incredible in every way I can think of.
Jar Jar is the holy fool, jester, more of an archetype than comic relief. He exists to have the serious Jedi exercise tolerance. In my mind he exists to enflesh Qui Gon and Obi-Wan. Btw Star Wars humor is often horrible, Han in the first one: "One thing's for sure, we're all gonna be a lot thinner" groan
I hated that first scene with Luke. What a horrible let down
I think It Chapter Two is a good example of a film filled with BAD comic relief. It's a shame, because it mostly intends to be very serious, scary and emotional, but yet it does humour in the worst way and moments.
EDIT: Talking about character's jokes that are only for the audience, this film has a lot of that, but horror moments as well. I mean, horror moments that don't make sense inside the scene, but are only obviously designed for the people watching, feeling unreal.
can't believe nobody mentioned Saul Goodman
For a bad example of comic relief, there's Martin Short's robot in uh, was it Treasure Planet or Atlantis? Bit of a Jar Jar character, really interrupts the atmosphere
Treasure Planet
Re: The Tone Wrecker...
There's a similar character that we see sometimes: the comic relief who is fine in small doses, turns out to be popular with audiences, then gets a movie where he or she is central, and in large doses they're it's just too much. Mater in Cars 1/2. Dory in Finding Nemo/Dory.
The Futurama people talked about this in the episode about Zoidberg going back home to mate. Normally he only has a few lines, and when he only has a few lines they can all be 1-liners. But they had to work to adapt him to a show where he was the central character.
It's hard work. Pixar didn't pull it off for Mater or Dory.
1:49 May I introduce you to Life Is Beautiful
You included in the intro the two examples of comic relief I would have made sure to cite: The singing scene from Jaws, and John interacting with the Terminator.
For a lot of people, comedy is a coping mechanism. It's what people fall back on when they're stressed, angry or sad. So the best comic relief, IMO, involves people just being human.
One last type that might be worth touching on is when the scene itself isn't necessarily meant to be funny, but we're led to believe that a character thinks it is. Possibly because they're pleading head games with an adversary, or maybe just because they're nuts.
Some examples:
#1: Die Hard, when John sends the "Now I have a machine gun" message.
#2: Con Air, when Cyrus sings about the undercover agent (allegedly) pissing himself.
#3: Hellsing (anime), when... Well, pretty much ANY scene with Jan Valentine.
#4: Tim Burton's Batman, when... Well, pretty much ANY scene with the Joker.
#5: Hannibal, when the title character feeds one of his victims his own brain.
Yes, I know not all of those were genuinely funny. But they all involved a character who thought it was. Maybe you laughed with them, or maybe it just reminded you that this is one sick bastard who is going to be nothing but bad news for the rest of them.
One of my favorite movies in the MCU is crushed by one shitty out of place comedic scene.
Dr strange.
When he finally accepts who he is and “suits up” with his new found responsibility he’s having the serious look himself in the mirror scene and his cloak wipes a tear.
Absolutely dreadful in that moment