COMEDYISTHEFAR SIDEOFTRAGEDY
How finding humor in serious situations helps us get by
Charlie Chaplin once said, “Life is a tragedy when seen in closeup, but a comedy in the long shot.” Comedy is simply tragedy plus some time.
Someone once told me that the Greek tragedy masks are smiling faces because real tragic dramas occur when there is hope and optimism, only for events to shatter our positive outlook on life. And the Greek comedy masks are frowning faces because we can laugh at and find comedy in a world that we are already cynical about.
I later learned that whoever told me that had a laugh as I had been gullible enough to believe it for years. Of course, the smiling mask represented comedies. In Greek mythology Thalia is the muse of comedy, often portrayed as happy and cheerful. Meanwhile, the frowning mask represented tragedies, with Melpomene as their muse.
Still, something rang true with what I was told, even if it did not exactly relate to the Greek theater masks. What is tragic or comedic can often be simply a matter of perspective. We can laugh at the cruelest moments in our life once they are seen in retrospect because a single event in the grand scheme of one’s life and life in general is often not as big of a deal as we believed it to be at that moment.
Not everything always goes according to plan, things could blow up in our faces. But when we take a step back to breathe before or instead of freaking out, we might see something to laugh about that could make us feel better and could even help us move on.
Every cloud could have a silver lining. Every moment has a bit of humor. Living a life of pure seriousness can only result in a tragedy. Find a bit of comedy in everything and you will be all the better for it.
The brilliance of the BBC’s Fleabag and its creator, Phoebe WallaceBridge, which swept up the Emmy’s earlier this week, had gotten me thinking about this fine line between tragedy and comedy. Its two brief seasons have made me laugh, but not as much as it made me cry. It won numerous awards under the “comedy series” category, and yet it makes the audience consider deep questions more than most dramas do.
There are moments in life that are difficult, no doubt, but as any angsty teen will let you know, sometimes going through life itself can be rough. So what do we do in those moments?
In the words of the Hot Priest
of Fleabag, played by Andrew Scott: “Why believe in something awful when you can believe in something wonderful?”
He was referring to his belief in God, but the words can apply generally to life itself, to believe there is something more than just a string of not-sopleasant events.
In a world where you can be anything, be positive (so goes many in Instagram captions). It is cheesy because it is true! And often repeated because it’s a message that can never be repeated too often.
The Kerry Diaries is a weekly youth column that discusses prevalent social issues and current events through a Generation Z perspective in the opinion of the author. Kerry Tinga is a feminist and contributing writer for Manila
Bulletin Lifestyle. She is based in Metro Manila and can be found working at MINT College.
Living a life of pure seriousness can only result in a tragedy. Find a bit of comedy in everything and you will be all the better for it.