Comedy: Toward The Freedom By Transcending

Comedy as an important category of literature and aesthetics has attracted sustainedattention from scholars and accumulated a great deal of research. However, theever-changing practice of comedy creation and the great variety of comedic phenomenonpresents us with new problems and requires a breakthrough and penetration in theoreticalthought. Therefore, with the theory of comedy research as the foundation, and therelationship between comedy and freedom as the focus, this thesis seeks to undertake anin depth analysis of the essence and meaning of comedy, and the connection betweencomedy and the human spiritual needs. From the starting point of a liberated comedicperspective, to illustrate the characteristics and differences of the various elements ofcomedy, the value of an aesthetic and ethical study of comedy. Further, a retrospectivestudy of the new trend that comedy has taken in the modern context, as well as its sourceand influence. Finally, this thesis attempts a new portrayal of the culture of comedy in thecontext of common linguistic usage.The thesis first seeks to dissect the rich content of a broad notion of comedy onmultiple levels. Comedy in the realm of literature captures the humorous element of oureveryday lives and express it through art; And comedy from the perspective ofphilosophy contains meanings of world view and methodology. They Demonstrate anobjective person’s relation to the external world and a self-reflective mode and attitude,as well as a rational study and an intelligent free-play. From a research of a humanisticoutlook, the phenomenon of comedy is the manifestation of the principle of happinessand the spirit of games, the sensory effect is expressed as a gentle and delightful laugh.The research on laughter conducted in psychology concentrates on the mental processand emotive reactions triggered by comedy. Comedy from the perspective of aestheticismemphasized the comedic consciousness of objective thought, while at the same time,seeks to understand, reflect, critic and transcend the subjective element.All these content and meaning from different perspectives can be traced back to theliberated core of comedy. As an intrinsic characteristic of humanity, the pursuit forfreedom becomes a fundamental motive for human’s conscious pursuit in life. Thetranscendental pursuit for freedom, liberation and control finds expression in literature and art.Literature is a path through which human’s principle spirit attains freedom, theliberation manifests as an experience of freedom in the process of the appreciation ofbeauty. The satisfaction stems from a need to compensate and substitute theimprisonment of reality. Freedom in comedy is a union between rationaltranscendentalism and emotional free-play: In one aspect, the principle achieves a senseof victory when it receives insight from the target comedy; In another aspect, it attains asense of liberation and euphoria from the game upon liberation from restraints. Thesetwo aspects fuse and achieve a union between rational understandings and emotionalexperiences.Laughter is an important symbol of comedy, but it does not equate tocomedy.Things that incite laughter might not be comedic, because laughter does notnecessary contain the meaning of freedom.Laughter in the context of comedy has a socialsignificance. It is the delight of freedom manifested upon our visage. Its value andmeaning arises from the characteristic and meaning of the object of beauty through whichthe principle attempts to transcend.The much theorized notions of humor, sarcasm and amusement are the maincomponents of comedy.This thesis will further analyze from the perspective of freecomedy the meaning of freedom in these components: humor, focuses on a display ofwisdom and transcend of the principle of comedy.Sarcasm focuses on negation andcritique of the target comedy; amusement triggers the principle to affirm the vitality oflife through the mechanics of movement; the tease is the principle upsetting the restraintsof regularity through the mode of game. Further, the thesis expounds other variants suchas the scherzo, wit, absurdist, strangeness and black humor from the perspective offreedom.Comedy can be measured in three dimensions: degrees of beauty, goodness andquality.The target of the aesthetic evaluation of comedy is not ugliness, but it can be aunique form of beauty.From the perspective of the liberated principle, it is not because ofugliness that comedy is born, but it is through the course of the evaluation of beauty incomedy that ugliness is created.Comedy serves a social function of upholding the good,and punishing the evil, but it contingently served the task of theory. Compared to thetarget, comedic consciousness and its nature of critique and ascension carries an obvious meaning of evil.The different grades of comedy is not only dependent on thephilosophical content or the humor of the subject matter, but it also hinges on the degreeof the freedom that the principle realizes in comedy.On the foundation of the basic theoretical analysis of comedy, a research on thephenomenon of comedy can yield the discovery: the form of comedy in the popularpublic consciousness is the fusion of hedonism and the euphoria of aesthetic examination.It is also the union of modernism and post modernism. It demonstrates the necessity ofsocial development and the human spiritual needs, while at the same time, masks acultural crisis brought about by an excessive and blind pursuit for sensory enjoyment.However, a tenable path for comedy can be carved from the chaos through freedom asthe core of a rational ascension over the flare of the spirit.