Introduction
Although Attach the Block and Bad Teacher stand out as remarkable comedies evoking a substantial amount of humor, they are of different genres. Attach the Block is a science fiction horror comedy while Bad Teacher is a drama comedy. As Hüsken, Schoell and Søndergaard (7-123) show, all comedies maintainto universal comical elements that make up a comedy.
However, when it comes to genres, comedies with different genres exhibit different elements of comedies that set them apart. In this regard, based on comical elements in comedies, this essay seeks to examine the similarities and the differences present in both comedies by comparing and contrasting the comic elements present.
The Farce Comic Element In Both Comedies
Evidently, both comedies contain the farce, the most common comic element where broad improbable, extravagant and satirical situations are present. In the Bad Teacher, Elizabeth’s character exhibits improbable and satirical situations that stand out as comical. As a teacher, Elizabeth drugs herself with alcohol and marijuana until she passes out in the classroom.
At a scene, when all students get an F, she throws the tests at them. Any reasonable teacher cannot do these extravagant, improbable and satirical actions in school. In Attack the block, an improbably and satirical situation is eminent when a small creature attacks one of the teen gang, Moses, as he searches valuables in a car. In addition, the teen gang kills the creature and seeks advice from a drug dealer in the hope that they will gain profit and fame.
Blue Versus Black Humor
The key contrast between the two comedies is that when The Bad Teacher exhibits blue humor, sexual, immoral or profane situations, the Attack the block exhibits Black humor, farcical elements such as death to evoke humor. In Bad Teacher, blue humor is present in the entire comedy. In a scene where Elizabeth impersonates a journalist, Elizabeth lures Carl to his office so that they can have sex, but drugs him so that she can steal a test that will enable her to win a bonus and get money to enlarge her breasts.
From the onset of the Attack, the block comedy, black humor is eminent as the teen gang fights with the aliens and evades the police. In a scene, as the teens flee to their flat, aliens attack them. The aliens maul one of the casts’ legs, Pest while Biggz, another character is forced to seek solace inside a rubbish container.
Conclusion
Conspicuously, in reference to universal comical elements present in comedies, both comedies exhibit the Farce comic element. However, considering that both comedies are of different genres, they exhibit a substantial difference in reference to the comic humor used. Attach the Block is full of dark humor. Manifestly, humor is evoked as the teen-gang fights the aliens and evades the police. On the other hand, The Bad Teacher is full of blue humor where Elizabeth’s sexual innuendos and immorality evoke humor.
Works Cited
Attach the Block. Joe Cornish. Per. Jodie Whittaker, John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Franz Drameh, Leeon Jones, Simon Howard, Luke Treadaway, Jumayn Hunter and Nick Frost. Optimum Releasing, 2011. Film.
Bad Teacher. Dir. Jake Kasdan. Perf. Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Lucy Punch and Jason Segel. Columbia Pictures, 2011. Film.
Hüsken, Wim N. M. Konrad Schoell and Leif Søndergaard. Farce and Farcical Elements. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2002. Print.