從情景喜劇《破產(chǎn)姐妹》看美式幽默

1、American Humor from the American Sitcom 2 Broke Girls從情景喜劇破產(chǎn)姐妹看美式幽默摘要最近這幾年，影視文化在全球得到了飛速發(fā)展，對這方面的研究也越來越多。在眾多國家之中，美國在這方面的發(fā)展一直處于領(lǐng)先的地位，創(chuàng)作了各種各樣卓越的影視劇目，其中以情景類型的喜劇較為突出，這種類型的劇目依靠著劇中歡快的氛圍以及詼諧搞笑的肢體動作和話語的融合產(chǎn)生了別具一格的喜劇形式，即美式幽默。這種風(fēng)格在我們的日常生活中也較為常見，但是在這方面的問題仍待探索。因此，這種美式幽默的探索與當(dāng)?shù)氐陌l(fā)展與文化有著極其密切的聯(lián)系。本文先對美式幽默從何而來以及它的變化歷程與產(chǎn)生

2、的影響進行了研究，并提出自己的見解；然后，再以破產(chǎn)姐妹這種情景類型的喜劇作為典型案例，同時結(jié)合所學(xué)的理論知識以及所查閱的文獻資料等，進行分析和比較，以期能夠?qū)@一問題的研究有所幫助。AbstractIn recent years, film and television culture has developed rapidly all over the world, and more and more research has been done in this field. Among many countries, the United States has been in the le

3、ading position in this area, creating a variety of excellent film and television programs, of which situational comedy is more prominent. This type of drama relies on the happy atmosphere in the play and the combination of humorous body movements and words to produce a unique form of comedy, that is

4、, American humor. This style is more common in our daily life, but the problem in this respect still needs to be explored. Therefore, the exploration of American humor is closely related to local development and culture. This paper first studies the origin of American humor and its changing course a

5、nd influence, and puts forward its own opinions. Then, it takes the situational comedy Sisters in Bankruptcy as a typical case, and combines the theoretical knowledge learned and the literature consulted to analyze and compare, in order to be helpful to the study of this issue.xvii1. Introduction Di

6、fferent sitcoms have different forms of humor,Each type of sitcom has its own theme, some of which are technology-oriented, some of which are family-oriented. When studying this kind of drama, it is not difficult to find that the content of comedy comes from peoples life. So it ultimately symbolizes

7、 the American culture of humour. This paper takes the sitcom 2 Broke Girls as an example. Starr,a very famous person.He was founded in 1974 by the American Humor Research Association and has been publishing since 1982. He specializes in the humanistic study of American humor (loose definition), beca

8、use the universal ability of human humor is always expressed in the specific time, place and audience background that humanistic research methods strive to achieve. Address. These methods are now far beyond the scope of literary and film analysis, which used to be the core of American humor academic

9、s, and have now extended to a large number of critical, biographical, historical, theoretical, archival, ethnographic and digital studies of humor in performance and public life, as well as in print and other media. Staels expanded expert editorial board marks this growth. On behalf of the Editorial

10、 Board, I would like to invite scholars in the humanities field to submit their best works on the subject of American humor and to work with us to advance their knowledge in this field.1.1.Background of the Study2Broke Girls is the sitcom that premiered in CBS Broadcasting Inc in September 19, 2011.

11、 The play was adapted to Fort Williams, Brook forest region, New York. The play mainly describes the experiences of two distinct city girls. Caroline was rich, but Max was poor. Because of the contradiction with her family, Caroline was forced to go to Maxs restaurant to work to support herself.The

12、two of them discussed raising $250000 as capital to create a new business. Situational comedy won the 38th Best Comedy Award. Some newspapers in China call it one of the two best types of comedy on the Internet in 2011. It can be seen from it that this sitcom is also popular in China.1.2 Purposes of

13、 the Study In recent years, the worlds film and television culture has developed rapidly and exchanges have become increasingly close. As a country with advanced film and television technology and ideas, the United States has produced many excellent film and television works, especially American sit

14、com. It has formed a unique comedy style, relaxed atmosphere and humorous verbal action - American humor. This style also has a great impact on us, but the current research on it is not enough. Therefore, with the rapid development of American comedy culture, it is of great significance to study and

15、 discuss American humor in depth. This paper first analyses the origin, development, formation and influence of American humor, and puts forward its own views. Secondly, this paper chooses the famous American sitcom Sisters in Bankruptcy and uses case analysis and comparative analysis to illustrate

16、it with limited books, film and television works and related materials. It is hoped that the research on the theme of American Humor will be helpful.2. American situation comedyDifferent sitcoms have different ways in expressing humor, Situational comedies differ in their main content, with technolo

17、gy as the main part and family as the main part. Situational comedy is mainly about the presentation of everyday life.Therefore, This type of play symbolizes the American humorous culture. Here, we take “Sisters in Bankruptcy ”as an example to discuss.2.1 Brief Introduction to American Humor 2.1.1 D

18、efinitionHumor is a unique art, thoroughly integrated into peoples daily life. It plays a key role in the development of English culture. Although this kind of humorous culture is not very different in the world, as far as the United States is concerned, this kind of humorous art has its unique feat

19、ures. American humor can be understood as a kind of humorous art formed locally in the United States. Compared with other forms of humorous art in other countries and regions, the first appearance of humorous art in the United States is in literary works. Americans see Mark Twain as the pioneer of t

20、he local art of humour. American animation mainly focuses on criticism, humor and metaphor. Humorous cartoonists include Charles Schultz, Scott Adams, Jim Davis and Gary Larson. Comedy plays in the United States are full of all kinds of funny things, which make the audience laugh. These plays mainly

21、 consist of Despicable Me and Turbines. In TV series, there are also a lot of popular programs, such as Mr. Bean and the Big Bang Theory. Most of the humor in the United States comes from the local culture. It can be seen that the local humor is closely related to the local culture and the historica

22、l process. 2.1.2 OriginWith the development of new capitalism in North America, local social contradictions gradually emerged. A large number of local literary creators like to use various meaningful stories to present these social contradictions. These stories make people see the true meaning of li

23、fe. At that time, humor had been integrated into local literature, and a large number of literary creators, such as Allan Poe, O. Henry and Mark Twain, appeared. Around 1960, the local school of black humor literature used exaggerated forms to expose social contradictions and their impact on people.

24、 2.1.3 FormationThe United States is a country with many immigrants. From the seventeenth century till now, it has merged more than one hundred nationalities and received more than 50 million immigrants, ranking first in the world in terms of ethnic hybridity. All kinds of people live together. Most

25、 of them try their best not to be excluded from society and believe that they belong to the United States. However, there are still many people who can not change their living habits for the time being. Such a diverse culture offers opportunities for cultural innovation in the United States.Most sit

26、uational comedies in the United States involve many stars. For example, in The Big Bang Theory,this trait is well documented: they love to quote classic lines from Star Trek. They go to comic shops for a week and are keen on collecting animated souvenirs. This is a cultural phenomenon in every corne

27、r of the United States today.Art comes from life, higher than life. All kinds of movie elements are condensed from peoples daily events. So is sitcom. American sitcoms always use real stuff in everyday life as humorous material, even a dialogue between two children, or an interesting passenger expre

28、ssion. This makes it easier for people to understand and resonate with it.All kinds of contradictions play a great role in promoting the development of things. Situational comedies in the U.S. have one thing in common: everyone has a unique personality, and in one direction, they tend to have their

29、own extreme personality, but they can be balanced. In The Big Bang Theory, Sheldons first superstar, as far as the audience of the play is concerned, he has a serious and incredible side;and he has a serious and incredible side. American humor is a paradoxical reminder of how wonderful the world is

30、and how interesting and exciting it is for different kinds of people to live in it.2.2 Definition of American Situation ComedyDifferent sitcoms have different ways in expressing humor, because the themes of sitcoms are different, some of them mainly focus on family, while others mainly focus on tech

31、nology. The comedy content of situational type is mostly the presentation of daily events.Therefore, It represents the culture of humorous types in the United States. We can take “the bankruptcy sister” as an example.Situational comedies usually draw on life events and present a humorous comedy type

32、. Its debut appeared on the radio and later appeared on the TV. This type of comedy has its own specific stars and consists of multiple small stories around various themes, each of which takes place at a specific location. The comedy of the American scenario type is the earliest in the world. The co

33、medy of the scene type and the repertoire of the drama type are all in the form of serial dramas. As can be seen from the above, the type of comedy has an important position for American programs. The comedy of the US scenario type contains a large number of themes. Most of these themes show people

34、various social phenomena.The type of drama is developed by radio dramas. The worlds first scene type comedy was Mary Kay and Johnny in 1947. In 1951, I love Lucys scene-type comedy caused a craze in the United States. In the following time, the scene type comedy developed an ironic style. The theme

35、of the comedy was adjusted for the childrens preferences, and a long repertoire was added to it. Sitcom has become one of the three major TV dramas with its unique narrative technique, with the family, office and other ordinary life scenes as the background, and with laughter as the characteristic.

36、Its more flexible in form and richer in content, and now popular comedies include community comedy, Two Broken Girls and Modern Family, which all use the above techniques. It is believed that in the future, American sitcoms will use more humorous techniques to develop.3.American Humor in 2 Broke Gir

37、ls Situational comedies differ in their main content, with technology as the main part and family as the main part. Situational comedy is mainly about the presentation of everyday life.Therefore,This type of play symbolizes the American humorous culture. This paper takes the sitcom 2 Broke Girls as

38、an example.3.1 Brief Introduction in 2 Broke Girls2Broke Girls is the sitcom that premiered in CBS Broadcasting Inc in September 19, 2011. The play was adapted to Fort Williams, Brook forest region, New York. The play mainly describes the experiences of two distinct city girls. Caroline was rich, bu

39、t Max was poor. Because of the contradiction with her family, Caroline was forced to go to Maxs restaurant to work to support herself. The two of them discussed raising $250000 as capital to create a new business. Situational comedy won the 38th Best Comedy Award. Some newspapers in China call it on

40、e of the two best types of comedy on the Internet in 2011.3.2 Analysis of Linguistic Humor in 2 Broke Girls This TV play is a situational type of drama, which shows the story fragments occurring in several specific places, most of the interesting scenes are through dialogue. So there are a lot of la

41、ughs in their words. This part analyzes the linguistic expression of humor in 2 Broke Girls. 3.2.1 Rhetoric It means to present another object or story through one object or story. The tenor and the bodywork appear in the same sentence. Its form is similar to that of Chinese. In the fourth episode,

42、Caroline said, What would I do if I didnt have my protective gear? My teeth dont know where to go. Max said, Well, maybe they should carry backpacks for several years. Here, they use metaphors to compare teeth to a person. Caroline had a problem with her teeth. She was afraid that her teeth would be

43、 out of place, but she said, My teeth dont know where to go. Max added that her teeth may be traveling. Its interesting and brings a sense of humor. In Episode 10, Caroline was very enthusiastic and talked too much. Max said, Oh my God, youre like a Christmas Monkey. She sees it as a Christmas monke

44、y.She uses metaphors to produce interesting results. In the twentieth play, Caroline said to her, Although your wallet is clean and my wallet is messy, after spending two weeks studying your wallet schedule, my wallet will kick your wallet in a mess. Next, Caroline wanted to know how clean Maxs wall

45、et was, but Max didnt want her to know. Caroline said,Max, you see, theres no comparison here. Here, they use metaphors to create humorous effects. The second one is metonymy. Metonymy borrows one thing rather than another. Metonymy is generally similar to revelation in that it uses a small event to

46、 reflect a big situation and visualize specific sentences. Generally speaking, metonymy is a kind of substitution by borrowing relevant people or things instead of directly speaking about people or things. In the fourth episode, Caroline calls Marx the perfect tooth. She also contacted Max by teleph

47、one, perfect teeth with her own characteristics. So here she uses metonymy to bring humor. The third is metaphor. There are some similarities between metaphor and Chinese metaphors. In other words, metaphor can arouse the listeners resonance by integrating the intended message into what the listener

48、 knows. In general, movies and TV series are good at using some allusions to present the story. However, this way of expression also has great limitations. This kind of humor can only be understood by those who understand the essence of metaphor. The tenth episode is the night before Christmas. Han

49、walked into the door with a smile on his face and said, Good night, go home safe and sound. Then he saw that he had two things left behind, and he said, Maybe I shouldnt say that to the homeless. He implied that there was no place for people to go, but he did not say it directly. The story made the

50、audience laugh. The third one is exaggeration. English hyperbole has the same characteristics as Chinese hyperbole. In order to make the performance effective, the events in reality may be exaggerated or reduced to make the audience feel humorous. In Episode 5, Caroline says, Ive been using gray hai

51、r as my hair root. She used exaggerated language to express how poor she was. She lacks even the money to dye her hair. Here, exaggerated creative techniques are used. In episode 21, Caroline sees how messy Maxs wallet is. She says Maxs wallet is a nursing home, stuck to the lives of the elderly for

52、 a pair of underwear. Of course, Maxs wallet is not that messy, no matter how messy it is. Caroline showed her Maxs wallet in an exaggerated way. Having the humorous effect. The fourth one is Pun. Just like some grammatical forms in Chinese, they contain two meanings in one sentence or word. One sur

53、face, one hint and one hint are the main meanings. The perfect use of puns allows us to see more interesting expressions. However, it also brings some difficulties in translation. Through what method can make the sentence or the meaning of the word correct translation, is a big difficulty. In Episod

54、e 14, Caroline shouts, Max, come out! Max said, If I come out, its not for you, but for the girl with the Dragon tattoo. On the one hand, the word out means going out of a place, on the other hand, it means that someone will become homosexual. Therefore, one word in Maxs mouth, its a double meaning,

55、 one that shes going to look for the dragon tattoo and the other that shes going to fall in love with that girl. This is called pun. In Episode 17, cooking utensils are like Sophie,When he saw Sophie there accompanied by his new boyfriend, he said to Max, Sorry, I cant see straight lines. Max said,

56、Well, I look at him and I cant see straight lines either. There are two meanings of straight line. One is used to describe things that do not bend, the other is us. Imply that someone is gay. Here, Max uses puns to bring humor. In the twentieth episode, the two heroines go to the dustbin to find the

57、ir tax returns.Caroline says, Max, I cant. If I go there, Im really white trash. On the one hand, she laughs at what she used to call white garbage. On the other hand, She said she fell into a white trash can and made it look dirty, much like them. There is a double meaning here. In the twentieth ep

58、isode, the two heroines go to the dustbin to find their tax returns.Caroline says, Max, I cant. If I go there, Im really white trash. On the one hand, she laughs at what she used to call white garbage. On the other hand, She said she fell into a white trash can and made it look dirty, much like them

59、. There is a double meaning here. The fifth one is Inversion. In everyday life, he says, people have to have a certain standard - cooperation - in order for business to work. Strict implementation of these standards can ensure smooth communication between the two sides. A sense of humor can develop if a person fails to adhere to this standard.