For Students
By the mid-20th century, film began to exceed theatre in its satirical ambitions, not least because the makers of movies exploded an ancient doctrine having to do with principles of decorum in the use of satire and ridicule. The English novelist Henry Fielding was reflecting centuries of tradition when, in the preface to Joseph Andrews (1742), he spoke of the inappropriateness of ridicule applied to black villainy or dire calamity: “What could exceed the absurdity of an Author, who should write the Comedy of Nero, with the merry Incident of ripping up his Mother’s Belly?” Given this point of view, ...(100 of 4607 words)
