Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2014 February 26

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February 26

Lysistrata

Lysistrata is said to be a sex comedy. I never got the humor in this play. Where is the humor? Is the humor lost in the translation of the text to English? Or is the definition for "comedy" in ancient Greek times not supposed to provoke laughter at all, and my former professor merely mentioned the word "sex comedy" to excite the students? 140.254.227.124 (talk) 16:06, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

Much of humor is going to be contextual, and since you lack the context (that is, you aren't living in 4th century BC Greece) it may not make much sense to you. That being said, the play is plainly comedic in nature, given the general subject matter. A one line synopsis of the play may be "Women are tired of their men fighting so much, so they decide to withhold sex from them until they stop. Hilarity ensues." The very concept itself is comedic, even if the individual jokes and punchlines don't make sense in the 21st century. --Jayron32 17:23, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

On the subject of context, the article on Lysistrata includes a list of local identities and issues that the original audience would have known, knowledge of which would probably explain some of the jokes. A modern production should translate these people and places into their modern local equivalents (e.g. in a UK production, Cleisthenes (son of Sibyrtius) might become Julian Clary, Aeschylus might become Shakespeare, Artemisia I of Caria might become Margaret Thatcher, and so on). However, some of the comedy is timeless: the scene with Kinesias and Myrrhine would drop neatly into any modern sex comedy, and the scene featuring a messenger with a barely-concealed erection is the father of probably a hundred similar scenes in bawdy comedies and farces over the last two thousand years. RomanSpa (talk) 12:45, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

I saw this in college by a company that had had a huge hit with Hair. Lysistrata was a flop. I suspect it was a problem both of the language (word play almost never translates) and of the context as mentioned. I am a huge fan of Shakespeare, but I have never yet enjoyed or even laughed at one of his comedies, and language is not the issue there--it's a lack of common expectations. Have no idea what sort of source to give on this though. μηδείς (talk) 18:21, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

It is unfortunate if you can't find a laugh or two in The Comedy of Errors :-) . I have enjoyed several versions (live and recorded) but the juggling one performed by The Flying Karamazov Brothers is a joy. It was shown on the PBS anthology series Live from Lincoln Center back in 1987. Sadly, rights fees have prevented a DVD release. There are clips on youtube if you are interested. MarnetteD | Talk 18:34, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

What, not even in Midsummer Night's Dream? I saw that at the Globe and laughed my arse off! Fgf10 (talk) 19:12, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, there are a few segments of the CoE at youtube, but it's just not my style. I really don't care for clowning and insult comedy. I could and do watch his tragedies very regularly, and keep trying the comedies, but it just doesn't "translate". And no, not MND neither. I wish I could, since I get such pleasure from his other works. μηδείς (talk) 19:15, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

No problemo. Now Mister Magoo had a sweet version of MND - hmm I am old enough that it might be the first S that I saw. MarnetteD | Talk 19:20, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

Comedy is so contextual that it rarely survives in time and space. Movies that were funny to me 50 years ago, no longer make me laugh. Things said in England, rarely got a laugh in Spain, and vice versa. This is so well known that it should really be an explanation of this in History of Comedy. The changing attitudes to many things should be explained in a number of history articles that seem to me very anglocentric. I am anglocentric myself, but I have lived in different countries. Star Lord - 星王 (talk) 00:00, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

I didn't expect that kind of Spanish inquisition. --Error (talk) 21:50, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

The exceptions being Pingu, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Arsenic and Old Lace. μηδείς (talk) 01:40, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

Love Crazy (1941) is a favorite of mine. —Tamfang (talk) 08:43, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, User:Tamfang, the plot summary looks great, and I was going to mention, and will now, since the topic is screwball, His Girl Friday. μηδείς (talk) 20:30, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

Framing an innocent bystander for felony, among other efforts to manipulate one's crush, is not funny to me. (See also Bringing Up Baby.) —Tamfang (talk) 08:44, 28 February 2014 (UTC)

• Back to Greek comedy, the word comedy itself is of uncertain origin, probably "revel song" or "village song" The main classical distinction seems to be it was a comedy for Greeks and Romans if, as opposed to the case of tragedy, it had a happy ending. The idea of the goal of comedies as evoking laughter seems to have developed in the middle ages. Lysistrata came across to me as a satire in which the Greek jokes if they existed didn't translate. Having the cast wear dildoes seemed to be an ultimately failed conceit. μηδείς (talk) 20:30, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

The Birds and The Frogs are quite funny still, I thought. Adam Bishop (talk) 12:59, 28 February 2014 (UTC)

Does anyone know the name of a 1970s sci-fi movie about women taking over and banning men?

I'm trying to remember the details of a cheesy sci-fi movie I saw years ago, probably from the 1970s, possibly with subtitles. I think it was Ukrainian or Russian, but I could be completely wrong. In the story two men somehow got frozen or maybe time-travelled into the future to find no men left, just women, who had mechanised childbirth and only allowed female babies. They then discovered that the leader was actually secretly a man (in pretty bad drag as I recall), and with him conspired to have male babies produced. It was pretty awful, but I wanted to find proof that I didn't hallucinate it! Any ideas? Thanks for any suggestions!Snorgle (talk) 19:53, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

Sexmission. --Viennese Waltz 20:54, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

That's it! Thanks for finding it - I was out on the year and the country! Snorgle (talk) 20:33, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

If you liked that you may like Zardoz. μηδείς (talk) 21:08, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

I've seen that - Sean Connery in leather was interesting, and it was worth watching once, just about! ;)Snorgle (talk) 20:33, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

Can you imagine the budget had they waxed? I am old enough to have forgotten enough to have watched it twice. I have it in my queue for 2027. μηδείς (talk) 21:29, 27 February 2014 (UTC)