Blackadder

Blackadder

How is humour created and employed in episode 6 of Blackadder goes forth?

The media release thousands of programmes every day each with their own type to be placed within. Humour is just one of the many types of program there are and many people have the stereotypical view that a comedy has to be full of laughs. The comedy I will be looking at is Blackadder goes forth.

Humour must rely on several things, one of the most important things is the time of making if it is about a sensitive subject, as for example Blackadder goes forth clearly shows you the scenario is the First World War. If a program like this was released at to early a time after the event it could really devastate the lives of some of the people who were traumatized by that event.

Blackadder is mainly all 'black humour' as it takes subjects that are usually approached in a more serious manner and makes jokes out of them. Even with the intent of humour and comedy for the audience's entertainment there are still subtle additions that bring the fact of the suffering they went through to life. Even in the title of the episode it is shown as "Goodbyeee" if someone looks at this in another way they see someone saying goodbye and getting shot therefore creating the reason why it has been so subtly titled. The whole subject is made to be comical but there are many factual references like Captain Blackadder says "soon to be fine bodies of men" showing the fact that the battle of the Somme was a complete massacre. Apart from 'black humour' there are three main types of humour in Blackadder goes forth there are: -

Character interactions;

Visual/physical humour;

Verbal humour.

Character interaction is an important part of the humour in Blackadder. All of the characters maintain their statuses throughout the series. Baldrick is always the poor man who is shown as the dregs of society, George who was raised in a wealthy family who went to public school and joined the army with a group of Tiddlywinkers from Cambridge, and Blackadder as a middle-class man who is always sarcastic and appears to have the only brains out of the three of them. This has brought the audience to expect the same things from the characters, like Baldricks constant cunning plans which aren't always as cunning as he thinks. This makes the audience laugh because as soon as Private Baldrick says I have a cunning plan the audience know that there is going to be another plan with absolutely no chance of working. The expectations are soon broken as Baldrick makes a plan worth hearing "Well, why don't you phone field marshal Haig, sir, and ask him to get you out of here." This event goes hand in hand with the episode as it becomes increasingly obvious that things are going to end. The social classes are outlined as well when George and Baldrick mention their friends- George has friends who are human, although strangely named, and of high standing. Baldrick on the other hand is mourning over the death of a spider, bird and worm as his friends. Another noticeable thing about the social upbringings are the way they talk, George speaks like a walking propaganda, very posh, this shows that the government were successful in pulling the wool over peoples eyes and making them think they were winning, as George says "It's Ice cream in Berlin in 15 days" this tone relates to another character, General Melchett.

This quotation also brings us on to another point which is the food crisis that went on in the trenches this is made comical in the case of Private Baldricks coffee- which is in actual fact hot mud (they ran out of coffee thirteen months ago) with sugar substitute (which is in fact dandruff, they ran out of sugar new years eve 1915) and milk (saliva). The food shortage was in fact very serious as supplies would often take days or even weeks to reach the front line from the back and months to deliver. The situation was so bad that soldiers resorted to making soups out of weeds e.g. dandelions, nettles.

They also mention war poetry; any soldiers turned to this as they could write down their true feelings about the war and their experiences, two famous war poets are Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. Baldrick makes a very poor attempt at poetry with his masterpiece: Boom Boom Boom Boom / Boom Boom Boom / Boom Boom Boom Boom / Boom Boom Boom.

There are also many other types of humour such as visual humour such as when Baldrick is polishing his boots with an alarmingly large rat. This might not be instantly noticed but when it is noticed it is funny as it is so casually put into the scene. Another example of visual humour is when George offers Baldrick a cigarette and he eats it- this again shows his lack of knowledge and lower class. While this is happening Blackadder and George are speaking which makes it amusing as such a strange thing can be ignored so easily. The whole situation is made funny by the audience's expectations of what Baldrick would do with the cigarette they would assume that even someone with as low a social life as he has would know what to do with a cigarette.

Another example of visual humour is when General Melchett hits Baldrick;

Melchett: Do you love your country?

Baldrick: Certainly do sir

Melchett: And do you love your king?

Baldrick: Certainly don't sir

Melchett: And why not?

Baldrick: My mom told me never to trust men with beards, sir.

Melchett: (laughs) excellent native cockney wit (hits Baldrick in the face; Baldrick falls over)

This amount of violence is so spontaneous, the situation is also made funnier by the fact that the conversation continues and no-one acknowledges Baldrick this again shows his low social standing.

There is also verbal humour throughout Blackadder as with when General Melchett comments on Blackadder's troops of being "a fine body of men";

Melchett: Well fine body of men you've