A goofy protagonist in an uber-normal world. A comedy of errors that snowballs and heightens. A man who’s just trying to get his rug back. These are all examples of the comedic sub-genre “farce”, but what is farce within the world of narrative storytelling? In this article, we’re going to define farce within movies, TV and literature as well as provide a brief overview for how it’s evolved over time.
FARCE DEFINITION
First, let’s define farce
Does farce only appear in comedy? Is it most often seen in movies? Is it a sub-genre that’s more archaic or are there modern examples we can point to that utilizes farce? Before we dive in too deep, let’s start at the beginning with a farce definition, laying out its most common characteristics.
FARCE MEANING
What is farce?
Farce is a narrative work that often features a character engaging with increasingly absurd environments and situations. Often, these characters struggle to escape or restore normalcy, usually only making their situation more fraught for comedic effect. Common terms associated with farce are “buffoonery” and “horseplay”, linking the sub-genre to similar tropes like “slapstick” and “satire”. What distinguishes farce is the improbability of its plot, typically the result of a character making one wrong choice that spirals out of control. Another characteristic of farce is the broadness of its comedy style, favoring outlandish and unrealistic characters and scenarios.
FARCE EXAMPLES:
- Ben Stiller’s Meet the Parents.
- The Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup.
- William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.
- Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid.
- John Hughes’ Home Alone.
WHAT DOES FARCE MEAN
A brief look into the history of farce.
Farce can be traced back as far as the Ancient Greece comedies, but the version we recognize today really came to prominence through the works of William Shakespeare. Within comedies like As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Taming of the Shrew, audiences soon became familiar with the tropes of a simple character’s “want” quickly spiraling out of their control.
In the infancy of silent cinema, farce was a reliable comedic style since it often employs physical comedy to emphasize a character in over their head. When the Marx Brothers started making films in the 1930’s, most of their plots were centered around the farcical “comedy of manners” with themselves as the main characters playing “outsider” to a usually buttoned-up and prim high society. In these instances, we often see the trope of farce where absurd characters infiltrate a seemingly normal world, ratcheting up the action and stakes in improbable ways, like the clip below from Duck Soup.
Farcical movies like “Duck Soup” explore absurd outsider characters infiltrating a normal world.
FARCE VS. SATIRE
The difference between farce and satire.
What is farce? And how is it similar and different from satire? Both farce and satire share characteristics like exaggerated characters, wit, and irony to execute its comedy. However, satire differs from farce through its common intention with its comedic message. Within satires, absurd characters and scenarios are often highlighted through the piece to ridicule bad behavior, abuses, or follies. It’s not uncommon to find satires mimicking political trends, stories, or tragedies; utilizing its comedy to say something greater about society and culture at large. Farce differs in typically keeping its improbable plots contained within the fictional world of the piece, and usually relies more heavily on physical humor to communicate its jokes.
YouTuber Augmented Actor explores farce vs. satire.
FARCICAL MOVIES AND TV
What are examples of farce in movies and TV?
Farce may only seem like it’s from a bygone era– but in a lot of ways, it’s never fully left the comedy genre. As previously mentioned, the silent movie era was a prime time for this comedy sub-genre with stars like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton structuring their entire careers around farcical plots that allowed them to stumble and pratfall their way to ever-heightening finales. In the 1970’s, we saw a clear resurgence of the comedic style through the works of comedy troupes like Monty Python, who utilized farce in their classic film Monty Python and the Holy Grail as well as Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, to name a few.
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail” is a strong farce example in movies.
Farce would see another clear boom in the 1990’s with performers like Robin Williams and Jim Carrey employing their physical talent to craft outsized characters and lean into the more “slapstick” side of the farce comedy. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is a strong farce example, where Carrey plays an absurd character dismantling the seriousness of a police investigation through his idiosyncratic methods and unique POV. In the 1996 film The Birdcage (an adaptation of the classic staged farce La Cage Aux Folles), Williams and Nathan Lane are both on the spectrum of the classic farce example of “the buffoon”, playing outsider to a buttoned-up world. The Birdcage is a strong example of a classic farce trope of an innocent lie spinning out of control for comedic effect. In this case, it’s Williams and Lane pretending to be straight-heterosexual parents to their son as they meet his fiance’s family for the first time.
“The Birdcage” is a farce example that employs a simple lie spinning out of control.
FARCE EXAMPLES
What is farce in literature?
Another strong farce example exists within literature and plays. Similar to farce in movies and TV, farce in literature employs absurd plots, extravagant characters, and overblown scenarios for maximum comedic effect. Modern examples of this farce comedy can be seen within the works of British playwright Noël Coward and American playwright Terrence McNally. In McNally’s It’s Only a Play we see the tropes of farce explode through the horrific opening night for a harried theater company.
Most recently, The Play That Goes Wrong has been reviving the loudest and most physical aspects of the farce comedy through its depiction of a fictional theater company attempting to put on a “Whodunit” play with every possible thing that could go awry erupting in the actor’s faces. Since its debut on Broadway in 2012, a “spin-off” has been jettisoned borrowing the similar style in Peter Pan Goes Wrong, which follows another fictional theater company putting on the classic J.M. Barrie show, now littered with errors.
In “The Play That Goes Wrong” tests the most physical limits of what is farce.
Up Next
What is a dramedy in TV and film?
Now that you’ve mastered the definition of farce, let’s move onto other sub-genres of comedy. Within the sub-genre of dramedy, we find equal parts comedy and tragedy as storytellers explore the human condition in a variety of unconventional ways. Read our article detailing the definition of this narrative style below.
