Greek old and new comedies compared to contemporary comedy

Read the overview of Ancient Greek Comedy below and respond to the Essay Prompt at the bottom. The evolution of Comedy is much simpler than that of its sister art, Tragedy; in regard to Comedy's origin and early development there is little exact information. All that Aristotle can tell us is that it first took shape in Megaris and Sicyon, whose people were noted for their coarse humor and sense of the ludicrous. Susarion, the earliest comic poet, was a native of a Megarian town. Comedy, likewise, arose from the Phallic processions of the Greeks, as tragedy had from the dithyramb (dance and chants). At country festivals held in celebration of the wine, it was the custom for people to pass from village to village, some in carts, uttering the vile jests and abuse, others on foot, holding up the Phallic emblem and praising Phales, the comrade of Bacchus. In cities it was also the custom, after an evening banquet, for young men to roam around the streets with torches in their hands, headed by a lyre or flute-player. Such a band of revellers was called a comus, and a member of the band a comoedus or comus-singer, the song itself being termed a comoedia, or comedy, just as a song of satyrs was named a tragoedia, or tragedy. The Phallic processions were continued as late as the days of Aristotle, and we learn from one of the orations of Demosthenes that the riotous youths who infested the streets of Athens delighted in their comic buffooneries. At Athens during the time of Pericles, for it furnished these comic "critics" with a safe venue and convenient means of attacking their political opponents. For Plato comedy is defined as the generic name for all exhibitions which have a tendency to excite laughter. Though its development was mainly due to the political and social conditions of Athens, it finally held up the mirror to all that was characteristic of Athenian life. Ancient Greek comedy has traditionally been divided into--Old, Middle and New Comedy. Old Comedy, dating from the establishment of democracy by Pericles, about 450 B.C., arose, as we have seen, from the coarse jests of Dionysian (wine god) revellers, and then given a political application. In outward form these comedies were exaggerated, abusive and personal. Regardless of word, subject, action, or directness of insult, no restriction was applied. The satire and abuse were directed against some object of popular dislike, to whom were applied such names as coward, fool and knave, and was represented as saying and doing everything that was contemptible, as suffering everything that was ludicrous or degrading. With such vulgarity of content and form, the comic dramatist who would gain a hearing in Athens had to borrow from tragedy all its most attractive features, its choral dances, its masked actors, its metres, its scenery and stage mechanism, and the Attic language. Comedy began to present a more refined wit in dialogue and a poetic beauty in the choral parts worthy of the best efforts of the tragic playwrights. Comedy, thus, rose to become a branch of the drama (Tragedy/Comedy). Thus, also, it became a powerful engine in the hands of a skillful and unscrupulous person/politician. Here are a few excerpts from Aristophanes's "The Clouds" where he ridicules Socrates and his philosophy: "That house is a Thinkery (referring to the Academy) for clever souls. / Some gentlemen live there who argue that the sky / is a casserole-cover—and make us all believe it— / and that it covers us all, and we're charcoal briquets. / These people train you, if you pay them money, to win any argument, whether it's right or wrong." (94-98) and "PUPIL: But the other day he lost a great idea because of a lizard. STREPSIADES: Really? Please tell me how. PUPIL: He was studying the tracks of the lunar orbit / and its revolutions, and as he skyward gaped, / from the roof in darkness a lizard shit on him." (167-174) New Comedy lasted throughout the reign of the Macedonian rulers, ending about 260 B.C. It is best know through Latin adaptations by Plautus and Terence than in the few Greek fragments that have come down to us. New Comedy focused more on the plot of the play and often employed recurring stock characters such as cooks, soldiers, pimps, and the cunning slave. Love becomes the principal focus in the drama, but it is seldom an "honest" love. The Chorus becomes less important to the plot, (providing only musical interludes between acts) and plays seem to settle on an established five act structure. Another difference is that there seem to be fewer personal attacks (or is that only the impression given by having too few sources to compare with?) which may be due to legislation made specifically to curb this practice. The subject of New Comedy was more concerned with fictional everyday people and their relations with family, other classes, and foreigners. Essay Prompt: Considering the qualities of the two kids of Comedy above--Old Comedy-more topical, about real people, satiric--New Comedy--plot based stories about love, fictional families and people, relationship obstacles, discuss and demonstrate through specific examples how contemporary American comedy is similar and/or different from Greek Old and New Comedy?