By Stephen Langford
Gerald Mast, an American film historian and theorist, played a vital role in bringing scholarly attention to comedy as a serious and complex cinematic genre. Through his writings—including *The Comic Mind: Comedy and the Movies*—Mast analyzed comedy not as a lesser form, but as a genre with deep roots in narrative, character, and social structure.
Mast distinguished between various comic modes: farce, satire, romantic comedy, slapstick, and parody. He emphasized that comic forms are not merely about provoking laughter, but about confronting absurdity, exposing contradictions, and restoring social order through chaos and misrule. In his view, comedy is both playful and critical—both escapist and subversive.
He traced the lineage of cinematic comedy from silent-era slapstick to verbal wit in classical Hollywood, analyzing figures like Chaplin, Keaton, Lubitsch, and Wilder. Mast was particularly interested in how comedic structures rely on timing, reversal, repetition, and incongruity—elements that also define genre conventions more broadly.
His work helped elevate comedy to the same analytical level as drama or tragedy, arguing that its emotional and intellectual effects are no less profound. In genre theory, Mast's insights invite us to take comedy seriously—not despite its lightness, but because of the complex cultural work it performs through form, rhythm, and character archetypes.
Today, Mast’s framework continues to influence studies of comic subgenres, from screwball to mockumentary, and his recognition of comedy’s philosophical depth remains central to genre scholarship.
Source: Gerald Mast, The Comic Mind: Comedy and the Movies; essays on film genre and narrative.