Murder & Mayhem, no a laughing matter...or is it?
Murder and mayhem hardly seems to be the topic to evoke raucous humor. However, there are a surprising number of books, movies and television series that do just that. It’s not so much that murder is funny, per se. My angst-ridden sleuth, Jessica Huntington, rails against the cosmos about such evil deeds. More often than not the humor erupts when some poor schmuck stumbles upon a murder and has to figure out what happened. For whatever reason, many sleuths, amateur and professional alike, find that the path to unraveling life’s mysteries, especially when they involve murder, is fraught with irony and laugh out loud moments.
Mystery novels deemed cozy, or ‘blue skies’ mysteries, as the USA Network calls several of their offerings, probably best fit the mold of humorous sleuthing. Most notable was the USA network’s critically acclaimed series featuring Monk, the defective detective. So too, the team of deceptive detectives, from Psych, pretending to solve murders using psychic powers, are archetypes of sleuths in the murder-most-silly subgenre. Even the network’s spy thriller series, Burn Notice, and White Color, featuring FBI agents and a former con man investigating high-end murder and mayhem, bear the same lighthearted characteristics. Call it ‘murder and mayhem light’ or what the network regarded as their brand: “Aspirational, blue skies, upbeat, optimistic and character-driven” programming, featuring pretty people in lively, exotic settings. I think those are sentiments similarly evoked by my Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery series, although my heroine is more troubled by it all.
From lighthearted to darkly comic
In both film and print, humorous takes on murder and mayhem range from the most lighthearted farce to the darkly comic and even disturbing. I put Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum on the farcical end of the continuum, in print and film. In typical “Plum fun” fashion, a series of madcap episodes, punctuated by an occasional escapade in the boudoir with one of her sexy male sidekicks, ends in a flurry of revelation about murder most foul. More than a half a century ago, the terrific duo of Myrna Loy and William Powell romped across the screen. Bringing Dashiell Hammett’s Thin Man series to life, the films featured a lot of tipsy hijinks while the two romantically entangled sleuths went about the business of solving a murder. My favorite of the murderous farces has got to be Arsenic and Old Lace, featuring Cary Grant as the inadvertent amateur sleuth who stumbles upon the horrifying truth that there’s more than one serial killer among his kinfolk.
At the other extreme, on the darkly comic end of the continuum is another favorite, Blood Simple, a sardonic homage to film noir. That’s not surprising given that this film is the brainchild of the Coen Brothers who also gave us that darkly comedic mystery thriller, Fargo. At different points, along the comically macabre continuum, range the cinematic feature films brought to us courtesy of that master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. He not only had a good laugh about inserting himself into his films, making a cameo appearance in each of them, but he liked tweaking moviegoers in so many ways. That included scaring the living daylights out of us, of course, with memorable sequences including that famous bit in the shower from Psycho. Tame by today’s standards, it was terrifying in its day.
He also loved to tickle our funny bones. More “farce than fierce,” the most overtly comedic of his suspense films is The Trouble with Harry, based on a novel by Jack Trevor. The trouble with Harry is that he’s dead, and several members of the ensemble cast believe themselves to be the one whodunit. Easy to see how mayhem could ensue as residents of the quiet Vermont hamlet take turns trying to figure out how to solve the trouble with Harry by getting rid of the body. Harry turns up again and again in the oddest places.
Less farcical but still funny are moments in other Hitchcock films like those brought to us by Thelma Ritter in Rear Window. Cast as Stella, nurse to hobbled photographer Jeff Jeffries, they banter, cleverly, as the suspense grows, her voice drenched with sarcasm. Stella’s droll comments provide a cheeky counterweight to the mounting tension as Jeffries reveals his worst fears about what he’s seen from his rear window. That’s especially true as we watch Jeffries’ love interest, Lisa Carol Fremont played by Grace Kelly, step into the role of sleuth. As she’s about to be discovered by the suspected murderer, the moment is awash in suspense—a sarcastic witticism from Stella would be a welcome relief.
Light-hearted moments are evident in Hitchcock’s other films, too, like To Catch a Thief. The film features Cary Grant, cast as John Robie, a notorious jewel thief. The supposedly reformed thief finds himself a suspect, not only in a string of thefts, but murder. Mayhem ensues with the beguiling Grace Kelly, as Francie, pursuing John Robie with romantic intentions in mind. Her character introduces both levity and romance into the mix. Jessie Stevens, Francie’s mother, played by Jessie Royce Landis, is a hoot. She threatens to steal the show, at times, from the two more famous screen stars as they are all engaged in catching a thief and a murderer.
In North by Northwest, Cary Grant is cast, once again by Hitchcock, as the leading man. This time he portrays the hapless ad agency executive, Roger O. Thornhill. Like so many of Hitchcock’s protagonist’s, thanks to a case of mistaken identity, Thornhill becomes “the innocent caught in bizarre circumstances that he or she doesn't understand. The plot and its loopholes, however, provide the forum for the hero to do his or her 'stuff,' to demonstrate a charm and cleverness in getting out of tight spots.” Both wit and humor serve the Thornhill character well in his quest to disentangle himself from the fiasco in which he has become embroiled through no fault of his own.
Why do we laugh?
Okay, so why do we do it? Why do we create books and cinematic productions that blend humor with murder and mayhem? Why do read books or watch movies or TV series that evoke giggles, at a crime scene, when a sleuth tangles with a bad guy, or maybe even a grave site? It may have something to with the fact that most of us have experienced, albeit with far less drama, moments when we feel like Roger O. Thornhill.
We are suddenly cast in the part of the innocent caught in a bizarre circumstance that we don’t understand. Like finding ourselves, unceremoniously deposited on the ground after a slip and fall. Maybe it’s embarrassment or surprise, but once we figure out we’re not hurt we often laugh. Or, maybe it’s a car that won’t start when we’re on our way to an important meeting or to pick up the kids from school. It might even be something much bigger and more inexplicable, like an unexpected pregnancy or a pink slip telling us our job has been rendered redundant.
You know, what I’m talking about, right? One of those times when the world around us serves up a great bid dish of, say what? There may be a kind of a training aspect to reading about, or watching, annoying or even disastrous situations played out in print or on film, served up with a big dose of humor. We feel a giddy kind of relief as the hero demonstrates the ability to survive and get out of dire straits, making mental notes about how to face fearsome eventualities with aplomb.
Life changing events often present us with laugh-or-cry moments. At those points where the absurdity of the universe strikes without warning it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. We’re reminded, perhaps with a touch of irony or, in an out and out slapstick pratfall kind of way, that we’re not masters of the universe or our own fate, after all. Such circumstances evoke a host of strong emotions—sometimes, exasperation and hilarity are two sides of the same coin. And so we laugh.
Humor is certainly one way to make dark subjects lighter. Laughter relieves stress, releases all sorts of good, life-sustaining and enhancing chemicals and sends them surging through our bodies. Surgical room teams, who hold lives in the palms of their collective hands, often use humor to defray anxiety about a delicate procedure that’s about to begin or underway. Laughter sends a social signal that binds us together in stressful situations. We reassure each other that we’re okay when we have a hardy laugh after hitting a snag—even a substantial one. Laughter, while recalling the good times shared with a loved one who has passed on, is healing and allows us to bear up under the challenge of saying goodbye.
Walking the line between humor and suspense
I’m surprised how often even traditional, more buttoned-down books and movies about crime solving are filled with humor, often wry or even sarcastic in nature. Hercule Poirot is often a very funny guy—even though I’m not sure, from the point of view of the well-drawn character, he intends to be. Ms. Marple and Father Brown often provide us with a reason to snigger at a pompous member of the constabulary taken down a peg or two by the amateur’s witty repartee. Columbo uses humor to disarm, or otherwise deflect, a savvy opponent from understanding the seemingly buffoonish moves he makes until it’s too late. The culprit is nabbed, often “hoisted by his own petard,” so to speak. We may laugh at both of them—the irritating and ostensibly inept detective who seems to be bumbling about, and the flummoxed or irate suspect, suddenly unmasked.
One of the challenges as a mystery writer is how to balance humor, along with all the other emotions that ought to be evoked by a good tale of murder, mayhem and mystery. Where on the continuum from farce to fierce, lighthearted to darkly comic, do you want your story to reside? How do you decide such a thing? I suppose, to some extent, as a writer or reader, that’s a matter of taste.
What do you think? Do you prefer farce or fierce, or something in between, when it comes to choosing to read or watch a mystery series? Who do you think wields the funniest pen when it comes to laugh out loud moments of murder and mayhem?
******
Drop by and say hello at http://www.desertcitiesmystery.com
Why we laugh
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/h...
The Writers Making “Characters Welcome” at USA Network by Sandra Berg
http://www.wga.org/writtenby/writtenb...
What’s behind the USA Network’s ‘Blue-Skies’ Formula?
http://www.mediapost.com/publications...
The Trouble with Harry
http://humor.about.com/od/moviecommen...
See also: The Trouble with Harry in Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trou...
The 39 Steps by Deborah Holdstein
http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Th...
Mystery novels deemed cozy, or ‘blue skies’ mysteries, as the USA Network calls several of their offerings, probably best fit the mold of humorous sleuthing. Most notable was the USA network’s critically acclaimed series featuring Monk, the defective detective. So too, the team of deceptive detectives, from Psych, pretending to solve murders using psychic powers, are archetypes of sleuths in the murder-most-silly subgenre. Even the network’s spy thriller series, Burn Notice, and White Color, featuring FBI agents and a former con man investigating high-end murder and mayhem, bear the same lighthearted characteristics. Call it ‘murder and mayhem light’ or what the network regarded as their brand: “Aspirational, blue skies, upbeat, optimistic and character-driven” programming, featuring pretty people in lively, exotic settings. I think those are sentiments similarly evoked by my Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery series, although my heroine is more troubled by it all.
From lighthearted to darkly comic
In both film and print, humorous takes on murder and mayhem range from the most lighthearted farce to the darkly comic and even disturbing. I put Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum on the farcical end of the continuum, in print and film. In typical “Plum fun” fashion, a series of madcap episodes, punctuated by an occasional escapade in the boudoir with one of her sexy male sidekicks, ends in a flurry of revelation about murder most foul. More than a half a century ago, the terrific duo of Myrna Loy and William Powell romped across the screen. Bringing Dashiell Hammett’s Thin Man series to life, the films featured a lot of tipsy hijinks while the two romantically entangled sleuths went about the business of solving a murder. My favorite of the murderous farces has got to be Arsenic and Old Lace, featuring Cary Grant as the inadvertent amateur sleuth who stumbles upon the horrifying truth that there’s more than one serial killer among his kinfolk.
At the other extreme, on the darkly comic end of the continuum is another favorite, Blood Simple, a sardonic homage to film noir. That’s not surprising given that this film is the brainchild of the Coen Brothers who also gave us that darkly comedic mystery thriller, Fargo. At different points, along the comically macabre continuum, range the cinematic feature films brought to us courtesy of that master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. He not only had a good laugh about inserting himself into his films, making a cameo appearance in each of them, but he liked tweaking moviegoers in so many ways. That included scaring the living daylights out of us, of course, with memorable sequences including that famous bit in the shower from Psycho. Tame by today’s standards, it was terrifying in its day.
He also loved to tickle our funny bones. More “farce than fierce,” the most overtly comedic of his suspense films is The Trouble with Harry, based on a novel by Jack Trevor. The trouble with Harry is that he’s dead, and several members of the ensemble cast believe themselves to be the one whodunit. Easy to see how mayhem could ensue as residents of the quiet Vermont hamlet take turns trying to figure out how to solve the trouble with Harry by getting rid of the body. Harry turns up again and again in the oddest places.
Less farcical but still funny are moments in other Hitchcock films like those brought to us by Thelma Ritter in Rear Window. Cast as Stella, nurse to hobbled photographer Jeff Jeffries, they banter, cleverly, as the suspense grows, her voice drenched with sarcasm. Stella’s droll comments provide a cheeky counterweight to the mounting tension as Jeffries reveals his worst fears about what he’s seen from his rear window. That’s especially true as we watch Jeffries’ love interest, Lisa Carol Fremont played by Grace Kelly, step into the role of sleuth. As she’s about to be discovered by the suspected murderer, the moment is awash in suspense—a sarcastic witticism from Stella would be a welcome relief.
Light-hearted moments are evident in Hitchcock’s other films, too, like To Catch a Thief. The film features Cary Grant, cast as John Robie, a notorious jewel thief. The supposedly reformed thief finds himself a suspect, not only in a string of thefts, but murder. Mayhem ensues with the beguiling Grace Kelly, as Francie, pursuing John Robie with romantic intentions in mind. Her character introduces both levity and romance into the mix. Jessie Stevens, Francie’s mother, played by Jessie Royce Landis, is a hoot. She threatens to steal the show, at times, from the two more famous screen stars as they are all engaged in catching a thief and a murderer.
In North by Northwest, Cary Grant is cast, once again by Hitchcock, as the leading man. This time he portrays the hapless ad agency executive, Roger O. Thornhill. Like so many of Hitchcock’s protagonist’s, thanks to a case of mistaken identity, Thornhill becomes “the innocent caught in bizarre circumstances that he or she doesn't understand. The plot and its loopholes, however, provide the forum for the hero to do his or her 'stuff,' to demonstrate a charm and cleverness in getting out of tight spots.” Both wit and humor serve the Thornhill character well in his quest to disentangle himself from the fiasco in which he has become embroiled through no fault of his own.
Why do we laugh?
Okay, so why do we do it? Why do we create books and cinematic productions that blend humor with murder and mayhem? Why do read books or watch movies or TV series that evoke giggles, at a crime scene, when a sleuth tangles with a bad guy, or maybe even a grave site? It may have something to with the fact that most of us have experienced, albeit with far less drama, moments when we feel like Roger O. Thornhill.
We are suddenly cast in the part of the innocent caught in a bizarre circumstance that we don’t understand. Like finding ourselves, unceremoniously deposited on the ground after a slip and fall. Maybe it’s embarrassment or surprise, but once we figure out we’re not hurt we often laugh. Or, maybe it’s a car that won’t start when we’re on our way to an important meeting or to pick up the kids from school. It might even be something much bigger and more inexplicable, like an unexpected pregnancy or a pink slip telling us our job has been rendered redundant.
You know, what I’m talking about, right? One of those times when the world around us serves up a great bid dish of, say what? There may be a kind of a training aspect to reading about, or watching, annoying or even disastrous situations played out in print or on film, served up with a big dose of humor. We feel a giddy kind of relief as the hero demonstrates the ability to survive and get out of dire straits, making mental notes about how to face fearsome eventualities with aplomb.
Life changing events often present us with laugh-or-cry moments. At those points where the absurdity of the universe strikes without warning it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. We’re reminded, perhaps with a touch of irony or, in an out and out slapstick pratfall kind of way, that we’re not masters of the universe or our own fate, after all. Such circumstances evoke a host of strong emotions—sometimes, exasperation and hilarity are two sides of the same coin. And so we laugh.
Humor is certainly one way to make dark subjects lighter. Laughter relieves stress, releases all sorts of good, life-sustaining and enhancing chemicals and sends them surging through our bodies. Surgical room teams, who hold lives in the palms of their collective hands, often use humor to defray anxiety about a delicate procedure that’s about to begin or underway. Laughter sends a social signal that binds us together in stressful situations. We reassure each other that we’re okay when we have a hardy laugh after hitting a snag—even a substantial one. Laughter, while recalling the good times shared with a loved one who has passed on, is healing and allows us to bear up under the challenge of saying goodbye.
Walking the line between humor and suspense
I’m surprised how often even traditional, more buttoned-down books and movies about crime solving are filled with humor, often wry or even sarcastic in nature. Hercule Poirot is often a very funny guy—even though I’m not sure, from the point of view of the well-drawn character, he intends to be. Ms. Marple and Father Brown often provide us with a reason to snigger at a pompous member of the constabulary taken down a peg or two by the amateur’s witty repartee. Columbo uses humor to disarm, or otherwise deflect, a savvy opponent from understanding the seemingly buffoonish moves he makes until it’s too late. The culprit is nabbed, often “hoisted by his own petard,” so to speak. We may laugh at both of them—the irritating and ostensibly inept detective who seems to be bumbling about, and the flummoxed or irate suspect, suddenly unmasked.
One of the challenges as a mystery writer is how to balance humor, along with all the other emotions that ought to be evoked by a good tale of murder, mayhem and mystery. Where on the continuum from farce to fierce, lighthearted to darkly comic, do you want your story to reside? How do you decide such a thing? I suppose, to some extent, as a writer or reader, that’s a matter of taste.
What do you think? Do you prefer farce or fierce, or something in between, when it comes to choosing to read or watch a mystery series? Who do you think wields the funniest pen when it comes to laugh out loud moments of murder and mayhem?
******
Drop by and say hello at http://www.desertcitiesmystery.com
Why we laugh
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/h...
The Writers Making “Characters Welcome” at USA Network by Sandra Berg
http://www.wga.org/writtenby/writtenb...
What’s behind the USA Network’s ‘Blue-Skies’ Formula?
http://www.mediapost.com/publications...
The Trouble with Harry
http://humor.about.com/od/moviecommen...
See also: The Trouble with Harry in Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trou...
The 39 Steps by Deborah Holdstein
http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Th...
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