Kayla Pollio, Period 7, 10/24/2023

 Kayla Pollio

Period 7

Oct. 24, 2023

“The difference between comedy and horror is the music.” -Jordan Peele

Although comedies and horror/tragedy are two of the most distinct genres of media out there, this quote is true in a way: the only difference between them is the way we perceive them. It’s got a great deal to do with how they’re presented to us, of course, but as the reader, our interpretation of a text has just as great an impact on its meaning as the content of the text itself does.

Around a week ago, an animated pilot was released on YouTube by the name of “The Amazing Digital Circus”, a “psychological dark comedy” about a colorful group of characters trapped in a virtual world. Typically, I’m not into psychological thrillers/horror shows—I prefer light-hearted comedy stuff—but my friend recommended it to me, and as soon as I started watching, the animation style and character designs (and the humor!) drew me in. By the end of the weekend, I had rewatched the 25-minute pilot in full at least three times.

All the character designs are based off of toys and other things typically found in a playroom, including a ragdoll, plastic chattering teeth, and a king from a chess set. There was one character in particular that stood out to me who goes by the name of Gangle. She’s made of ribbon, and her face is represented by a pair of classic drama masks (the comedy and tragedy masks that are commonly used symbols of theater as a whole, and are also attributed to Dionysus). However, barely a minute into the pilot, someone bumps into Gangle and her comedy mask breaks, leaving her with only the tragedy mask. Because of this, throughout the episode, she’s constantly on the verge of tears, and even is referred to as “crybaby” by another character. While Gangle is crying over the destruction of her comedy mask, something amusing happens: another character walks past and steps on it seemingly without even knowing, shattering it even more. Gangle is equally shattered and is seen breaking down further into tears, but the camera doesn’t even focus on her—it’s clear that this was only done for comic relief; the audience was meant to laugh at this interaction. Simply put, Gangle’s tearfulness is treated as no more than a running gag throughout the pilot.

I interpreted this to mean that there’s essentially no difference between tragedy and comedy—just the label you use, as represented by Gangle’s masks. Her masks are the lenses she uses to see the world in different lights, just like the critical theories we learned about in class. This is specifically an example of reader-response theory; the masks representing different possible interpretations that a reader could have to a text. Every person has a different response to a given piece of media, and their interpretation adds just as much meaning to the text as the actual content of the text provides.

While Gangle still had her comedy mask, she was cheerful and smiley, despite being trapped for eternity in a virtual world with no hope of getting out, every day forced to take part in the leader’s absurd adventures as the threat of “abstracting” (going insane from the endless pursuit of an escape) grows harder to ignore. But once she lost the comedy mask, she saw everything in a completely different way: every challenge seemed insurmountable, every plot development was the worst-case scenario. I thought it was fascinating how they used the drama masks to represent this, suggesting that when it comes to situations that you have no control over, the only thing you can do is choose whether you want to perceive it in a positive or a negative light.

Returning to the original quote: the difference between seeing an experience as a comedy or a tragedy is simply the way you interpret it.

Works Cited:

Gooseworx. (2023, October 13). The Amazing Digital Circus: Pilot. YouTube. https://youtu.be/HwAPLk_sQ3w 

Noah, T. (2022, November 11). Jordan Peele - “Quiet part loud” & “nope”: The daily show. YouTube. https://youtu.be/WJDV7D6Swq4 

Staff, O. B. (2020, June 21). The origins of the comedy and Tragedy Masks of Theatre. https://www.onstageblog.com/editorials/comedy-and-tragedy-masks-of-theatre#:~:text=People%20often%20relate%20the%20masks,two%2Dfaced%20god%20of%20beginnings.