"Comedies and Cartoons"

[The Wise One]

"Comedy can deal with the bitterest realities, the most cruel
facts. It can tackle the most vital problems. Beaumarchais' Mariage de
Figaro was revolutionary in spirit. It was the first outcry against
aristocracy and caused a severe tremor in the eighteenth century. Yet
it was a comedy because, as Figaro himself said, he had to laugh to keep
himself from crying. Among the Japanese it is held a virtue to laugh
when receiving bad news, thus avoiding an unseemly display of emotion.
All over the world people use humour as a shield against grief. Only
comedies can fight against injustice and at the same time elude the
censor. In fun we can get nearer to human understanding, nearer to
final truth than in all seriousness."

-- Alberto Cavalcanti
"Comedies and Cartoons", in Footnotes to The Film, 1938