Slapstick

20. Death Note (Shusuke Kaneto, 2006) Based on the homonymous manga by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, "Death Note" is the most commercially successful title of the list having spawned video games, light novels, an anime series, a two-part film, a spin-off movie, while a new film is scheduled to screen this October. This entry is for the first two films. The story follows Yagami Light, a student who discovers a notebook, that when someone writes a name of someone in it, this individual dies…

The nature of the humour and comedic styles of television situational comedies (sitcoms) has evolved from the start of TV to today largely due to censorship. Yet a consistent feature includes sitcoms reflecting how their writers and producers viewed their society at the time. Comparing and contrasting I Love Lucy (1951) with Seinfeld (1989) demonstrates that even as sitcoms evolve, they share the concepts of reflecting on the world around them, and the need for shows to make a profit. Both this…