Maria Holic 01-02 – Schadenfreude
Posted by DKellis in first impressions, tags: for once the trap does not interest me, maria holic
There is, apparently, a saying that Comedy is Tragedy plus Time. I first heard it among my friends in the US, and it seemed like some sort of quote or well-known aphorism which I had not hitherto encountered. Like all generalizations there are exceptions, but it does explain the accusation of "too soon".
Personal observation, however, has more or less convinced me of a more accurate version: Comedy is Tragedy happening to someone else.
I'm not entirely sure what to think about Maria Holic. The entire premise appears to be an invitation for the audience to witness all the myriad ways in which Kanako is tormented psychologically and occasionally physically by Maria (or Mariya, as some romanizations have it). And this is okay, because of Kanako's reactions: she goes on extended rants and whines about how Maria is being such a meanie, as well as pretty much everything else that pops into her mind at the moment. These rants are delivered rapid-fire, replete with metaphors and similes that don't quite end up as they're supposed to. And then Maria does the pretty-sparklies thing, and Kanako is instantly won over again.
With so many comedy aspects, it's hard to honestly feel bad for the character being thusly abused. One gets the feeling that the victim is not being serious, and that it's okay to laugh along.
I fear a later mood crash, and the subsequent feeling that I am a horrible, horrible person for even thinking that another person's misfortune (however fictional) is in any way amusing.
On a tangent, there's an odd bit of background music in episode two, before the (maid guitar) opening animation, where the dorm leader girl is talking about food. The music in that scene reminds me so much of "Korobeiniki" (aka The Tetris Type A Song) that I suspect it is a pastiche or homage of some sort. For, and this is Studio SHAFT we're talking about, no discernable reason.
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Your observation falls in line with what I've heard as well. As Mel Brooks said, "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die."
No discernable reason indeed. I've always thought it was okay to laugh at the show though; maybe that's just a statement made for my own convenience, but it doesn't seem like the kind of thing you should take too seriously. Which is good, because sadistic traps are rarely realistic (as far as I know).
Northrop Frye propounded the theory that comedy is tragedy plus time — I don't know, though, if it was an aphorism and he just adopted it to explain his theory, or if it comes from his work. Specifically it referred to myth cycles, that only end in tragedy if you stop telling the story before the cycle completes itself, like how most people tell the story of Prometheus as a tragedy, but eventually Hercules frees him.
Also, I'll have to check out the possible Tetris music. I have to wonder if it's really no reason, though, with the 8-bit ED. Or if they have a big, series-wide no-reason-gaming-reference (like a no-life-king, but blockier).