Chapter 46

In this chapter, Aristotle's ideas about tragedy and comedy are discussed. According to Aristotle, art should be seen as an imitation of life, this is known as the mimetic theory of art and states that art imitates reality. Art imitates "men in action", and these men are either "high types", whose actions are portrayed in tragedies, or "low types", whose actions are portrayed in comedies. The debate in this chapter deals with the effects of televised violence on an audience. One side argues that televised violence leads to antisocial behavior and imitation of this violence. The other side of the argument believes that this televised violence "purges" the audience of these hostile feelings of emotion, thus leading to less violence. This is what is known as the catharsis theory. According to different research, televised violence does lead to increased violence, though it sometimes takes years for it to manifest within a person and not all people are affected by it. Later in the chapter, there is a comparison of tragedy and comedy. Tragedy contains men higher than ordinary, a higher status, determinism, high seriousness, pessimism, pain and catharsis. A comedy contains men lower than ordinary, a lower status, freedom, not serious at all, optimism, pleasure and cathexis. Cathexis is a release of pent up energy that is a celebration, while catharsis deals with the experience of deep emotions in the tragic fate of heroes and heroins.