From the French farce (and this, in turn, from the Latin farcire ), a farce is a comic piece, usually quite brief, whose sole purpose is to make the audience laugh. In ancient times, the term was used to refer to all kinds of comedy.
The aforementioned Latin word farcire means “to fill in”, a verb that refers to the custom of using farces as comic interludes within dramas.
Today, it is known as farce to the company of fakers (that is, the theater companies dedicated to the genre) and, in a derogatory way, to the dramatic work that is grotesque and untidy.
The meaning of farce as a theatrical genre is to reveal certain norms and demonstrate their quality as fatwas. This style is usually used to criticize the way in which human beings live, expressing different positions around social organization and the impositions that individuals strictly follow and that ultimately will not lead them anywhere.
Although it is a non-realistic genre, it is strictly related to reality, it needs it, social life, relationships between human beings, religious and ideological positions and the psychology of the time and place which it represents. It receives feedback from these things, analyzes them and allows us to reach a ridiculous conclusion of reality, but not because of that, far-fetched. It is a way of unmasking everything that may be misleading or that may have a double interpretation.
Farces arose in medieval times, when the dominant theatrical genres were mysteries and moralities. This almost marginal birth made them, for a long time, associated with the most humble sectors of society. Furthermore, as they emerged as a form of rejection of religious mandates, they were not well regarded by those who rigorously followed the laws imposed by the Church.
Characters that are part of a charade act outlandishly while maintaining credibility and credibility. The plot of these works tries to show reality in a very exaggerated way. This makes the farces can make a social criticism from humor.
Generally a farce makes fun of popular beliefs and tries to manifest itself as a mirror of society, making a fool of those things that are not commendable and using the collective imagination for this. It is usually understood by extremely extravagant situations, full of comedy and buffoonery and above all, with a very unrefined use of language.
Another of its characteristics is that it has an open or happy ending, it never ends in tragedy like the other works, and it serves so that the public can laugh at itself and the limitations that its own reality has.
Some examples of works of this genre could be certain plays for children full of mischief, some films by Charles Chaplin, the Cuban Bufo Theater and the absurd theater.
Finally, beyond the world of theater, a farce is any mess or plot that tries to deceive someone. For example: "When I was a child, my family set up a farce so that I would not realize that the canary had died" , "The life of public figures is a farce, they must always pretend something that, in reality, they are not" , "Let's end the farce and speak the truth . "