Tomorrow is a latter day

When an average person thinks of a comedy nowadays, the first thing to pop in their head is Seth Rogan or Kevin Heart on the big screen in crazy situations. But comedies are more than just gags, and slapstick humor. The original definition of comedy by Aristotle is the rise in fortune of a sympathetic character; in addition to satire that calls out the institution that was originally holding the character down. Now the average reader might be thinking," who the F*** cares if it follows those rules or not, as long as it’s funny why does it matter? “Well the truth is that Aristotle comedy's still hold a big part in our society about how we perceive institutions.

For instance the 2012 Broadway hit “The Book of Mormon" is a comedy that makes fun of all religion, but specifically Mormonism. The Book of Mormon is definitely not the first long form comedy that comes to mind, nor really the best to right about in its offensive nature, but it really does fulfill the definitions of a comedy and alters our ideas of the Mormon church. First the "Book of Mormon" fits into Aristotle definition of a comedy because it takes two average people, Arnold Cunningham, and Kevin Price, both who are new and don't stand out in there missionary field. The show puts them in a dictator ruled village of Africa, and they succeed under the odds, and convert and save the whole village, and addition to that Arnold begins a relationship.

The satire of the institutions which keep both of the main characters down is what makes this truly funny, and question the institutions. For example in a couple of the song musical skits they poke fun at the church, this one being in the song “All American Prophet”: 

[ELDER PRICE] And God said
"Joe, people really need to know
That the Bible isn't two parts
There's a Part Three to the Bible, Joe
And I, God, have anointed you
To dig up this Part Three
That is buried by the tree
On the hill in your backyard!"
[ELDER CUNNINGHAM]
Wow, God says go to your backyard and start digging - that makes perfect sense!

Then in the song “I Believe” the musical pokes fun at the beliefs of Mormonism:

I believe that the Lord God created the universe
I believe that he sent his only son to die for my sins
And I believe that ancient Jews built boats and sailed to America
I am a Mormon!
And a Mormon just believes

Overall the Musical has you question the beliefs, of Mormonism and religion in general, which all together fits into Aristotle’s definition of a comedy, and allows one to interpret their own thoughts on the institution.