A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art (such as a novel, play, or film).^[1] Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr, it dates from the Restoration,^[2] although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749.^[3][4] From this, the sense of "a part played by an actor" developed.^[4] Character, particularly when enacted by an actor in the theatre or cinema, involves "the illusion of being a human person."^[5] In literature, characters guide readers through their stories, helping them to understand plots and ponder themes.^[6] Since the end of the 18th century, the phrase "in character" has been used to describe an effective impersonation by an actor.^[4] Since the 19th century, the art of creating characters, as practised by actors or writers, has been called characterisation.^[4]

A character who stands as a representative of a particular class or group of people is known as a type.^[7] Types include both stock characters and those that are more fully individualised.^[7] The characters in Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (1891) and August Strindberg's Miss Julie (1888), for example, are representative of specific positions in the social relations of class and gender, such that the conflicts between the characters reveal ideological conflicts.^[8]

The study of a character requires an analysis of its relations with all of the other characters in the work.^[9] The individual status of a character is defined through the network of oppositions (proairetic, pragmatic, linguistic, proxemic) that it forms with the other characters.^[10] The relation between characters and the action of the story shifts historically, often miming shifts in society and its ideas about human individuality, self-determination, and the social order.^[11]

Classical analysis of character[link]

In the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory, Poetics (c. 335 BCE), the Greek philosopher Aristotle deduces that character (ethos) is one of six qualitative parts of Athenian tragedy and one of the three objects that it represents (1450a12).^[12] He understands character not to denote a fictional person, but the quality of the person acting in the story and reacting to its situations (1450a5).^[13] He defines character as "that which reveals decision, of whatever sort" (1450b8).^[13] It is possible, therefore, to have tragedies that do not contain "characters" in Aristotle's sense of the word, since character makes the ethical dispositions of those performing the action of the story clear.^[14] Aristotle argues for the primacy of plot (mythos) over character (ethos).^[15] He writes:

In the Poetics, Aristotle also introduced the influential tripartite division of characters in superior to the audience, inferior, or at the same level.^[17][18] In the Tractatus coislinianus (which may or may not be by Aristotle), comedy is defined as involving three types of characters: the buffoon (bômolochus), the ironist (eirôn) and the imposter or boaster (alazôn).^[19] All three are central to Aristophanes' "Old comedy."^[20]

By the time the Roman playwright Plautus wrote his plays, the use of characters to define dramatic genres was well established.^[21] His Amphitryon begins with a prologue in which the speaker Mercury claims that since the play contains kings and gods, it cannot be a comedy and must be a tragicomedy.^[22] Like much Roman comedy, it is probably translated from an earlier Greek original, most commonly held to be Philemon's Long Night, or Rhinthon's Amphitryon, both now lost.^[23]

Types of characters[link]

Round vs. flat[link]

In his book Aspects of the novel, E. M. Forster defined two basic types of characters, their qualities, functions, and importance for the development of the novel: flat characters and round characters.^[24] Flat characters are two-dimensional, in that they are relatively uncomplicated and do not change throughout the course of a work. By contrast, round characters are complex and undergo development, sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

Bo Burnham
Burnham performing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, March 19, 2009 (2009-03-19).
Background information
Birth name	Robert Burnham
Born	(1990-08-21) August 21, 1990 (age 21)
Origin	Hamilton, Massachusetts, USA
Genres	Comedy, satire[1]
Occupations	Singer–songwriter, actor, rapper, comedian[2]
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, electric piano, ukulele[3]
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Comedy Central Records
Website	BoBurnham.com

Robert "Bo" Burnham (born August 21, 1990 (1990-08-21))^[4][5] is an American comedian, singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and Internet celebrity. Writing comedic and satirical songs with a politically incorrect slant, he achieved fame when his YouTube videos took off and received more than 70 million views by October 2010.^[2] Comedy Central Records released his first EP (Bo Fo Sho, June 2008) and his first two full-length albums (Bo Burnham in March 2009 and Words Words Words in October 2010). On January 29, 2011, it was announced that Burnham finished #1 overall in voting in 2011's Comedy Central Stand-up Showdown.^[6]

Personal life[link]

Bo Burnham was born the youngest of three on August 21, 1990 to Patricia and Scott Burnham.^[1][7]

In February 2008, Patricia was a staff nurse at Burnham's school, and Scott owned a North Shore, Massachusetts construction company. Their two older children, Pete and Samm, were concurrently enrolled in their third and second years at Cornell University and Suffolk Law School, respectively.^[1]

Burnham attended the all-boys' Catholic high school, St. John's Preparatory School in Danvers, Massachusetts, where he was on the school honor roll and was involved in theatre and the campus ministry program. The school's assistant principal, Wendy Olson, remarked in a February 2008 interview that while "[t]he Bo on YouTube is not the Bo we see around here, [...] no one at St. John's is surprised at his creativity or that he's pursuing his dream, which is to make a name for himself." Burnham graduated from St. John's in Spring 2008.^[1][7]

Burnham applied to New York University (NYU), University of Southern California (USC), and Yale University,^[1] and was accepted to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.^[8] Although expected to begin attending in Autumn 2008,^[9] he deferred his enrollment for a year to focus on his burgeoning media career.^[4][10] Burnham later related that his first year on tour while friends had gone to college made him "[want] to fucking die. I'd be on the road, in South Dakota, looking on Facebook at all my friends at parties."^[11]

As of August 2010^[update], Burnham was reported to be dating a girl from "a nearby suburban town".^[12] Subsequently, in an interview conducted at the 2011 Cat Laughs Comedy Festival in Kilkenny, Burnham revealed that he has a "girlfriend of five years".^[13]

Home-grown music[link]

Burnham was performing skits ("Bo Shows") in his home by age three, and grew up listening to boomer-generation comedians like George Carlin and Richard Pryor.^[1]

As detailed by Burnham himself, 2006 was the beginning of what would become his musical comedy career. Rehearsing a play at St. John's that summer, Burnham began writing songs about teenage angst and debuting them to his fellow high school thespians. He then videotaped himself performing two songs and posted them to the video-sharing website YouTube in December 2006,^[9] so that his older brother Pete could watch them from college. While response to his videos on YouTube ("My Whole Family... " and "My 'little' secret...") was initially unexceptional, when they were copied to Break.com they became an overnight sensation, with traffic to his videos multiplying over 111 times.^[1]

Accompanying himself on guitar or electric piano, Burnham continued to release self-described "pubescent musical comedy"^[9] songs and videos online as his fame and recognition grew. Described by The Boston Globe's Joseph P. Kahn as "simultaneously wholesome and disturbing, intimate in a folksy-creepy sort of way," Burnham wrote and released R-rated songs about white supremacy, Helen Keller's disabilities, homosexuality, and more.^[1] All of Burnham's home-released videos were self-recorded in and around his family's home in Hamilton, Massachusetts, most in his bedroom. Occasionally jokingly addressing his audience in his videos, ("Hello, Internet pedophiles,") Burnham rarely changes expression or camera angle while performing—simply setting the video camera on a stack of books.^[1][7] Speaking with The A.V. Club in 2009, Burnham expressed his intent to give his productions a "do-it-yourself [feel], almost like voyeurism".^[14]

In Autumn 2007, Douglas Edley, a talent agent from The Gersh Agency,^[15] had Burnham recommended to him by his assistant. The next day Edley called Burnham and told him: "I gotta represent you." Said Edley in a February 2008 telephone interview: "He's definitely the youngest comedian I've worked with - he was getting ready for his SATs when I called - but the quality of his writing is amazing."^[1] It was this call from Edley—whom Burnham had initially thought to be "a very advanced Internet predator"—that was Burnham's wake-up call as to his potential professional success.^[10] In addition to Burnham, Edley also represents several top-tier comedians, including Drew Carey and Dave Chappelle.^[1]

Career[link]

Represented by Douglas Edley, Burnham recorded a performance in London for Comedy Central's The World Stands Up in January 2008 (aired June 30, 2008 (2008-06-30)),^[1][15] and signed a four-record deal with Comedy Central Records.^[16] Comedy Central Records released Burnham's first EP, the six-song Bo Fo Sho, as an online release-only album on June 17, 2008 (2008-06-17).^[8][9] Burnham's first full album, the self-titled Bo Burnham, was released by Comedy Central Records on March 10, 2009 (2009-03-10).^[17]

Burnham has performed his music in the United States, including Cobb's Comedy Club, YouTube Live in San Francisco,^[10] Caroline's Comedy Club in New York City,^[8] and internationally in London and Montreal. In August 2010, Burnham was nominated for "Best Comedy Show" at the 2010 Edinburgh Comedy Awards—"the world’s most prestigious comedy prize" with a £10,000 cash prize—after his inaugural performance (of Bo Burnham: Words, Words, Words) at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.^[18] He was instead awarded the "Panel Prize"—carrying a £5,000 prize—for "the show or act who has most captured the comedy spirit of the 2010 Fringe." ^[19][20]

Compared to Ben Folds, Eminem, and Andrew Dice Clay, Burnham's music and performances tackle such taboo subjects as race, gender, human sexuality, and sex.^[21] Burnham describes his on-stage persona as a "more arrogant, stuck-up version [of] himself."^[22] When speaking with The Detroit News about his rapping, he expressed his intent to honor and respect the perspective and culture of hip-hop music.^[2]

Uphill[link]

As Burnham progressed through his initial popularity to more mainstream audiences and venues, he received pushback from fellow comics who viewed his ascension via YouTube popularity as illegitimate.^[11]

Burnham's first experience with controversy regarding his music came on March 3, 2009 (2009-03-03), when fifteen Westminster College students (members of the campus' Gay-Straight Alliance, Black Students Association, International Club, and Cultural Diversity Organization) protested his concert there that evening. Of the controversy, he said, "It's so ironic because gay bashers were the ones labeling me in high school, [...] I try and write satire that’s well-intentioned. But those intentions have to be hidden. It can't be completely clear and that’s what makes it comedy." The Columbia Daily Tribune related that at the end of his Westminster performance, Burnham was approached by a paraplegic fan. While Burnham was plainly uncomfortable and nervous, given that his music mocks the handicapped, the young fan instead related a blonde joke to the teenaged musician. Despite the college's admission that they had booked Burnham while ignorant of his content, dean of students John Comerford praised the opportunities for discourse the controversy brought the school.^[21][23]

Tours[link]

• Fake I.D. – Autumn 2009^[24][25]
• Bo Burnham and (No) Friends – Autumn 2010^[26]
• Bo Burnham Live (UK Tour) – June 2011^[27]

Film[link]

While performing at the Montreal Just for Laughs festival in 2008,^[8] Burnham met with the award-winning director and producer Judd Apatow. That September, Burnham negotiated with Universal Pictures to write and create the music for an Apatow-produced comedy film which he describes as the "anti-High School Musical",^[7][28] although Burnham insists the script isn't a parody of the Disney musicals, but an attempt to emulate the high school he attended. Hoping to star in the film he's writing, Burnham told Wired magazine that he's naming the star "Bo" in a "not-so-subtle hint [he] want[s] to be in it".^[29] In a March 2009 (2009-03) interview with Boston's Weekly Dig, Burnham elaborated on his work with the film. When he isn't performing, Burnham spends eight hours a day writing the music, and his nights writing the script, of which he's finished the first draft.^[30] Co-writing the screenplay with Burnham is his high school friend Luke Liacos.^[12] Burnham explained the script-writing opportunity is a boon to his comedy career, as the comedian had been having complications with censors and learning that his material wasn't well-suited to television. "It would work much better in a 90-minute format."^[29] In August 2010, Burnham told The Guardian that his script had been submitted.^[11] In an October 2010 interview with MTV, Burnham admitted that he doesn't know anything about the future of the project, and that it's all effectively up in the air as far as he knew.^[31]

In May 2009 (2009-05), viral marketing began appearing for Funny People, in which Burnham stars in a NBC sitcom called Yo Teach!. In the "promo", Burnham stars opposite Jason Schwartzman, as a student in the latter's English class.^[32]

On May 21, 2010, Burnham taped his first one-hour stand-up special entitled Words Words Words for Comedy Central from the House of Blues in Boston as part of the network's new "House of Comedy" series of stand-up specials.^[33][34] The special aired on Comedy Central on October 16, 2010. It was released on October 18, 2010.^[35][36]

Television[link]

On September 7, 2010, Variety magazine reported that MTV had ordered a half-hour long television "put pilot" from Burnham "about a kid fresh out of high school who's pursing [sic] the new American dream of being a celebrity without having any talent." Burnham will write and executive produce alongside Dan Lagana, Luke Liacos, and Dave Becky.^[37][38]

Awards[link]

At the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, he was nominated for the main Edinburgh Comedy Award and won both the Edinburgh Comedy Awards' panel prize and the Malcolm Hardee 'Act Most Likely to Win a Million Quid' Award.^[39]

Performance credits[link]

Discography[link]

• Bo Fo Sho (2008), Comedy Central Records – Released as an online-only EP^[8][9]
• Bo Burnham (2009), Comedy Central Records – Double-disc set containing the Compact Disc album, and a DVD with his Comedy Central Presents special, all of his YouTube videos, and other performances^[17]
• Words Words Words (2010), Comedy Central Records – A live performance paralleling the one hour special of the same name, also includes two studio tracks, "Words Words Words" and "Oh Bo".^[40]

Filmography[link]

• Comedy Central Presents (March 27, 2009 (2009-03-27)), Himself^[21] – As of July 2009^[update], Burnham is the youngest comedian to be featured thereon^[41]
• American Virgin (2009)^[42]
• Funny People (2009) – Yo Teach! Cast Member^[42]
• Bo Burnham: Words, Words, Words (2010) – Himself^[33]
• Hall Pass (2011) – Bartender^[43]
• Sin Bin (2012) – Villainous student liaison^[44]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bo Burnham

• Official website
• Bo Burnham at Comedy Central
• Bo Burnham's channel on YouTube
• Bo Burnham at the Internet Movie Database

Look up bad news in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Bad news may refer to:

• Bad News, a spoof rock band
  • Bad News (Bad News album), 1987 album by Bad News
• Bad News (Ligeia album), the second album by Massachusetts' metalcore band Ligeia
• "Bad News", a song by Johnny Cash from the I Walk the Line album
• Bad News (magazine), a comics magazine published in the early 1980s by Fantagraphics
• Bad News (How I Met Your Mother)

See also[link]

• Good news (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012)

"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.^[1]

History[link]

The earliest recorded use^{[citation needed]} of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." ^{[2][dubious – discuss]} In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.

It was also used as a term for a drug dealer in the 1950s and 1960s and can be seen in such media as Curtis Mayfield's "No Thing On Me", William Burroughs's novel Naked Lunch, and in the Velvet Underground song "I'm Waiting for the Man", in which Lou Reed sings about going to Uptown Manhattan, specifically Lexington Avenue and 125th Street, to buy heroin.

The use of this term was expanded to counterculture groups and their battles against authority, such as the Yippies, which, according to a May 19, 1969 article in U.S. News and World Report, had the "avowed aim ... to destroy 'The Man', their term for the present system of government". The term eventually found its way into humorous usage, such as in a December 1979 motorcycle ad from the magazine Easyriders which featured the tagline, "California residents: Add 6% sales tax for The Man."

In present day, the phrase has been popularized in commercials and cinema, featuring particularly prominently as a recurring motif in the 2003 film School of Rock.^[3][4][5][6]

Use as praise[link]

The term has also been used as an approbation or form of praise. This may refer to the recipient's status as the leader or authority within a particular context, or it might be assumed to be a shortened form of a phrase like "He is the man (who is in charge)." One example of this usage dates to 1879 when Otto von Bismarck commented, referring to Benjamin Disraeli's pre-eminent position at the Congress of Berlin, "The old Jew, he is the man."^{[7][dubious – discuss]}

In more modern usage, it can be a superlative compliment ("you da man!") indicating that the subject is currently standing out amongst his peers even though they have no special designation or rank, such as a basketball player who is performing better than the other players on the court. It can also be used as a genuine compliment with an implied, slightly exaggerated or sarcastic tone, usually indicating that the person has indeed impressed the speaker but by doing something relatively trivial.

See also[link]

• Absentee landlord
• Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
• New World Order (conspiracy theory)
• Ruling class
• The Establishment
• Power elite
• Corrections officer
• YTMND

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Lighter, J.E. (Ed.). (1997). Random House Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Random House.