Since the beginnings of cinema, movies made audiences laugh, and comedy is still the most prevalent film genre around the world.  What were the earliest movie comedies like, and has film comedy gotten more “sophisticated”?  Is comedy universal (does everyone laugh at the same things)? What lies beneath laughter—what does it mean for something to be funny?  What forms of the comic lend themselves particularly well to movies? Do great movie clowns (e.g, Charlie Chaplin, Mae West, and Jim Carrey), or great comedy directors, have anything in common?  This quarter, Comparative Literature 303 investigates film comedy from these various perspectives, based on films ranging historically from 1895 to 1999, and on readings from film critics, psychologists, and philosophers. 

Students who complete this course will have a good working knowledge of American film comedy—its history, its status as a genre, its social and psychological functions, and some of its landmark films and creators.  Through readings, writing assignments, and lecture-discussions, students will also become conversant in a few key theories of comedy, and begin to consider them in the context of films.