Screening:
MW, 12:30-2:50
Class:
TTh, 12:30-1:50
Room:
Thompson 101
Instructors
Claudia
Gorbman
Padelford
A-504
543-2288
Hours:
W, 10:30-12:30
Kimberlee
Gillis-Bridges
Padelford
A-16
543-4892
Hours:
TTh, 11:30-12:30
Last Updated:
5/3/00
Comments
or queries
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Week I
March 27 – March 30
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Topics: Introduction;
traditions of comedy, sight gags and slapstick; Chaplin and Keaton
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Films: Early
comic shorts (1895-1915) Sherlock Jr. (Keaton, 1924), Kid Auto
Races at Venice (Chaplin, 1914), The Pawnshop (Chaplin, 1916),
excerpts from The Gold Rush (Chaplin, 1925) and Modern Times
(Chaplin, 1936)
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Reading: Belton,
“American Comedy”
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Due: Response
due Wednesday March 29
Week II
April 3 - April 6
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Topics: The silent
clowns; Keaton, Lloyd
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Films: The General
(Keaton, 1927), Safety Last (Lloyd, 1923)
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Reading: Carroll,
“Notes on the Sight Gag”' Robinson, “Comedy”
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Due: Response
due Wednesday April 5
Week III
April 10 – April 13
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Topics: Early sound
comedy; dialogue, the voice, and physical comedy; pre-Code comedians: WC
Fields, Marx Brothers, and Mae West
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Films: The
Dentist (1932) and/or The Barber Shop (1933), excerpt from I’m
No Angel (Ruggles, 1933), Duck Soup (McCarey, 1933)
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Reading: Mast,
“The Clown Tradition”
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Due: Draft of paper
#1 due April 14
Week IV
April 17 – April 20
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Topics: The Production
Code; Screwball comedy; Bergson’s theories of the comic
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Films: Bringing
up Baby (Hawks, 1938), It Happened One Night (Capra, 1934)
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Reading: The Production
Code; Bergson, from Laughter
Week V
April 24 – April 27
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Topic: Director:
Preston Sturges
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Films: Sullivan’s
Travels (Sturges, 1942), The Lady Eve (Sturges, 1941)
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Reading: Levowitz,
“Smiles and Laughter: Neurologic, Developmental, andPsychodynamic Considerations”
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Due: Final version
of paper
#1 due April 24
Week VI
May 1 – May 4
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Topics: Director:
Billy Wilder; Chuckling in Vienna: Freud on jokes, humor, and the comic
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Films: Some Like
It Hot (Wilder, 1959), Annie Hall (Allen, 1977)
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Reading: Grotjahn,
“Sigmund Freud and the Psychoanalysis of Jokes”
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Test: Midterm
May 2
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Due: Response
due May 4
Week VII
May 8 – May 11
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Topic: Director:
Woody Allen
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Special Performance:
Won Israel appears May 8
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Film: Bullets
Over Broadway (Allen, 1994)
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Reading: Yacowar,
“Annie Hall”
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Due: Response
due May 10
Week VIII
May 15 – May 18
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Topic: Comedian
comedy in the 80s and 90s; Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, Robin Williams
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Films: All of
Me (Reiner, 1984), Mrs. Doubtfire (Columbus, 1993), excerpts
from Carrey films
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Reading: Freud,
from Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious
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Due: First
draft of paper
#2 due May 19
Week IX
May 22 – May 25
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Topic: Postmodern
comedy
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Film: Being
John Malkovitch
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Reading: TBA
Week X May
30 – June 1 (Note: no class Memorial Day holiday, Monday May 29)
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Topic: Limits
of comedy? The Holocaust
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Films: Life Is
Beautiful (Benigni, 1998); excerpts from The Great Dictator
(Chaplin, 1940), To Be or Not To Be (Lubitsch, 1942), and To
Be or Not To Be (A. Johnson/Mel Brooks, 1983)
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Reading: Viano,
“Life Is Beautiful: Reception, Allegory, and Holocaust Laughter”
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Due: Final version
of paper
#2 due May 31
Final Examination:
Thursday June 8, 8:30-10:20 a.m.
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