INTRO: For your
final exam, instead of giving you a comprehensive test over the various plays
and authors we’ve read in class, I want you to apply your knowledge to a more
modern branch of drama. As we’ve seen, even the most popular drama becomes
dated when the allusions, genres, and characters fall out of fashion. To
understand what made audiences laugh in ages past, it requires a bit of
scholarly translation via footnotes and other editorial comments to help us
“see” this world as clearly as the groundlings. However, the same will be true
of our own entertainment. In one or two hundred years, students will dread
taking Introduction to 20th Century Sitcoms since the language is “so
hard,” and the situations “totally confusing.” The writers of Seinfeld or
Friends could be seen as modern-day Shakespeares and Middletons, their
scripts lovingly preserved in the pages of Penguin Classics and the subject of
learned dissertations.
ASSIGNMENT (Part
1): to help future scholars appreciate the comedy of yesteryear, I want you to
pick a short scene from a relatively recent comedic television show or movie
(from the past 20 years at least, but the more recent the better) and add at
least 3-4 double spaced pages of footnotes to it (consider those you see in
Middleton’s books, or our Shakespeare and Marlowe volumes). These footnotes
should gloss phrases that might not survive the ages, or allusions to other
cultural practices or examples of popular culture. Try to imagine the ‘head
scratching’ moments that your great-grandchildren will have when reading or
watching this show. What knowledge is required to make the scene funny—to help
people laugh? Remember, comedy is often entirely situational: if you don’t get
the allusions and the references, the jokes simply aren’t funny.
ASSIGNMENT (Part
2): Additionally, I want you to add a 2-3 page double spaced introduction to
your footnotes, explaining the cultural significance of this show/movie to its
period. Why did people like it? Who watched it? Why did it matter? What made it
“great”? Help future audiences understand its place in the literary firmament. Why
are the writers of this show/film the next generation of Shakespeare, Marlowe,
and Middleton?
REQUIREMENTS
- 3-4 pages of footnotes and 2-3 pages
of Introduction
- Quote examples from the show/movie
in your footnotes so we can understand what you’re glossing. Try to help
your future audience as much as possible get the jokes/references.
- Have fun! Look at the footnotes in
our Penguin and Folger books and try to write accordingly. Write about
popular culture seriously.
- DUE ON OUR FINAL EXAM
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