For Thursday: Bevis, Chapters 4 & 5

As usual, here are a few ideas to consider as you read through the next two chapters on "Plotting Mischief" and "Underdogs":

* Why is the nature of a joke a frustrated expectation--or an unexpected surprise? How is this beneficial for society as a way of "maintain[ing] data integrity"?

* Why can we consider a joke as much HOW it is told as what is told? Why is delivery so important?

* Chapter 3 talked a bit about love as a form of comedy, and in Chapter 4 we learn that "to be in love is to have lost the plot" (52). What does this mean? How does this help make love comedic--and the reason we have romantic comedies, and not as many romantic tragedies?

* What does Bevis mean by saying "Comedy is often a story in which people can believe their luck" (53)?

* E.M. Forster said that "In a novel there is always a clock," but the clock in a comedy doesn't run in a normal fashion (unlike tragedy, which is run on a dramatic, methodical tempo). Why is time so skewed in comedy? And why is comedy not exactly about getting to the point?

* How does the film, Groundhog Day, provide a metaphor for the very philosophy of comedy? What does he learn that anyone who finds themselves in a comedy would learn?

* Why does comedy make more sense from the perspective of an underdog? Why do we have less comedies of the upper classes, rather than the lower (or middle)?

* The word philosopher invites the pun "foolosopher," which many "fools" in plays and movies certainly warrant. Why is the fool--the one who cracks the jokes--often the wisest man or woman in the room?

* What are the two types of fools in plays, particularly Shakespeare's? Why is one more 'foolish' than the other?

* Why did comedy develop past merely laughing at the fool to imagining "what it would feel like to be a fool or clown" (71)?

* Is it true that we can really only laugh at ourselves? Is that the essence of comedy (again, the idea of identity)?

Short Presentation Assignment

“Comedy characteristically begins with desire before encouraging us to laugh at it, but—in doing so—it can also reconcile us to desire, make it somehow easier to live with” (Bevis 18).

On Week 3, I want to spend both classes presenting short examples of comedy from throughout our culture as curated by you, the students (the true experts on modern comedy!). I want you to find a short clip, maybe 3-5 minutes long, from something you find particularly funny. It can be anything: a show, a movie, a skit, a stand-up comic, a song, etc, so long as we can watch it like a spectator. Show it first, and then I want you to briefly answer the following questions for the class:

 

1.      Why is this funny? What makes it comedy?

2.      How is it subversive? Why might someone find it threatening or inappropriate?

3.      Which chapter in Bevis’ book (Chs.1-5) does it most connect to? Find a specific passage or idea from one of these chapters (we’ll discuss them all next week) that made you go “ah ha!” when you watched it. Help us briefly appreciate the connection. 

For example, remember how we watched and discussed the skit, “It’s Business Time” form The Flight of the Conchords. This is a show that makes fun of something very taboo—a couple’s sex life—but also explores the real-life problems that come with routine. It’s not that having a “sex date” is bad, or that marriage is bad, but that sometimes we need to laugh at the absurdity of love to have a healthy relationship with our significant others.

DUE WEEK 3: Tuesday, January 30^th and Thursday, February 1^st (we’ll decide the order in class on Tuesday, so be ready to roll!). Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions or concerns, or come to my office before or after class (or during office hours) for help. Good luck!

For Tuesday: Bevis, Chs. 2 & 3

Be sure to read Chapters 2 & 3 for Tuesday's class, where we'll delve into more theories and ideas about comedy and what we find funny. Here are some questions to consider, one of which may return to haunt you on Tuesday:

* Bevis reminds us that "the comic cannot exist without sensousness'; the comic writer 'fastens our mind upon physical detail'" (21). Why is the body such a source of humor for audiences? Why do we need to be reminded of it--as well as the sensations relating to it--to achieve comedy?

* Why does comedy make more sense on stage than on the page? Why do we often need to 'see' it for it to make sense? Consider that Jorge Luis Borges, the famous writer, suggests that "Humour, I suspect, is an oral genre" (24).

* The word wit comes from the root "witan," which means "to know." How does this tie into the purpose of comedy as discussed in Chapter 1? Do you think this is still true today? Does comedy teach us "to know"?

* What does it mean that "all men are necessarily comic: for they are all things, or physical bodies, behaving as persons" (29). 

* Also, what does it mean to say "the body is the most imaginary of all imaginary objects" (32). Isn't the body the LEAST imaginary of all objects? Or is this a joke in itself?

* Bevis writes that comedy "is frequently born from the disparity between what a person is and what he affects to be" (39). Why is this funny, and how does this relate to the concept of one's "character"? 

* What is the difference between a character and a caricature? 

* Oscar Wilde is quoted as saying "One's real life is so often the life that one does not lead" (43). How might this explain the appeal of comedy and of the characters in a comedy?

For Thursday: Bevis, Comedy, Chapter 1: "In The Beginning..."

Be sure to read Chapter 1 (you don't have to read the short introduction, "Curtain Raiser," unless you want to) for Thursday's class. We'll respond with an in-class writing based on one of the following questions/ideas below. But feel free to use this as a guide to the reading to help you pick out important ideas or passages. 

* Why does Antiphanes claim that "tragedy is a cushy art," whereas comedians "have to invent everything" (9)? What makes comedy so much more difficult to create and stage for an audience? 

* What does Bevis mean that audience members in a comedy might be "participators as well as spectators" (10)? 

* Comedy has its roots in village festivals of drunkenness and sexuality, all of which celebrated the idea of spring and new life. How might modern comedy also represent this idea of regeneration and being able to "start anew"? 

* I used this quote in your syllabus, and really think it's an important one: what does Bevis mean when he writes "Comedy involves the construction of a creation myth you can live with" (14)? 

* Why is comedy more "dangerous" than tragedy? What is the secret thrill of watching a comedy, and related to this, what can comedy do to an audience that a tragedy, perhaps, cannot? What makes it more socially subversive?