Format:
1 online resource (vii, 279 pages)
,
illustrations; digital, PDF file(s)
ISBN:
9781526130525
Content:
'Laughing Matters is an undergraduate level textbook taking an analytic approach to film, television and radio comedy, providing an accessible overview of its forms and contexts. The introduction explains the value of studying comedy, concisely outlines the approach taken and summarises the relevant theories. The subsequent chapters are divided into two parts. The first part examines the specific forms comedy has taken as a constant and key element in film and broadcast comedy from their origins to the present. The second part shows how the genre gravitates towards contentious issues in British and American culture as it finds humour in the boundaries of class, gender, sexuality, race and logic. The authorst cover silent cinema comedy, early sound film comedy, Romantic film comedy, radio, television situation and sketch comedy, comedy and genre, animations, issues of gender and sexuality, taste, and race and ethnicity' --Back cover
Content:
Laughing Matters takes an analytic approach to film, television and radio comedy and provides an accessible overview of its forms and contexts. The introduction explains the value of studying comedy, concisely outlines the approach taken and summarises the relevant theories. The subsequent chapters are divided into two parts. The first part examines the specific forms comedy has taken as a constant and key element in film and broadcast comedy from their origins to the present. The second part shows how the genre gravitates towards contentious issues in British and American culture as it finds humour in the boundaries of class, gender, sexuality, race and logic. The authors cover silent cinema comedy including Chaplin, Lloyd and Keaton, sound film comedies including the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy, Romantic film comedy, radio, television situation and sketch comedy, comedy and genre (including parody and spoof), animations from cartoons to CGI, issues of gender and sexuality from drag comedy to queer reading, issues of taste and humour from Carry On to contemporary 'gross-out' , and issues of race and ethnicity including a case study of African-American screen comedy. Numerous opportunities for following up are highlighted and advice on further reading, writing academically about comedy and an extensive bibliography add to the value of this textbook
Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index
,
List of illustrations --Acknowledgements --Introduction --Part -- Comedy forms --1. Silent film comedy --2. Early sound film comedy --3. The romantic comedy film --4. Radio comedy --5. Television comedy --6. Comedy and genre boundaries --7. Animated comedy --Part II: Themes, effects and impact of comedy -- 8. Comedy, gender and sexuality --9. Comedy and cultural value: from bad taste to gross-out --10. Comedy, race and ethnicity --Conclusion: ‘You had to be there’ --Appendix --Bibliography --Index
Language:
English
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