The Entertainers: Slapstick and Physical Comedy in American Culture 4219-SD0042
At least since the publication of James Agee’s groundbreaking 1949 essay, “Comedy’s Greatest Era”, physical comedy is recognized as one of the most important achievements of American popular culture. The course examines the historical development of slapstick and its cultural significance, beginning with the silent era and Mack Sennett’s Keystone Film Company, Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and lesser-known Charley Bowers. The sound era features such singular artists as the Marx Brothers, the writer-director Preston Sturges, the legendary actor-director Jerry Lewis and the Three Stooges. We will look at the roots of physical comedy and social backgrounds of famous performers; at the formal techniques of slapstick, its cultural and philosophical dimensions and racial and gender diversity. Each week we will focus on a different phenomenon or entertainer and analyze it the broader context of American culture, history and politics.
Type of course
foreign languages
Learning outcomes
Upon completing this course a student:
1. KNOWLEDGE
- has basic knowledge of American cinema, history and culture of the 20th century;
- knows a broad spectrum of slapstick films and classic Hollywood movies and performers;
- has an understanding of the language of film, its techniques and its “grammar” as a narrative art.
2. SKILLS
- is able to use critical tools and apply them to film analysis;
- is able to formulate critical arguments about American comedy;
- is able to plan and write an academic paper in US film studies.
3. COMPETENCES:
- is able to cooperate in a group and stimulate as well as participate in discussion;
- is open to conflicting readings of specific texts and differing visions of culture and society;
- is able to formulate and defend his/her opinion coherently and with respect of other views.
Assessment criteria
Students are expected to watch assigned movies, read assigned texts, attend classes, participate in class discussions and write a final essay/project.
1) active participation in class discussions - 20%
2) tasks on Kampus - 30%
3) final paper (6-8 page analysis of a selected movie) - 50%
Final grade (comprising the above components):
• over 90% – 5
• 85-89% – 4+
• 80-84% – 4
• 70-79% – 3+
• 60-69% – 3
Bibliography
Selected bibliography:
Carroll, Noël. Comedy Incarnate: Buster Keaton, Physical Humor, and Bodily Coping. John Wiley & Sons, 2009.
Dale, Alan S. Comedy is a Man in Trouble: Slapstick in American Movies. University of Minnesota Press, 2000.
Fujiwara, Chris. Jerry Lewis. University of Illinois Press, 2010.
Kantor, Michael, and Laurence Maslon. Make'em Laugh: The Funny Business of America. Twelve, 2008.
Kamin, Dan. The Comedy of Charlie Chaplin: Artistry in Motion. Scarecrow Press, 2008.
King, Rob. The Fun Factory: The Keystone Film Company and the Emergence of Mass Culture. University of California Press, 2008.
Berger, Maurice, Hoberman, J. and Shandler, Jeffrey, eds. Entertaining America: Jews, Movies, and Broadcasting. Princeton University Press, 2003.
Solomon, William. Slapstick Modernism: Chaplin to Kerouac to Iggy Pop. University of Illinois Press, 2016.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: