To see the other types of publications on this topic, follow the link: Comedy films.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Comedy films'
Create a spot-on reference in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and other styles
Consult the top 50 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Comedy films.'
Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.
You can also download the full text of the academic publication as pdf and read online its abstract whenever available in the metadata.
Browse dissertations / theses on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.
1
Rainey, Kenneth Richard III. "Cross-Cultural Humor Through Comedy Films?" The Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1525141452462223.
Full text
2
Sinner, Megan. "FEMINISM IN THE FILMS OF NEW GERMAN COMEDY." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1146072869.
Full text
3
Buchanan, H. Kamau. "Catch Santa /." Online version of thesis, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1850/11874.
Full text
4
Carty, Gabrielle Mary. "Female roles in the comedy films of Fernando Colomo." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.252065.
Full text
5
Kerry, Lucyann Snyder. "Genre and globalization : working title films, the British romantic comedy and the global film market." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10036/4142.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis seeks to better understand the relationship of film genre to globalization through an examination of the use of the British romantic comedy and other related genres by the production company Working Title Films (WTF) from the 1900s through the 2000s. Because of the sudden and unexpected global success of British romantic comedies by Working Title Films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, the 1990s is a significant period for the study of the genre. In this examination the process of globalization is understood as one of complex connectivity postulated by John Tomlinson in Globalization and Culture as ‘the rapidly developing and ever-densening network of interconnections and interdependences that characterize modern social life’. This theory of globalization is used as a methodological framework to understand the complex network of global and local interconnections that has driven the development of Working Title Films over the past twenty five years to becoming one of the most important British production companies in the international film industry. Through a detailed analysis of the practices of development, production, distribution and exhibition by Working Title Films and the Hollywood dominated global film industry, this thesis seeks to understand the function of genre and genre films as cultural products, economic products and meaningful representations in the global market and to better understand Hollywood, mainstream film and cinema as social institution. The analysis in the following chapters serves as evidence to support the central argument of this thesis that the use of genre in the film industry’s production, distribution and exhibition processes of globalization was the critical area for Working Title Films to master in order to produce value as meaningful audience appeal and connectivity to global audiences for on-going economic success.
6
Yoshida, Junji. "Origins of Japanese film comedy and questions of colonial modernity /." view abstract or download file of text, 2006. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1192198571&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=11238&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2006.Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 281-290). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.
7
Anderson, Lauren. "Investigating audience responses to popular music in contemporary romantic comedy films." Thesis, Aberystwyth University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2160/cc4ece5f-c1df-4198-be56-c7afb3067dcb.
Full textAbstract:
Despite the rapidly growing body of critical academic writing around sound and music on screen, and studies of the increasing role of popular music within contemporary films, there has to date been little empirical exploration of audience responses to popular music in film. This thesis investigates how audiences hear and relate to popular music in romantic comedy soundtracks, specifically those of Love Actually (2003, dir. Richard Curtis), What Women Want (2000, dir. Nancy Meyer), and 10 Things I Hate About You (1999, dir. Gil Junger). Building upon a detailed critique of existing theoretical approaches to audiences’ engagements with popular music soundtracks, the findings in this study are based on two rounds of semi-structured interviews. Initially, the selected films were discussed in four focus group interviews, recruited according to age and gender (under-25-year-old men and women, and over-45-year-old men and women). Four subsequent individual interviews with one participant from each focus group concentrated on one particular sequence from Love Actually. A key assumption underlying theorised audience responses within literature on film music is a dichotomy between knowing and not-knowing pre-existing pop music in films: ‘knowing’ the music is seen to result in a more complex reading of a scene, as well as a more critical, distanced mode of engagement with the film; ‘not-knowing’, on the other hand, means the viewer is more immersed in the film and more likely to adopt its ideological messages uncritically (see for example Kassabian, 2001; J. Smith, 1998). The present research challenges this position: interview analyses indicate that patterns of talk are not as unified or consistent as these existing theoretical models suggest. Participants drew on several different modes of engagement in making sense of popular music in film, including: evaluating the music according to a diverse range of criteria and categorisations; relating the music to life stages and personal memories; and managing perceived involvement with the films and their soundtracks. These findings do not easily fall within any singular model of proposed audience responses to film music, but instead suggest that a new way of thinking about film audiences must account for taste processes, accommodate audiences’ vernacular categorisations, and incorporate a broader conception of ‘knowledge’ and ‘ways of knowing’.
8
Hluch, Alexander. "Immediacy in Comedy: How Gertrude Stein, Long Form Improv, and 5 Second Films Can Revolutionize the Comedic Form." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2013. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/5946.
Full textAbstract:
Comedy has typically been derided as second-tier to drama in all aspects of narrative. Throughout history, comedy has seen short shrift in both critical reception and academic investigation. Merit is simply placed on drama far before that of comedy. This is not for comedy's own lack of skill or craft, but simply for comedy's misappropriation as a narrative form. Throughout the years, by way of either competition or economic superiority, comedy has been pigeonholed into the typified dramatic structure that drama so thoroughly encapsulates. Being forced into a form that exemplifies complex, climactic structure and explicit character development, comedy in its purest form has suffered through the ages.
Gertrude Stein's theory of Landscape Drama, and, more specifically, immediacy, is best attuned to comedy in its truest form. Comedy does not require sweeping character development, obtuse narrative design, or fantastic spectacle to produce superior works of art. Comedy, when compared to drama, exists best in a much more punctuated format. Stein's theories, while never intended for comedy, align absolutely perfectly with the comedic genre's design. And epitomized through long form improv on the stage, and the newly-fashioned digital short made profitable by the proliferation of the internet and digital culture, comedy's purest form has become more readily available as narrative has progressed throughout history.
With this thesis, I intend to display the disparity between comedy and drama due to comedy's misallotment into a format that does not properly encapsulate it to its most fulfilling embodiment. Through this display, I seek to uncover the debt done to the comedic form from centuries of neglect in academic query and merit in order to best prove comedy's need for critical scrutiny. Further, in doing so I hope to better construe a community of comedic research and criticism in order to create better art and more diverse comedic offerings.M.F.A.
Masters
Theatre
Arts and Humanities
Theatre; Acting
9
Murphy, Caryn E. "Teen ages: Youth market romance in Hollywood teen films of the 1980s and 1990s." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2001. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2749/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines the differences between teen romantic comedy films marketed to Generation X teenagers in the 1980s and Generation Y teenagers in the 1990s, focusing on the presentation of gender roles, consumptive behavior, and family. The 1980s films are discussed within the social context of the Reagan era and the conservatism of the New Right. The 1990s films are examined as continuing a conservative sensibility, but they additionally posit consumption as instrumental to achieving an idealized romance. Romantic comedy is traditionally a conservative genre, but these films illustrate female liberation through consumption. The source of difference between the cycles of teen romantic comedy is attributed to the media's attempt to position Generation Y teenagers as ideal consumers.
10
Barnett, Vanessa. "Tasha: A practice-based problematisation of Australian comedy cinema’s representation of gender, family and nationhood." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2014. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1411.
Full textAbstract:
Between 2007 and 2012, 140 fictional feature films were financed with the assistance of Australian film funding bodies. Of these 140 films, only 31 featured female protagonists and of these 31 films, only 8 were comedies (see Appendix B). These figures show statistically, Tasha, the creative film component of this research project, is not a typical Australian comedy film; it is the story of Tasha, an unemployed girl from Girrawheen in her early twenties, who has lost her sense of identity. As Australian films such as Little Fish¸ Candy, Jedda and Muriel’s Wedding would suggest, this is certainly not an uncommon premise in Australian national cinema. However, this is not all there is to know about Tasha; she is preoccupied, not by a love interest or by a drug addiction, but by ninjutsu, and vigilantism. This is where Tasha finds its unique approach to Australian cinema’s historic treatment of the woman-centred narrative. That said, beneath Tasha’s unconventional surface arguably lies a truly Australian comedy film.
The exegesis component of this project re-interprets Bazin’s question, “Qu'est-ce que le cinéma?” (What is cinema?), with a theoretical framework inspired by Australian film theorist Tom O’Regan’s influential text, Australian National Cinema. The exegesis begins by looking at Australian national cinema as a whole, then narrowing the focus to Australian comedy cinema. O’Regan (1996) describes Australian cinema as a national cinema; a cinema that embodies Australian culture, society and history. The focus is on Australian comedy film texts, and their social, political and cultural contexts. Tasha, the creative film project, is what O’Regan would term a “problematisation” of Australian comedy cinema.
The key argument of this project is that Australian national comedy films are uniquely Australian, cinematic explorations of individual identity, socio-cultural identity, landscape and family. Australia laughs about what it knows best, these four narrative and aesthetic preoccupations being central to Australian socio-cultural values and attitudes, to understanding the concept of Australianness. Australian comedy cinema is a problematic genre unto itself. The theoretical component of this project is a profile of Australian comedy cinema’s homogenised representation of Australianness. Tasha is then presented as an alternative. This investigation aims to both improve, and demonstrate an understanding of Australian comedy cinema as a problematisation of gender, culture, landscape, family and identity.
Tasha responds to the research question, “What is Australian comedy cinema?” by revealing that even an Australian action comedy with exciting stunts and fight scenes, is still a story of an individual’s sense of identity, family, and place. Such stories are arguably the hallmark of Australian comedy cinema; this carries a uniquely Australian sense of quirkiness. It remains the domain of the underdog: the battlers, larrikins, and of course the ockers. It still carries the same messages; never forget who you are, who your friends and family are, or where you came from. Despite its unconventional narrative, subject matter, soundtrack and aesthetics, Tasha proves to be no exception; it is still easily identified as a truly Australian comedy film.
11
Enders, Mark. "No Laughing Matter: An Exploration Of The Role Of The Protagonist In Australian Feature Films Classified As Social Comedies." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2004. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/15926/1/Mark_Enders_-_The_Last_of_the_Wombats.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Australian film has engaged social issues since its earliest days, often within the genre of comedy. Writers and filmmakers have treated a wide range of issues with varying degrees of success in engaging their audience in a level of social discourse. This success has been independent of the specific issue addressed, the government funding policy, cultural policy, the national and international political climate, and available technologies. Rather it can be attributed to the filmmaker's approach to both characterization and narrative. Of the films chosen for examination it appeared that a positively portrayed protagonist in combination with a narrative that provided a clear but balanced opinion on the issue addressed was more successful in engaging its audience in a level of social discourse. The ability of the films to engage their respective audiences was based on criteria such as box office success, critical reception, and media and public discussion of the film around the time of its release as well as more recently.
The findings of this investigation arose from the production of a feature length screenplay, The Last of the Wombats, which dealt with the issue of national security.
The screenplay follows the Ruddocks along on their journey from personal insecurity, through issues of perceived threat, to the initial response of increasing the physical security measures around their house. These actions produce more problems than they solve, and this state of imbalance forces the main characters (Amber, Brian and Karen) to address their own insecurities and eventually to move beyond them.
12
Enders, Mark. "No Laughing Matter: An Exploration Of The Role Of The Protagonist In Australian Feature Films Classified As Social Comedies." Queensland University of Technology, 2004. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/15926/.
Full textAbstract:
Australian film has engaged social issues since its earliest days, often within the genre of comedy. Writers and filmmakers have treated a wide range of issues with varying degrees of success in engaging their audience in a level of social discourse. This success has been independent of the specific issue addressed, the government funding policy, cultural policy, the national and international political climate, and available technologies. Rather it can be attributed to the filmmaker's approach to both characterization and narrative. Of the films chosen for examination it appeared that a positively portrayed protagonist in combination with a narrative that provided a clear but balanced opinion on the issue addressed was more successful in engaging its audience in a level of social discourse. The ability of the films to engage their respective audiences was based on criteria such as box office success, critical reception, and media and public discussion of the film around the time of its release as well as more recently. The findings of this investigation arose from the production of a feature length screenplay, The Last of the Wombats, which dealt with the issue of national security. The screenplay follows the Ruddocks along on their journey from personal insecurity, through issues of perceived threat, to the initial response of increasing the physical security measures around their house. These actions produce more problems than they solve, and this state of imbalance forces the main characters (Amber, Brian and Karen) to address their own insecurities and eventually to move beyond them.
13
Ng, Stephanie Yuet Wah. "Modes of production in post-war cantonese cinema : bricolage and sing-song comedy." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2013. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/1532.
Full text
14
Grimm, Courtney A. "The arranged marriage of William Powell and Myrna Loy how Nick and Nora didn't solve the marriage problem /." Ohio : Ohio University, 2008. http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?ohiou1226613637.
Full text
15
Clark, Isabel Stirling. "The challenge of being yourself adaptation, adolescence, and disguise in teenage romantic comedy films of the late 1990s and early 2000s /." Diss., Connect to the thesis Connect to the thesis, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10066/3614.
Full text
16
Shen, Chen. "Stephen Chow : the king of comedy in Hong Kong laughter in disguise and seeing beyond believing." Thesis, University of Macau, 2011. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2525519.
Full text
17
Shi, Yeting. "L'adaptation des pièces comiques du théâtre français au cinéma." Thesis, Bordeaux 3, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015BOR30013/document.
Full textAbstract:
Chaque année en France, les films adaptés des œuvres littéraires forment une partie importante des sorties cinématographiques, parmi lesquelles nous remarquons souvent les films adaptés des pièces de théâtre comiques. En effet, dès sa naissance, le cinéma est lié étroitement au théâtre, surtout aux pièces comiques. Les cinéastes ont puisé leurs inspirations aussi bien dans les pièces classiques (L’Avare, La Fausse Suivante, Cyrano de Bergerac, etc.) que les pièces modernes (La Cage aux folles, Le Dîner de cons, Le Prénom, etc.), en passant par les vaudevilles (Un Chapeau de paille d’Italie, Un Fil à la patte, etc.), les café-théâtre (les pièces du Splendid) et les pièces de Sacha Guitry et de Marcel Pagnol qui ont vécu la prospérité du théâtre filmé. Le théâtre et le cinéma, tous deux arts de spectacle, partagent énormément de points communs et gardent également de nombreuses différences. Ils se mélangent, s’influencent et se critiquent. Les spectateurs regardent la représentation théâtrale avec une vision « cinématisée » sans en avoir conscience. À l’inverse, nous déployons la théâtralité dans chaque séquence de film. Dans le cadre comique, quelle est donc la relation entre le cinéma et le théâtre ? Les ressorts du comique de théâtre sont-ils les mêmes au cinéma? Quels effets donnent-ils ? L’étude de l’adaptation des pièces comiques de théâtre au cinéma dans la période définie par notre corpus nous permet de voir les principes du travail de l’adaptation et de saisir le changement de la relation entre le théâtre et le cinéma au fil du temps. Ce changement nous laisse entrevoir la procédure de maturation d’un jeune art — le cinéma. Les valeurs esthétiques que nous avons dégagées dans ce travail nous aideront à comprendre d’une façon profonde les arts de spectacle, tandis que la valeur sociale du film adapté nous fera réaliser la nécessité de ce travail d’adaptationEvery year in France, plenty of new movies are adapted from literary works, among them, we can often notice the films adapted from comic plays. Indeed, since its invention, the cinema is closely related to the theater, especially to the comic plays. The filmmakers try to find their inspiration in classic plays (The Miser, La Fausse suivante, Cyrano de Bergerac, etc.) as well as modern plays (La Cage aux Folles, Dinner of Fools, The First Name, etc.) but also in vaudeville (Un chapeau de paille d’Italie, Love on the Rack, etc.), in dinner theater (the plays of the Splendid) and in the plays of Sacha Guitry and Marcel Pagnol, who experienced the boom period of « théâtre filmé ». As two performing arts, theater and cinema share a lot of common points but have also many differences. They influence each other. The audience, unconsciously, watches the theatrical performance with a « cinématisée » vision. Conversely, we deploy theatricality in each sequence of the film. In the comic plays, what is the relationship between cinema and theater? Are the comic elements of theater the same as those in cinema? What effects do they give? The study of the adaptation of comic plays to the cinema in the period defined by our corpus lets us see the principles of adaptation and know the change in the relationship between theater and cinema. This change shows us the maturing process of a young art —the art of cinema. The aesthetic values that we have reveald in this work will help us understand the performing arts in a deep way, and the social value of an adapted film will let us realize the need of this adaptation
18
Sterckx, Laurent S. S. "Systèmes de signification dans le cinéma classique hollywoodien: l'exemple de la comédie sophistiquée." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/212325.
Full text
19
Enders, Mark Enders Mark. "No laughing matter an exploration of the role of the protagonist in Australian feature films classified as social comedies /." Connect to this title online, 2004. http://adt.library.qut.edu.au/adt-qut/public/adt-QUT20050224.101747/.
Full text
20
Lechler, Ron. "The Best Medicine." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2015. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc801938/.
Full textAbstract:
The Best Medicine is an animated documentary that explores the true stories behind the live performances of stand-up comedians. The film juxtaposes live stand-up performances with candid interview footage combined with animation and illustration. Three subjects– Michael Burd, Casey Stoddard, and Jacob Kubon– discuss alcoholism, childhood abuse, and sexual anxiety, respectively. Their candid, intimate interviews reveal personal information, creating a new context with which to understand live stand-up comedy performance. This illustrates themes of finding humor in dark or painful circumstances and the cathartic nature writing and performance.
21
Urquijo-Ruiz, Rita E. "Las figuras de la peladita/el peladito y la pachuca/el pachuco en la producción cultural chicana y mexicana de 1920 a 1990 /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 2004. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3138840.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2004.Accompanied by compact disc sound recording of 11 Pachuco trio songs by Lalo Guerrero with Trio Imperial. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 200-209).
22
Sands, Zachary Adam. "Film Comedy and the American Dream." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1483612711940071.
Full text
23
Turner, Matthew R. "Signs of Comedy: A Semiotic Approach to Comedy in the Arts." Ohio : Ohio University, 2005. http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?ohiou1126899710.
Full text
24
Teichner, Noah. "Le “canned” vaudeville et la mise en conserve médiatique aux États-Unis, du phonographe au film sonore : étude média-archéologique des courts métrages Vitaphone au format son-sur-disque (1926-1930)." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Paris 8, 2021. http://www.theses.fr/2021PA080071.
Full textAbstract:
L’expression historique “canned” vaudeville désigne la « mise en conserve » du vaudeville américain (un spectacle de variétés dépendant de numéros diversifiés) par des moyens filmiques ou phonographiques. En croisant l’analyse des discours et l’analyse technique et formelle, cette thèse propose une archéologie de la mise en conserve médiatique à partir du vaudeville filmique et du vaudeville phonographique. Les courts métrages Vitaphone de la Warner Bros. au format son-sur-disque occupent une place centrale dans l’articulation de cette problématique sur une période allant des débuts de la phonographie et de l’institutionnalisation du vaudeville à la fin du 19ème siècle jusqu’à la généralisation de la technologie électro-acoustique dans le cinéma et les médias sonores dans la seconde moitié des années 1920. Suite à l’investigation du vaudeville sous le double angle de média de masse et de médium sensible, la place négligée du terme “canned” dans l’histoire des médias est revisitée à partir du cas de la phonographie acoustique et des discours corporatifs sur la “canned” music et le “canned” vaudeville. Il est ensuite question du contexte intermédiatique du vaudeville filmique à la généralisation du parlant et de la production, distribution et réception des courts métrages Vitaphone. Une analyse des possibilités matérielles du procédé son-sur-disque et de la mise en œuvre de son dispositif multi-caméra permet de mener une étude approfondie des stratégies d’adresse et de diégétisation dans les courts métrages restaurés de 1926-1930 et de les mettre en perspective pour la première fois avec des pratiques du vaudeville phonographique remontant au tournant du 20ème siècleThis dissertation reads the discourses, practices, and materialities of filmic and phonographic vaudeville through the broader history of “canned” media. Warner Bros.’ short films produced with the sound-on-disc Vitaphone process play a central role in this study which covers a period ranging from the beginnings of the phonograph industry and the institutionalization of vaudeville in the late 19th century to the introduction of electroacoustic technology in film and sound media during the second half of the 1920s. After studying vaudeville’s infrastructure as a mass media institution and its aesthetic capacities as a medium, the neglected role of the term “canned” in media history is reconsidered through practices of early phonography and trade press discourses on “canned” music and “canned” vaudeville. This leads to a contextualization of filmic vaudeville within the media landscape of the 1920s—the decline of big-time vaudeville and the rise of stage presentations in movie theatres—and an analysis of Vitaphone shorts’ production, distribution, and reception. The material possibilities afforded by the Vitaphone sound-on-disc technology and multi-camera set-up are then outlined and examined in relation to debates regarding sound and image scale. These technical considerations lay the groundwork for an in-depth investigation of approaches to address and diegetisation in the restored Vitaphone shorts from 1926-1930. The films’ means of addressing the spectator and of representing both the audience and the space of performance are put in perspective through examples of phonographic vaudeville dating back to the turn of the 20th century
25
Leadston, Mackenzie M. "Theorizing the Comic Object in Classical French Cinema." The Ohio State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu155498483572897.
Full text
26
Maxwell, Nicholas Elliott, and nmaxwel1@bigpond net au. "Black Comedy and the Principles of Screenwriting/The Actions." RMIT University. Creative Media, 2008. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20081212.123034.
Full textAbstract:
This exegesis will aim to research and analyse the conventions of writing a black comedy in a feature film script. As a screenwriter with a particular interest in black comedy, my aim is to explore the technical structures of black comedy in order to facilitate the writing of a tragicomic screenplay. We will attempt to define the components of black comedy and survey its origin in theatre and literature. The exegesis will aim to explore what components comprise the middle ground between drama and humour and position it in relation to the classical genres of tragedy and comedy. The exegesis will also aim to examine the function of black comedy in relation to the psychology of the protagonist and the audience, as well as defining the characteristics of the genre in the context of Screenwriting. The exegesis will observe the film adaptation of the renowned play, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as a case study. The research will inform the writing of the feature length screenplay entitled The Actions.
27
Couret, Nilo Fernando. "Peripheral Humor, Critical Realism: Latin American Film Comedy, 1930-1960." Diss., University of Iowa, 2013. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/4831.
Full textAbstract:
Latin American film comedies, from the early sound period until the beginnings of the aesthetic and political New Cinemas (1930-1960), mediated modernity in diverse national contexts through affective and aesthetic tactics that shifted the spectator position in the narrative. These film comedies functioned in a mode of "critical realism" that produced historical self-awareness and foregrounded the geopolitical extension and uneven development of modernity. The comedian comedies of Mario "Cantinflas" Moreno (Mexico), Niní Marshall and Luis Sandrini (Argentina), and Oscarito and Grande Otelo (Brazil) demonstrate not only what kind of "peripheral humor" operated within - and traveled beyond - the national context, but also what this kind of humorous social critique reveals about the capacity of film to move viewers, by means of affect, into positions of critical opposition in the public sphere.
By examining the linguistic play of these comedians, this study demonstrates four aspects of Latin American comedy that operate via embodiment and spatio-temporal location. First, Cantinflismo had as its basis not merely word play and non-sense, but misdirection, an evasive spatial practice which positioned the viewer to resist social hierarchies within and beyond the nation. Second, Marshall's multiple radio and film characters and her vocal stardom constituted an auditory map of Buenos Aires that created a different spatial intelligibility for her auditors. Third, Sandrini's stutter produced multiple temporalities that, in turn, positioned the audience itself to do a double take regarding its relation to the film text and its location within the standardized time of modernity. Fourth, the palimpsestic parody of the Brazilian chanchanda by Oscarito and Grande Otelo produced an awareness of historicity in a critically realist vein. Taken together, these four parallel examples of comedic practice demonstrate how Latin American film comedies produced a critically proximate spectator capable of perceiving and organizing space and time differently.
Affirming that the study of popular film genres should be seen neither as derivate of foreign models nor as defensive authentic cultural expression, the thesis argues that articulating Miriam Hansen's concept of vernacular modernism to Angel Rama's concept of transculturation yields an understanding of popular cinema as a cultural practice of embodiment that foregrounds the differentiated responses to modernization. Furthermore, by re-reading the theories of realism of Gyorgy Lukács and Siegfried Kracauer and the theories of mimesis and innervation of Walter Benjamin through the critical lenses of Henri Bergson and debates about realism in the Latin American literary boom, this study demonstrates how the humor is contingent on thinking within a particular historical context and becoming part of a located collective body. These film comedies produce a critically proximate humorous spectator moved in laughter to examine his/her relation to the film text and his/her historical and geopolitical location within a cultural landscape marked by economic dependency.
28
Adams, Zackary Michael. "Comedy Basque Style: A Recontextualization of Commedia all'Italiana." ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2019. https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/1021.
Full textAbstract:
Commedia all'italiana, a genre of Italian film satires that emerged in the late 1950s and sustained through the late 1970s, is primarily understood through its close relationship to Italian culture. The evolution of the genre appears to be less tied to the revision of iconography and narrative codes of previous films than it is to the trajectory of Italian society during its years of prominence. The following thesis will attempt to find a definition of commedia all'italiana that is discrete from the genre's strong link to Italian culture by isolating the films' common narrative strategies. The aim in constructing this definition, which will be called the "commedia all'italiana narrative methodology," is to negotiate the possibility of formal elaboration upon the genre by a modern filmmaker, even outside of the strictly Italian context of the films in question. The viability of this endeavor will be put to the test in the final chapter, a plot outline for a feature film, entitled Commedia Vasca, that emulates the narrative approaches assembled in the commedia all'italiana narrative methodology.
This thesis begins by presenting the common understanding of commedia all'italiana, with a particular focus on the genre's close connection to Italian society. The second chapter tracks the formation of the commedia all'italiana narrative methodology by isolating and analyzing distinct and adaptable narrative strategies at play among the films of commedia all'italiana. Then the thesis changes course to set up the creative experiment in narrative adaptation, Commedia Vasca, which will engage with Basque culture, rather than Italian. The plot outline for the film is preceded by a short summary of relevant Basque history and the ways the cultural specificities of the Basque Country influenced the process of utilizing and adapting the commedia all'italiana narrative methodology.
29
Roskelley, Amanda Rebekah. "The Modern Mr. Darcy: An Analysis of Leading Men in Contemporary Romantic Comedy Film." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2016. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/6074.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis is an observation and analysis of male performance in romantic comedy films released between 2005 and 2015. As a lasting genre, rom-com, like all forms of media, has the potential to influence society. Gender plays a vital role in the generic template of these films. Because women are the dominant consumers of this genre, what they observe as gender performance is important. This genre has been dissected under the eye of feminism and female gender performance but the changes in masculinity have been largely overlooked.This paper identifies common characteristics in leading men of this decade's rom-coms. After establishing the roles that gender, and men specifically, have played in the historical establishment of the genre, the modern man is proven to be significantly different than his predecessors. This research has identified three common facets of the modern leading man that are in stark contrast to the portrayals of the past: he is emotionally vulnerable, he is pointedly tender and domestic, and he is a strong proponent of the romantic relationship throughout the film. In response to the more autonomous and career-driven female leads of these modern films, the men have filled the genre-necessary void of domestic nurturers. This is seen through actions and characteristics such as their artistic careers, interactions with children, and commitment to the relationship.
30
Broach, Margaret Ann. "“Down to the Last:” An experiment in comedy, stunts, and visual effects." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2016. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2246.
Full textAbstract:
This paper will cover the creation of my thesis film, “Down to the Last,” from concept to completion, with a special focus on writing a dark comedy with a strong female lead, and the desire to incorporate visual effects and stunts to enhance the overall story. Details of how my crew and I decided to approach the challenges of my script and vision will be fleshed out along with solutions to problems we faced during preproduction, principle photography, and postproduction. The outcome of the project is a combination of minute deviations from my initial vision and a minimization of visual effects in order to preserve the tone and humor of the story.
31
Hartwell, David B. "True Bromance: Representation of Masculinity and Heteronormative Dominance in the Bromantic Comedy." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2013. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc407801/.
Full textAbstract:
This project explores the representation of white, American masculinity within the Hollywood bromantic comedy cycle. By analyzing three interrelated components (close homosociality, infantilization, and relationship to patriarchy) of the model of masculinity perpetuated by this cycle of films, this study reveals the hegemonic motives therein. Despite the representation of a masculinity nervously questioning its position within the romantic comedy narrative and the broader patriarchal structure, the results of this representation are, ultimately, regressive and reactionary. Cultural gains made concerning gender, sexuality, and race are doubled back upon in a cycle of films that appeal to regressive modes of misogyny, homophobia, and racism still present in Hollywood filmmaking, and the hegemony of white, patriarchal heteronormativity is rigorously maintained.
32
Mironenko, Dmitry. "A Jester with Chameleon Faces: Laughter and Comedy in North Korea, 1953-1969." Thesis, Harvard University, 2014. http://dissertations.umi.com/gsas.harvard:11604.
Full textAbstract:
This dissertation is a study of ordinary North Korean people who have persevered in the face of tremendous social, political, and economic trials throughout their country's modern history and a tribute to their unflagging ingenuity and good humor that allowed them to hold onto their humanity. Focusing on the question of agency within the realm of everyday living, my inquiry examines the emergence of a laughing subject during the post-Korean War period and the state's efforts to discipline him through cinema in the succeeding decade. A product of the new Soviet-sponsored cultural policy of the 1950s that promoted social and political satire across the socialist world, the jester became an identity tactically adopted by various individuals, which was responsible for the proliferation of nonconformist practices in North Korea. Using Michel de Certeau's concept of the everyday as a sphere of creative inventiveness, this work describes and analyzes the small acts of "comic disobedience" by means of which the ordinary person has been able to outmaneuver the existing order and create a thriving underground culture of antidiscipline. Spanning a variety of media from print cartoons to live-action cinema to animation, the official response to the jester's challenge, on one hand, sought to create identifiable comic characters and, on the other, effectively demarcate between humor and satire with a view of turning a jarring cacophony of laughing voices into a harmonious chorus of collective mirth serving the state's needs. Based on Bakhtin's notion of heteroglossia, my method of analysis suggests that, despite the government's attempts to eliminate any ambiguity from newly constructed ideological texts, the ordinary individual always finds myriad ways to exercise autonomy through his unending playful subversion of official discourse. By tracing the evolution of this dynamic in the North Korean streets, movie theaters, and film studios over the course of nearly two decades, I argue that the production of formal film comedy was inextricably bound up with the state's desire to interpellate a politically loyal and socially conformist subject and should be seen as part of the larger everyday aesthetic of living that took root within the socialist world.East Asian Languages and Civilizations
33
Bao, Ying. "In Search Of Laughter In Maoist China: Chinese Comedy Film 1949-1966." The Ohio State University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1218342529.
Full text
34
Sutton, David Redvers. "In the background of a chorus of raspberries : British film comedy 1929-1939." Thesis, Birkbeck (University of London), 1997. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.669536.
Full textAbstract:
A study of the nature and history of the comedy genre in British cinema over the decade 1929-1939. The account begins by considering the critical marginalisation of comedy in constructions of ’British cinema’ since the 1920s, before proceeding to a consideration of the problems of theorising comedy as a genre. British screen comedy is considered as part of a wider, cross-media ’popular aesthetic’, with reference to Bakhtin’s ideas of the ’novelistic’,and its roots in pre-cinematic entertainment forms are explored. On this basis a model of 1930s comedy as a non-classical, ’attraction’ based cinema is put forward, accounting for its seemingly aberrant and heterogeneous qualities, qualified by considerations of generic verisimilitude and institutional constraints. The pre-history of the genre is discussed, and the impact of non-cinematic forms and modes of performance stressed. A consideration of the impact of sound technology and government legislation on 1930s British cinema helps to define both the type of comedies made and the prevalence of comic modes in the British cinema of the time. A case is made for comedy as both the most widely produced and most consistently successful British genre of the 1930s. The films themselves are then examined in a series of studio histories which examine the stars, directors and writers involved in their production. A detailed look at a representative body of films reveals the extremely wide range covered by the genre, and the differences of emphasis and style created by diverse performers. The ways in which comedy is able to articulate central discourse of British cinema, such as those pertaining to class, gender and sexuality. in uniquely contradictory ways is linked to its particular formal qualities, its relationship to other genres and media, and its subaltern status within the paradigms of both British and ’classical’ cinemas.
35
Doughty, Karissa. "Evolving Mediums: Over the Garden Wall and the Divine Comedy." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2019. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3577.
Full textAbstract:
Dante Alighieri’s transcendental work the Divine Comedy is masterfully appropriated in this cartoon mini-series titled Over the Garden Wall in order to explore the issue of suicidal ideation and depression while contradicting Dante. Through different textual and conceptual appropriations, the show invokes the imagery of the Divine Comedy while creating an ending that is the complete opposite of its source text, turning Dante on his head and becoming an anti-Divine Comedy. The different characters of the epic poem are reimagined for these purposes, and the result is a work of art that makes the personal into the universal.
36
Plummer, Anna. "“What About Bob?” An Analysis of Gendered Mental Illness in a Mainstream Film Comedy." NEOMED College of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ne2gs1597767396737971.
Full text
37
Pape, Anthony P. "Overdose: Constructing Television from the Cracks in the Superhero Content Conglomerate." Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors162025124846866.
Full text
38
McIntyre, Elisha. "God’s Comics: Religious Humour in Contemporary Evangelical Christian and Mormon Comedy." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/10021.
Full textAbstract:
In the contemporary western world, humour has become not only a popular means of entertainment but a way in which an individual or community expresses their identity and values. Often it is thought that religion and humour are incompatible. This dissertation argues that this notion is mistaken. It demonstrates that religious people embrace their sense of humour and actively produce and consciously consume comic entertainment that reflects their own experiences, including religious experiences. However, this process is not without conflict. The inherent ambiguity of humour plays with the established norms and beliefs of any community, and when humour intersects with questions of ultimate concern such as religion, the risk of misinterpretation and offense can be high. As a result, religious humourists must constantly negotiate the relationship between their religious beliefs and their sense of humour. This dissertation considers that negotiation through discourse analysis of religious humour found in examples of popular comedy collected from American evangelical Christian and Latter-day Saint (Mormon) communities. While humour in religious communities operates in similar ways to humour in general, this thesis argues that there are specific characteristics that indicate a unique kind of humour that may be called religious humour. This study considers both mainstream and conservative religious humour as well as subversive reactions to that mainstream. Methodologically, this study is a multidisciplinary exploration that contributes to the disciplines of religious studies, humour studies and cultural studies. It aims to redress the gaps in religious studies about humour and in humour studies about religion. Incorporating literature from these areas as well as original data from textual analysis and field research this thesis critically analyses the experiences of believers who appreciate that their faith is not necessarily a barrier to their laughter.
39
Hart, Anne Glenisla. "Selling the American Dream: The Comic Underdog in American Film." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2017. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/6313.
Full textAbstract:
Placing archetypal "underdogs" or "losers" in the roles of protagonists allows and encourages the viewer to identify with them or understand them as an idealized Other, though the audience may differ from the failure protagonist in social class, gender, or any other condition. In film, one of the most persuasive and ubiquitous media of the 20th century, underdog and weakling characters germinated in early popular comedies such as those by Charlie Chaplin and the other silent clowns. Using Chaplin's filmography to illustrate the underdog's ironic supremacy, this thesis aims to unravel the initial values and expectations inherent in Hollywood underdog comedy films, trace these components to their paradoxical political and economic roots, and draw conclusions on their social and economic consequences.
40
Laura, Joseph. "Rachel's Madcap Theater." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2014. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1929.
Full textAbstract:
This paper will cover the making of my thesis film Rachel’s Madcap Theater. I will break down all of the interdisciplinary aspects and collaborations with other artists that formed the final film: screenwriting, production design, directing, cinematography, sound, music, and special effects. For each of these categories, when appropriate, I will compare and contrast the changes made during the main stages of filmmaking: pre-production (all decisions made before shooting begins), production (all decisions made while shooting the movie), and post-production (all decisions made after shooting ends). I will then provide self-analysis of my process in order to judge both the ultimate success of my thesis film (did I make the film that I originally intended to make?) and the strengths and weaknesses of my personal abilities.
41
Hopson, Samuel D. "Fathers and Sons: A Journey in Creating a Personal Work of Cinematic Art." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2015. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2085.
Full textAbstract:
This document gives an account of my artistic efforts in creating my thesis film Fathers and Sons. This document includes sections that cover the writing, casting, production design, principal photography, and editing of my film. I give special attention to the writing process in Chapter 2, because of its personal significance to my growth as a filmmaker. This chapter details the evolution of my original story concept from a drama to a comedy. The ultimate goal of my film was to create a personal work of art. This document self-reflects on how well I was able to achieve this goal, and what I learned along the way.
42
Reinhart, Taylor W. "Explorations into Stand-Up Comedy Through the Multimedia Essay: "Stand Up Comedy and the Essay, AKA Louis C.K. Meet Michel De Montaigne" and "You're In The Sun"." Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1400456829.
Full text
43
Umbaugh, Melanie. "Meet-Cutes & Motherhood: Roles of Women in Recent Rom-Coms." Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1524838486510027.
Full text
44
Dudley, Alexandra, and Amanda Pierson. "Blunt Trauma." Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School, 2018. http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/hm6bw.
Full text
45
Fatemi, Sarah. "Saffron 'n Rose." Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School, 2018. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/etd/687.
Full text
46
Raduns-Silverstein, Ethan. "The Last Greatest." Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School, 2021. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/etd/963.
Full text
47
Aguas, Alexandra. "Tesla's Totally True Adventures." Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School, 2021. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/etd/977.
Full textAbstract:
A half-hour adult animated pilot partially based on eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla.
Logline: Brilliant engineering student Dot must keep her boss, famed eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla, out of trouble as his unhinged contraptions wreak havoc on 1920s New York City while he battles his longtime rival, Thomas Edison.
48
Hammersmith, Andy. "Tom, Dick, and Harry." Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School, 2021. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/etd/960.
Full textAbstract:
Presumed dead, a cantankerous retired assassin hides out in a senior living home. When the CIA tracks him down, he enlists his fellow residents to trade in their walkers for weapons to protect the facility from a death squad.
49
Mortimer, Claire. "Battleaxes, spinsters and chars : the ageing woman in British film comedy of the mid-twentieth century." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2017. https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/65122/.
Full textAbstract:
‘Battleaxes, Spinsters and Chars: the Ageing Woman in British Film Comedy of the Mid-Twentieth Century’ explores the prominence of the mature woman in British film comedies of the mid-twentieth century, spanning the period from the Second War World to the mid-1960s. This thesis is structured around case studies featuring a range of film comedies from across this era, selected for the performances of character actresses who were familiar faces to British cinema audiences. Organised chronologically, each chapter centres around films and actresses evoking specific typologies and themes relevant to female ageing: the ‘immobile’ woman in wartime, the spinster in the post-war era, retirement and old age in the 1950s, and the cockney matriarch in the early 1960s. The selection of case studies encompasses the overlooked and critically derided alongside the more celebrated and better known in order to represent the range of British film comedy of the time. The final chapter spans the time-frame of the whole thesis, exploring the later life stardom of Margaret Rutherford. The thesis is centred on close textual analysis of sequences from the case studies, applying research into a range of historical texts relevant to the films and actresses, including biographies, letters, correspondence, press, posters and publicity materials. Each chapter draws on diverse scholarly disciplines to interrogate representations of female ageing, encompassing age studies, feminist studies, star studies, sociological research, genre studies, political philosophy, anthropology and social history. I conclude that film comedy of the mid-twentieth century offered familiar and reassuring typologies of the ageing woman for audiences in a time of upheaval and social change. My analysis of the films demonstrates how the representations of female ageing provided by these character actresses and stars were inflected by the cultural and social context. In her various guises the character actress in British comedy offered a fantasy of continuity, stability and reassurance within a country which struggled to define its national identity, and a national cinema which was struggling to survive.
50
Pacola, Gian Stefani. "Teste do Cometa: aplicação ao estudo de vida útil de filés de Tilápia (Oreochromis niloticus - LINNAEUS, 1758)." Universidade de São Paulo, 2013. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/10/10134/tde-14072013-175052/.
Full textAbstract:
O presente estudo teve por objetivo avaliar o desempenho do Teste do Cometa em confronto com métodos convencionais de avaliação de frescor e qualidade higiênica e sanitária de filés de Tilápia (Oreochromis niloticus - LINNAEUS, 1758) refrigerados, durante a vida útil comercial, correlacionando os seus resultados com aqueles obtidos nas análises físico-químicas, microbiológicas e sensorial. As análises foram realizadas nos dias zero - cinco - nove - 12 - 14 pós-processamento dos filés. Em cada dia de estudo foram processados três filés diferentes, pertencentes ao mesmo lote de produto. O protocolo foi repetido em três momentos diferentes, completando 45 amostras. Nos resultados encontrou-se no dia zero e no quinto dia útil do produto, condições impróprias para consumo com relação aos microrganismos psicrotróficos e mesófilos, respectivamente, e o tipo de cometa predominante foi o tipo 3. Aos nove dias de vida útil dos filés, a média dos parâmetros Trimetilamina, Odor e Intenção de Compra indicavam produto impróprio e no teste do cometa predomina o tipo 5. Aos 12 dias de vida útil dos filés de Tilápia, refrigerados, bases voláteis nitrogenadas totais e textura obtiveram resultados impróprios, enquanto que a aparência se revelou imprópria a partir do 14º dia. Concluiu-se que o teste do cometa se presta para o estudo de vida útil de filés de Tilápia refrigerados e apresentou correlação com os métodos convencionais de avaliação de frescor e qualidade higiênica e sanitária do pescado. A partir do 9º dia de estudo predominavam cometas do tipo 5, indicativos do grau máximo de dano celular e fragmentação de DNA das células, pelo teste do cometa, o que coincidiu com a rejeição da Intenção de Compra na análise sensorial.The present study aimed to evaluate the performance of the Comet assay in comparison with conventional methods of assessing freshness and hygienic and sanitary quality of chilled Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus - Linnaeus, 1758) fillets, over the shelf-life, correlating their results with those obtained in the physical-chemical, microbiological and sensory. The analyzes were performed on days zero - 5 - 9 - 12 - 14 post-processing of the fillets. In each study day were processed three different fillets, belonging to the same batch of product. The protocol was repeated at three different times, completing 45 samples. The results showed that at the zero and fifth day of the product, improper conditions for consumption, with respect to psychrotrophic and mesophilic microorganisms, respectively, and the predominant type of comet was the type 3. At nine days of the fillets shelf-life, the average of the parameters trimethylamine, odor and purchase intent indicate improper product, and at the comet assay predominate type 5. At 12 days of the shelf-life of chilled tilapia fillets, total volatile basic nitrogen and texture results obtained improper conditions, while appearance showed improper at the 14th day. It was concluded that the comet assay lends itself to the study of shelf-life of chilled tilapia fillets and correlated with conventional methods of assessing freshness and hygienic and sanitary qualities of fishery. From the 9th day of study, predominated comets type 5, indicative of maximum degree of cell damage and DNA fragmentation of the cells by the comet assay, which coincided with the rejection of Purchase Intent at sensory analysis.