The Nature of Comedy in Film, Part 1

About this course:

In this course, we explore the nature of comedy, the different kinds of humorous situations that make us laugh, why laughter is good for us, and whether we can all agree on what is funny—all through the lens of some of the most memorable film comedies of all time. We first consider the idea of a "comic persona," beginning with Charlie Chaplin's masterpiece City Lights (1931), followed by the work of two comedy teams, Laurel & Hardy (Sons of the Desert (1933)) and Gérard Depardieu & Pierre Richard (Les Compères (1983). We then view Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), a profound meditation on life, death, guilt, and responsibility which still manages to be very funny at the same time.  We finish with the French farce The Dinner Game (1998), in which a few prominent businessmen meet for a weekly dinner, but each must bring along an obvious fool. This series does not present an historic overview, as no series can adequately cover the sheer cornucopia, nor variety of film comedies. Rather, the selected films highlight a sub-genre of comedy, or simply the work of singular cinematic geniuses.  As a bonus, the films are interspersed with a variety of comedy short subjects, as time permits. The only requirement for this course is to be prepared to laugh!