Course details

Name: ENFL - 251

Title: SPECIAL TOPIC: FILM COMEDY

Section: 01

Semester: Fall - 2016

Credits: 3

Description:
Special Topic: Film Comedy

The course will focus on three important trends in American comic films: the silent clowns (e.g. Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton), dialogue-based comedies (e.g. Howard Hawks and Preston Sturges) and the ironic tradition (e.g. Woody Allen and Stanley Kubrick). We will examine the historical context of the films, for example the coming of sound and the censorship of the Production Code, and we will consider the conventions of genres, such as screwball comedy. Films will be chosen from among the following: The Kid, The General, The Freshman, The Strong Man, Big Business, The Music Box, Duck Soup, I’m No Angel, The Dentist, The Pharmacist, Bringing Up Baby, All About Eve, Trouble in Paradise, The Girl Can’t Help It, the Bellboy, Dr. Strangelove, Young Frankenstein, Annie Hall, Raising Arizona, Best in Show, and the Grand Budapest Hotel.

REQUIREMENTS:

Weekly class screenings, class discussion, readings on Canvas, weekly postings on the films and the readings, take-home mid-term and final.

Schedule: Tuesday From 2:30 pm To 7:15 pm

Graduation requirements:

• Genre Study (Film)
• ()
• Women and Gender Studies (3c)

Teaching Faculty: Cutler Janet (cutlerj)

Is course canceled: No