Discussion Question 7
Comedy

For the following topic you will need to have read a comedy (from the list on our schedule or some other story, play, novel) and watched a comedy film (again, from the list on the schedule or any other comedy film you choose).

As I stated in this week's lecture, there are lots of different kinds of comedy, and there are recognizable elements present in these different kinds. Think about what you've read and seen. See if you can come to a determination about what comedy is and is not, about what sorts of things make people laugh, about what that says about humans in general. So here's the question:

• What is comedy? I don't want you to just take a definition from some outside source; I want you to think about it based on scenes that you describe from your reading and the movie(s) you've chosen. Be very specific. Really think about the subjects of comedy and the purpose of comedy, what comedy says about humans who "find things funny," and so on.