Hokum!, the first book to take a comprehensive view of short-subject slapstick comedy in the early sound era, challenges the received wisdom that sound destroyed the slapstick tradition. Author Rob King explores the slapstick short's Depression-era development against a backdrop of changes in film industry practice, comedic tastes, and moviegoing culture. Each chapter is grounded in case studies of comedians and comic teams, including the Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, and Robert Benchley. The book also examines how the past legacy of silent-era slapstick was subsequently reimagined as part of a nostalgic mythology of Hollywood's youth. "A valuable contribution to historiography in its ability to fill a hole in contemporary film history, increasing our understanding of both the (perceived) narrowed place of the comedy film short in the 1930s and the production and reception of slapstick comedy during that era." -KATHRYN FULLER-SEELEY, Professor of Radio-Television-Film, University of Texas at Austin "With solid research, jewel-like prose, and plenty of wry humor, Rob King convincingly busts the myths and chases away the nostalgia for silent film comedy. Instead, we leave with a lasting sense of the form's persistent cultural relevance." -DONALD CRAFTON, author of Shadow of a Mouse "Hokum! moves deftly through questions of performance, aesthetics, technology, political economy, trade practices, and popular reception to convincingly unseat deeply entrenched understandings of the transition to sound and its impact on the history of screen comedy. This book is some of the smartest film history being written today." -MARK LYNN ANDERSON, author of Twilight of the Idols ROB KING is Associate Professor at Columbia University's School of the Arts and author of the award-winning The Fun Factory: The Keystone Film Company and the Emergence of Mass Culture.
International audience ; Betrachtungen zum Verhältnis von Krieg und Komik wenden sich dem Thema zumeist unter der Frage nach der Unvereinbarkeit von der Katastrophe Krieg und dessen Repräsentation im Modus des Komischen zu. Im Bereich des Films geraten dabei hauptsächlich der Zweite Weltkrieg mit zeitgenössischen Klassikern in den Blick. Am Ende des "Zeitalters der Extreme" (Eric Hobsbawm) ist auch die Judenvernichtung ein möglichesThema der Komödie geworden. Darüber hinaus werden noch der Koreakrieg als Folie für den Vietnamkrieg und ansatzweise der erste Golf-Krieg wahrgenommen, führen aber wie Komödien generell in Kompendien und Genredarstellungen zum Kriegsfilm bestenfalls eine Randexistenz. Die frühe Filmgeschichte bleibt dabei ebenso unterbelichtet wie der Erste Weltkrieg.Doch bereits in klassischen Slapstick-Komödien wurde das Thema aufgegriffen. Anstatt von einem generellen Widerspruch auszugehen, sei aufParallelen zwischen Krieg und Burleske verwiesen: ein prinzipiell chaotischer Charakter, die Entwicklung einer Eigendynamik mit nicht kalkulierbaren Folgen, Kontrollverlust der vermeintlichen Akteure, maximale Zerstörung der Umwelt und Deformation/Destruktiondes menschlichen Körpers6, Verselbständigung der Dingwelt und Maschinisierung des Lebendigen – Eigenschaften, die sowohl auf den Krieg wie auf Slapstick-Filme zutreffen. Diese Ambivalenz spiegelt sich auch im Begriff "Lachbomben" wider, der auch auf die Kommunikation zwischen Film und Publikum verweist, charakterisiert durch die notorische Unberechenbarkeit des Lachens, in das wir ausbrechen oder das gewaltsamaus uns herausplatzen kann.
International audience ; Betrachtungen zum Verhältnis von Krieg und Komik wenden sich dem Thema zumeist unter der Frage nach der Unvereinbarkeit von der Katastrophe Krieg und dessen Repräsentation im Modus des Komischen zu. Im Bereich des Films geraten dabei hauptsächlich der Zweite Weltkrieg mit zeitgenössischen Klassikern in den Blick. Am Ende des "Zeitalters der Extreme" (Eric Hobsbawm) ist auch die Judenvernichtung ein möglichesThema der Komödie geworden. Darüber hinaus werden noch der Koreakrieg als Folie für den Vietnamkrieg und ansatzweise der erste Golf-Krieg wahrgenommen, führen aber wie Komödien generell in Kompendien und Genredarstellungen zum Kriegsfilm bestenfalls eine Randexistenz. Die frühe Filmgeschichte bleibt dabei ebenso unterbelichtet wie der Erste Weltkrieg.Doch bereits in klassischen Slapstick-Komödien wurde das Thema aufgegriffen. Anstatt von einem generellen Widerspruch auszugehen, sei aufParallelen zwischen Krieg und Burleske verwiesen: ein prinzipiell chaotischer Charakter, die Entwicklung einer Eigendynamik mit nicht kalkulierbaren Folgen, Kontrollverlust der vermeintlichen Akteure, maximale Zerstörung der Umwelt und Deformation/Destruktiondes menschlichen Körpers6, Verselbständigung der Dingwelt und Maschinisierung des Lebendigen – Eigenschaften, die sowohl auf den Krieg wie auf Slapstick-Filme zutreffen. Diese Ambivalenz spiegelt sich auch im Begriff "Lachbomben" wider, der auch auf die Kommunikation zwischen Film und Publikum verweist, charakterisiert durch die notorische Unberechenbarkeit des Lachens, in das wir ausbrechen oder das gewaltsamaus uns herausplatzen kann.
International audience ; Betrachtungen zum Verhältnis von Krieg und Komik wenden sich dem Thema zumeist unter der Frage nach der Unvereinbarkeit von der Katastrophe Krieg und dessen Repräsentation im Modus des Komischen zu. Im Bereich des Films geraten dabei hauptsächlich der Zweite Weltkrieg mit zeitgenössischen Klassikern in den Blick. Am Ende des "Zeitalters der Extreme" (Eric Hobsbawm) ist auch die Judenvernichtung ein möglichesThema der Komödie geworden. Darüber hinaus werden noch der Koreakrieg als Folie für den Vietnamkrieg und ansatzweise der erste Golf-Krieg wahrgenommen, führen aber wie Komödien generell in Kompendien und Genredarstellungen zum Kriegsfilm bestenfalls eine Randexistenz. Die frühe Filmgeschichte bleibt dabei ebenso unterbelichtet wie der Erste Weltkrieg.Doch bereits in klassischen Slapstick-Komödien wurde das Thema aufgegriffen. Anstatt von einem generellen Widerspruch auszugehen, sei aufParallelen zwischen Krieg und Burleske verwiesen: ein prinzipiell chaotischer Charakter, die Entwicklung einer Eigendynamik mit nicht kalkulierbaren Folgen, Kontrollverlust der vermeintlichen Akteure, maximale Zerstörung der Umwelt und Deformation/Destruktiondes menschlichen Körpers6, Verselbständigung der Dingwelt und Maschinisierung des Lebendigen – Eigenschaften, die sowohl auf den Krieg wie auf Slapstick-Filme zutreffen. Diese Ambivalenz spiegelt sich auch im Begriff "Lachbomben" wider, der auch auf die Kommunikation zwischen Film und Publikum verweist, charakterisiert durch die notorische Unberechenbarkeit des Lachens, in das wir ausbrechen oder das gewaltsamaus uns herausplatzen kann.
Purpose of Article. The purposes of the article are to characterize the features of comedy's genres, to analyse their employment in directing of the modern spectacular and entertaining various shows. Methodology. The research methodology is to apply the analytical, functional, art history, comparative and systematic methods of research in the different kinds of comedy's genres, their characteristics, the principles of their implementation in spectacular and entertaining shows and directing as the integral mechanism. It interprets a work of art in connection with its stage forms. Furthermore, the author studies the spectacular entertainment show as a complex form of mixed comedy's genres. Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty of the research is to define the criteria of conceptual directing activities in the creation of spectacular entertainment show on stage and to determine the features of professional skill of performers, and in the analysis of genre features of modern entertainment comedy shows. Conclusions. Thus, we could make the following conclusions. First of all, in the scenic embodiment of the spectacular entertainment show, the laconism and emotional expressiveness of the music give an opportunity to the director of the original decision making on stage work. Secondly, the main features of entertainment show are high emotional intensity, rhythmic contrast of the action, the expressive nature of the characters. Thirdly, a range of genre varieties of comedy is very broad from farcical comedy, slapstick comedy to "high" comedy, comedy of cloak and sword, the political pamphlet. Fourthly, the art of directing of spectacular and entertaining variety shows aims at integrating separate performances in a single united stage work by the specific scenario-directing approach and techniques. The art of directing of a performance of entertainment show is based on the cooperation between a master and an actor. ; Цель работы – охарактеризовать особенности комедийных жанров, проанализировать их использование в режиссерской работе над созданием современных зрелищно-развлекательных эстрадных шоу. Методология иссле- дования заключается в применении аналитического, функционального, искусствоведческого, сравнительного и системного методов исследования разных видов комедийных жанров, их особенностей, принципов воплощения в зрелищно-развлекательном шоу и роли режиссуры как целостного механизма, который интерпретирует художественное произведение относительно к его сценической форме, и исследовании зрелищно-развлекательных шоу на эстраде как комплексных форм смешанного комедийного жанра. Научная новизна исследования состоит в определении крите- риев концептуальности режиссерской деятельности в создании зрелищно-развлекательных шоу на эстраде. В обос- новании особенностей профессионального мастерства артиста эстрады и в анализе жанровых признаков современных зрелищных комедийных шоу на эстраде. Выводы. В результате проведенного анализа исследования можно сделать следующие выводы: во-первых, в сценическом воплощении зрелищно-развлекательного шоу лаконизм и эмоциональная выразительность музыки дает режиссеру широкие возможности оригинального решения сценического произведения; во-вторых, главными особенностями зрелищно-развлекательного шоу есть высокий эмоциональный накал, ритмическая контрастность развития действия, выразительное раскрытие характера персонажей; в третьих, диапазон жанровых разновидностей комедии очень широкий – от балаганной комедии, комедии фарса до "высокой" комедии, комедии плаща и шпаги, политического памфлета; в четвертых, искусство режиссуры зрелищно- развлекательных эстрадных шоу предусматривает объединение отдельных номеров в единое целостное сценическое произведение с помощью определенного сценарно-режиссерского хода и применения авторских приемов и акцентов, как способов творческой мастерской, по законам комедийного жанра; последнее, искусство режиссуры сценического номера зрелищно-развлекательного шоу на эстраде строится на совместной работе мастера и артиста над образом. ; Мета роботи. Охарактеризувати особливості комедійних жанрів, проаналізувати їх використання у режисер- ській роботі над створенням сучасних видовищно-розважальних естрадних шоу. Методологія дослідження полягає у застосуванні аналітичного, функціонального, мистецтвознавчого, порівняльного та системного методів дослідження різновидів комедійних жанрів, їх особливостей, принципів втілення у видовищно-розважальному шоу та ролі режисури як цілісного механізму, що інтерпретує художній твір відповідно до його сценічної форми та дослідження видовищно- розважальних шоу на естраді як комплексних форм змішаного комедійного жанру. Наукова новизна дослідження полягає у: визначенні критеріїв концептуальності режисерської діяльності у створенні видовищно-розважальних шоу на естраді; обґрунтуванні особливостей професійної майстерності артиста естради; аналізі жанрових ознак сучасних ви- довищних комедійних шоу на естраді. Висновки. У результаті проведеного дослідження можна зробити висновки: по- перше, у сценічному втіленні видовищно-розважального шоу лаконізм та емоційна виразність музики надає режисеру широкі можливості оригінального рішення сценічного твору; по-друге, головними особливостями видовищно- розважального шоу є високе емоційне напруження, ритмічна контрастність розвитку дії, виразне розкриття характеру персонажів; по-третє, діапазон жанрових різновидів комедій дуже широкий – від балаганної комедії, комедії фарсу до "високої" комедії, комедії плаща і шпаги, політичного памфлету; в-четвертих, мистецтво режисури видовищно- розважальних естрадних шоу передбачає об'єднання окремих номерів у єдиний цілісний сценічний твір за допомогою визначеного сценарно-режисерського ходу та застосування авторських прийомів й акцентів, як засобів творчої майстерні, за законами комедійного жанру; останнє, мистецтво режисури сценічного номеру видовищно-розважального шоу на естраді будується на спільній роботі майстра і артиста над образом.
A TRIUMVIRATE: KALEIDOSCOPIC PATTERNS AND THEMATIC LINKS IN SATYAJIT RAY'S FAIRYTALE TRILOGY AbstractThis fantasy trilogy demonstrates that the fairy tale is a very fluid form of narrative. It travels from village to town to city, and from country to country, thereby gaining and losing some outstanding characteristics. Magic always prevails, the most distinguishing feature. It can be used for various purposes because its fantasy lends itself to various forms like allegory, satire, parody, symbolism and even realism, the most opposing genre. We see how the progress of the films and the collaboration of several Ray family members make this trilogy so complex, from fairy tale and slapstick comedy to contemporaneous political satire and necromancy.
Artists, writers, and filmmakers from Andy Warhol and J. G. Ballard to Alejandro González Iñárritu and Ousmane Sembène have repeatedly used representations of immobilized and crashed cars to wrestle with the conundrums of modernity. In Crash, Karen Beckman argues that representations of the crash parallel the encounter of film with other media, and that these collisions between media offer useful ways to think about alterity, politics, and desire. Examining the significance of automobile collisions in film genres including the "cinema of attractions," slapstick comedies, and industrial-safety movies, Beckman reveals how the car crash gives visual form to fantasies and anxieties regarding speed and stasis, risk and safety, immunity and contamination, and impermeability and penetration.
International Journal of Film and Media Arts : Vol. 6, nº 3: Special Issue (2021) ; This article frames absurdity as an artistic method related to the context of an artwork's making. The artworks introduced here are (very broadly) situated at the interface between animation and documentary. Their absurdity is not a matter of their content, but is deeply inscribed in the process of their making. Though they do not explicitly address political questions, they strike at the heart of given power systems or established hierarchies and thus hit where it hurts. "Make it absurd!" is a way of transgressing standards and norms and thus undermining established power relations. The article offers close-readings of a small number of contemporary artworks that can be apprehended as stimulating examples of how absurdity as a method deploys its critical potential. As the examples demonstrate, disrupting a given context can be achieved in many ways: By "inflating" formal devices in order to subvert typical elements of televisual language from inside-out (House by Andy Birtwistle, Great Britain 2013); by rendering a source text (and not just any text!) literally unreadable by investing an enormous amount of time to its dismantling ('On the Road' by Jack Kerouac by Jorge Lorenzo, Mexico 2013); by hijacking a male masterpiece and placing the "copy" as well as the female appropriator at the same level as the "master" (A Movie by Jen Proctor by Jen Proctor, USA 2010); by demonstrating that the technique of animation itself bears the mark of the absurd (Anna Vasof's series of works, gathered under the headings of Non-stop Stop-motion and Muybridge's Disobedient Horses, Austria, 2017–); and finally, via a method called "slapstick avant-garde," by launching an attack on purist self-restraint (Dont Know What by Thomas Renoldner, Austria 2019). Keywords: Absurdity as an artistic method, appropriation, animation, slapstick.
Impudent, disrespectful and packed with slapstick comedy – this is the most prominent and most controversial cartoon family in TV history: The Simpsons. Critics complain about the decay of manners and the offensive humor of the show. There is considerable potential for civic education in the yellow universe of The Simpsons, however. On the basis of three Simpsons-episodes this article analyzes the depiction of elections and electoral races in a media democracy. This analysis aims at extracting critical positions from the satiric presentation of debates, media events and political rhetoric and connecting them to real campaigns in Germany and the USA. The examples are supposed to illustrate that The Simpsons do provide critical access to understanding campaigns in media societies – despite all satiric exaggeration of real events. Furthermore, the article shows that the series does not only comment critically on almost any event of social relevance, but also, more importantly, how we can make these comments work in civic education.
AbstractOne of mass media functions is entertainment; itis about diversion to distract attention from dailyroutine through entertainment televisionprogram. However, this function is neglectedwhen commodification through logicalcapitalistic applied to obtain high shared rating.Yuk Keep Smile entertainment program is one ofcommodification through slapstick humorcontent, it is attacking and demeaning otherpeople. This study is using Political EconomyMedia Theory focussing on commodification toanalyze how the content of Yuk Keep Smileentertainment program is applying logicalcapitalistic to obtain high shared rating andignoring the quality of it.Keywords: Political Economy Media,Commodification, Rating, Humor AbstrakSalah satu fungsi media massa adalahmenjalankan fungsi hiburan yakni diversi untukmengalihkan perhatian seseorang dari rutinitassehari-hari melalui tayangan hiburan di televisi.Namun, fungsi ini menjadi terabaikan ketikasebuah tayangan dikemas dalam logikakapitalistik melalui praktik komodifikasi untukmemperoleh rating dan share yang tinggi.Program hiburan Yuk Keep Smile merupakansalah satu yang melakukan praktik komodifikasimelalui konten humor slapstik, salingmenyerang dan merendahkan orang lain.Tulisan ini menggunakan Teori Ekonomi PolitikMedia yang fokus pada komodifikasi untukmenganalisis bagaimana konten-konten hiburanYuk Keep Smile dikomodifikasi berdasarkanlogika kapitalistik untuk memperoleh rating danshare yang tinggi, sementara kualitas kontendiabaikan.Kata kunci: Ekonomi Politik Media, Komodifikasi,Rating, Humor
Theatre critics have proclaimed the death of serious theatre on the stages of Kenya, arguing that all that could be seen are slapstick comedies which cannot survive beyond stage performance. Theatre and art in general is not static; it feeds on the changing needs of humans that produce and consume it. An analysis of the different facets of Theatre in Kenya since 1960 revealed that there is indeed a weaving loop which sustains the interest in theatre, although these genres mutate with changes in socio-economic and political realities of both the producers and the consumers. Noting that there are several milestones that could be used to determine the development of theatre, it is observed that this development, far from being linear, is multidirectional and multi-generic so that theatre could grow out of oral narrative as it has been the tradition as well as comedies off-shooting from day to day life engagements. This article, however, conclusively argues that the concept of intermediality is slowly catching up in the Kenyan theatre and this has blinded many critics into thinking that theatre is dying when in actual sense it is simply fusing itself with other genres/media to come up with other forms of performance.
Slapstick performance and trick cinematography dominated early global cinema. People climb into boxes and are tossed around; they jerry-rig all manner of dwellings and conveyances; they leap out of windows, crash through doors, dangle from clock towers, and slide down staircases; they appear and disappear like ghosts. But what did such visual gags look like in films made in Shanghai, as opposed to Los Angeles? How did filmmakers from different cultural traditions share or adapt comic tropes—and which ones? And how did their comedy change with technology, such as the advent of sound cinema, or with politics, war, and revolution? The following conversation between Henry Jenkins, a media scholar who works primarily on American popular culture, and Christopher Rea, a cultural historian of China, explores comic convergences on the silver screen, focusing on filmmakers who embraced a vaudevillian aesthetic of visceral comedy and variety entertainment. It offers a guided tour of cinematic comedy in comparative perspective, drawing out resonances between Hollywood and Chinese films from the 1910s to the 1950s. Illustrating the discussion are clips from a variety of films, from early works by Charlie Chaplin to the short-lived era of cinematic satire in Mao's China. ; Arts, Faculty of ; Non UBC ; Asian Studies, Department of ; Reviewed ; Faculty
The article focuses on the Russian film director Sergei M. Eisenstein's intention to make a film of Marx's Das Kapital according to its dialectical method, rather than its content. Eisenstein tried to find an appropriate method of visual expression with his own montage dialectics. The first part of the article analyzes Eisenstein's intention to make the adaptation, considered in the historical context of interpretations of Marx's main work. The second part of the article considers Eisenstein's plans for a cinematographic rendition of Das Kapital in an attempt to create a new, 'individual', historical style based on a single film. The visual realization of this work was meant as an attempt to transform Marx's ironic writing style as political expression into a film paradigm. Another pertinent point in this context is the contiguity of Eisenstein's intended approach to Marx's text using some Russian cinematographic styles of the time, especially comedy, satire and slapstick. AbstraktDie Studie konzentriert sich auf Sergej M. Ejzenštejns Absicht, Das Kapital von Karl Marx zu verfilmen. Der russische Regisseur wollte es nicht aufgrund des Textes selbst, sondern seiner dialektischen Methode zu tun. Er versuchte eine geeignete Weise des visuellen Ausdrucks mittels seiner dialektik den Montage zu finden. Der erste Teil der Studie analysiert Ejzenštejns Adaptierungsabsicht im Zusammenhang mit historischen Interpretationen von Marx'Hauptwerk. Der zweite Teil untersucht seine Absicht als einen Versuch, einen neuen "individuellen" historischen Stil aufgrund eines einzelnen Filmwerks zu bilden. Die visuelle Umsetzung dieses Werks strebte danach, Marx'ironische Schreibart als einen politischen Ausdruck in ein Filmparadigma zu transformieren. Ständige Aufmerksamkeit wird auch der Nähe zwischen Ejzenštejns beabsichtigter Stellungnahme zu Marx' Text und den russischen Filmstilen der damaligen Zeit geschenkt, insbesondere der Komödie, Satire und Groteske.
This article frames absurdity as an artistic method related to the context of an artwork's making. The artworks introduced here are (very broadly) situated at the interface between animation and documentary. Their absurdity is not a matter of their content, but is deeply inscribed in the process of their making. Though they do not explicitly address political questions, they strike at the heart of given power systems or established hierarchies and thus hit where it hurts. "Make it absurd!" is a way of transgressing standards and norms and thus undermining established power relations. The article offers close-readings of a small number of contemporary artworks that can be apprehended as stimulating examples of how absurdity as a method deploys its critical potential. As the examples demonstrate, disrupting a given context can be achieved in many ways: By "inflating" formal devices in order to subvert typical elements of televisual language from inside-out (House by Andy Birtwistle, Great Britain 2013); by rendering a source text (and not just any text!) literally unreadable by investing an enormous amount of time to its dismantling ('On the Road' by Jack Kerouac by Jorge Lorenzo, Mexico 2013); by hijacking a male masterpiece and placing the "copy" as well as the female appropriator at the same level as the "master" (A Movie by Jen Proctor by Jen Proctor, USA 2010); by demonstrating that the technique of animation itself bears the mark of the absurd (Anna Vasof's series of works, gathered under the headings of Non-stop Stop-motion and Muybridge's Disobedient Horses, Austria, 2017–); and finally, via a method called "slapstick avant-garde," by launching an attack on purist self-restraint (Dont Know What by Thomas Renoldner, Austria 2019).
There are many assumptions that state that the rules in life are only laws. Many put aside the moral norms called formal legalistic. But basically, not many understand that the true scope of law includes spiritual or theological values. So the law includes many aspects that are very complex and complicated, even as complicated as human life. Because humans are governed by laws that cover all aspects of life, not just physical but spiritual. So the law does not only belong to legal people, but belongs to everyone. The research method used in this article is a qualitative research method with an empirical juridical approach. In this paper, the author discusses leadership, democracy and the morals of a leader in carrying out their duties and responsibilities. The results of the study state that democracy in Indonesia is a political joke. Because it seems that there is a commotion that is not voiced by the people, but is carried out by individuals with certain interests. The true voice of the people is not even taken into account. So the word "slapstick" represents a democratic sentence that is not based on morals.Keywords: Democracy; Moral; Normal AbstrakBanyak anggapan yang menyatakan bahwa aturan dalam hidup hanya hukum semata. Banyak yang menyampingkan norma moral yang disebut formal legalistic. Namun pada dasarnya, tidak banyak yang mengerti bahwa lingkup hukum sejatinya meliputi nilai-nilai spiritual atau teologis. Jadi hukum meliputi banyak segi yang sangat komplek dan rumit, bahkan serumit kehidupan manusia. Karena manusi diatur oleh hukum yang meliputi segala segi kehidupan bukan fisik saja tetapi spiritual. Jadi hukum bukan hanya milik orang hukum, tetapi milik semua orang. Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam artikel ini adalah metode penelitian kualitatif dengan pendekatan yuridis empiris. Dalam penulisan ini penulis membahas tentang kepemimpinan, demokrasi dan moral seorang pemimpin dalam menjalankan tugas dan tanggung jawab. Hasil penelitian menyatakan bahwa, demokrasi di Indonesia adalah dagelan ...
