...Perceptions of Women and Female Adolescents: An Annotated Bibliography Green, C. (2013, April). The effects of romantic comedies on women and female adolescents. Paper presented at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), University of Wisconsin La Crosse, WI. In the article, Green points out how romantic comedies alter women’s and female adolescents’ perceptions of romantic relationships. She refers to Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (as cited in Green, 2013) to explain how they learn from observation and copy behaviors that are depicted by romantic comedies. She advocates that romantic comedies cause women to have high expectations of their romantic relationships and that these movies or series support conventional patriarchal ideals and post-feminist ideologies. She explains that romantic comedies make women believe that the behaviors of the male partners that are depicted in the shows are truly ideal and should be expected in a romantic relationship. With all these explanations, the article answers my research question directly as can be predicted from its title. The article’s being supported with Social Cognitive Theory and concrete examples makes it more reliable. Moreover, it is quite recent. Johnson, K. R., & Holmes, B. M. (2009, July-September). Contradictory messages: A content analysis of Hollywood-produced romantic comedy feature films. Communication Quarterly, 57(3), 352-373. Retrieved from http://academic.csuohio.edu/kneuendorf/c63310/ArticlesFromClassMembers/Joe...
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...Frye states that “[comedy] has been remarkably tenacious of its structural principles and character types,” and can be explained by the green world theory (163). The structural movement of comedy flows from an old society to the green world in response to a recognizable central conflict created by the power holding characters of the play. Once in the green world, there is a lack of societal rules and the conflict can resolve leading to the formation of a new society, indicated by some kind of party or festival (Frye 163). Frye further explains that this structural component of comedy is the origin of comedic form. At first William Shakespeare’s play, The Taming of the Shrew seems to have a clear message that the green world theory does not define the structure of the play and that Petruchio tames Katherine. While this could be an interpretation of the play, I find it unlikely that this is the case. The analysis of the film, 10 Things I Hate About You, opens the door visually to see the green world theory in action, which allows the reader to appreciate The Taming of the Shrew as a comedy as well as reinterpret its conclusion. The green world theory is the structural backbone of The Taming of the Shrew, and commands that Katherine and Petruchio change over the course of the play and ultimately both are tamed. The green world theory can be seen in 10 Things by analyzing Frye’s key elements of comedy, such as form, character type, and repetition. The movie opens in an old society...
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...The classic tragedy, as defined by Aristotle, has six major parts. These parts include a plot, characters, theme, melody, spectacle, and language. All stories, according to Aristotle must have a beginning, middle, and end, and must follow a logical sequence according to these six elements. The plot is the series of events, or sequence in which the action of the play occurs. Plot must follow a cause and effect relationship, which follows a logical pattern. Characters are the people in the play, who have certain qualities that can be determined by what they say, do and what others say about them. The theme of the play is the general feeling or statement made by the author that presents an observation or thought to the audience. Melody is the musical quality of the play, which includes a change of pitch by the voice, musical instruments , and also includes the high and low points of the play giving it an overall melodic quality. Spectacle includes the visual elements of the play, anything that is observed by sight. Often in modern movies and plays spectacle can be overdone, especially if a reason for the spectacle cannot be found. Language is the dialog or speech that makes up the story, and is used by characters to present the play to the audience. Aristotle lays out a very specific definition of what a tragedy should include, and how each element should be presented. He tells us that the tragedy must include these six elements and that they must be laid out in a logical manner...
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...study will show why movie that were produced in Malaysia diverting to horror comedy genre. This study also will show that why demand of horror comedy genre increased. The objective to know whether this movie genre are giving impact on Malaysian social economy and to know to what extent of the trend of horror film. The research will be done by using survey techniques and will be given to 100 participants among the student population in UiTM Shah Alam. This study will show that horror comedy genre demand are more than horror genre. 1.Introduction In my opinion, horror film is a genre that aims to create a sense of fear, panic, alarm, and dread for the audience. These films are often unsettling and rely on scaring the audience through a portrayal of their worst fears and nightmares. Horror films usually center on the arrival of an evil force, person, or event. Horror film may become as an adventures to some people. This is because the film may play with the viewer emotions. According to Danielle Braff on his article about Movies may cause special effects on the body, he stated that the people who are fascinated by horror movies tend to be the same people who love to sky-dive, go rock climbing and try extreme skiing adventures. The horror genre allows them the opportunity to experience events and people who otherwise wouldn't enter their lives. In my opinion, comedy is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. These films are...
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...arguments she offers to support her thesis that comedy requires just as much shadiness as it does enlightenment rely on her research, studies, and experiences. I will argue that Khazan’s argument succeeds because of the overflow of the compelling evidence she provided in support of her claim. Olga Khazan believes that majority of people find jokes with a little controversy in them to be funnier than those without it. In order for people to laugh at someone’s joke there needs to be some kind of wicked jerk. Peter McGraw believes the best jokes “take something awful and make it silly. Go purely light-hearted and you risk being toothless. Too edgy.. you’ll make people uncomfortable” (Khazan). With this McGraw is saying that it is okay to offend people to a certain degree with jokes. It should be part of the joke. But it should have an equal amount of “feel-good” to it. For example, when the attacks on September 11th happened the whole country stopped. People needed ways to cope. Comedy was nowhere to be found because no one wanted to offend anyone and they did not think anyone would appreciate any comedy. But The Onion thought differently and began to print articles joking about the terrorists. They were not sure how it would go but the issue was a smash. In response, the people overwhelmed The Onion with fan mail because they “seemed to find catharsis in the terrorists’ derisive rendering” (Khazan). They followed McGraw’s theory to perfection and gave the readers equal parts darkness...
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...Professor Barbara J. Wilson, Chair Associate Professor John P. Caughlin Associate Professor Kristen Harrison Associate Professor Travis L. Dixon ABSTRACT Romantic comedy films have been popular since motion pictures first entered the media world. Scholars have speculated why these movies remain appealing to viewers and have argued for several reasons. These movies might foster hope about real-life romance (Galician, 2004), or demonstrate that that there are no limits to how love may manifest itself (Harvey, 1998). Despite this speculation, few studies have systematically investigated the content of these movies or the effects they may have on viewers. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate that potential. In particular, I conducted two studies that explored the nature of romantic ideals in romantic comedy films and their influence on viewer endorsement of romantic beliefs. The first study was a content analysis of the themes or romantic ideals embedded in romantic comedies. The second study was a survey designed to explore whether exposure to such films encourages the learning of romantic ideals among young people. The theories of uses and gratifications, social cognitive, and cultivation served to inform this project. I first analyzed the content of over 50 top-grossing films from the romantic comedy genre. This process involved identifying the type, nature, and context of romantic ideal expressions that characters in these films make...
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...explosions, guns, people screaming in terror, and car chases, these conventions all suggest it is an action film, however there are also scenes such as when one of the police officer falls through a fence, and when they have to find a swan, these all connote it is also a comedy. This links to Rick Altman’s theory, the semantics of Hot Fuzz of the guns, explosions suggest it’s an action however the syntactic such as the dialogue of the characters portray a comedy. Although, the props of the film and a few scenes suggest it’s an action film, the lay out of the trailer, signify it’s a parody of an action film which is part of Steve Neale’s theory of the cycle. Robert Stam might support the idea that this film overlaps genre boundaries creating this film a hybrid genre. This could have been done to create a wider target audience but not too big as everyone would not feel engaged enough. Therefore it would get more publicity as people who enjoy action and people who enjoy comedy would go to see it. I think both of these genres have remained popular as with comedy you can use different jokes, different ways to make people laugh, ensuring people to feel like its constantly new material to keep them laughing and engaged in the comedy genre. The action genre has also stayed popular as its repetition and keeps them on edge of what stunt is going to happen next. Such as in hot fuzz, there’s a massive explosion of a house, this then could happen at the start of the film, there is always a new plot...
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...In times of loss, those who are inclined to forget about or feel better about the situation they are in will turn to comedy. Comedy is simply a guy or girl telling jokes that they hope will elicit a response in the form of laughter. The art of humor is something comedians have mastered and are able to call upon at a moment’s notice. Whether it is stories about the comedians past or just something they saw, the best comedians are able to make a crowd of people laugh by just relaying the information. However, comedy is perceived differently in every person and it adds a degree of difficulty when one is trying to tell a joke. While the general population may think a joke is funny, there may be one, two, or even dozens of people who view the joke as insensitive or just not funny. There is a predominant theory that makes finding what people think is funny easier to narrow down known as benign violation theory, which breaks down what is and isn’t funny. To understand how benign...
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...Contents Introduction…………………………….……….…………….…………………... 3 FIRST PART 1. What is Humour?..................................................................................................... 5 2. Humour and Culture…………………………….……………………………...… 6 3. What amuses Britain?……………………………….…….……….………...…… 7 4. Comedy…………………………………………………………………………… 8 4.1 British Comedy………………………………………………..………………..… 9 5. British Television Comedy.……………………………..……………………...… 9 5.1 Sitcom - situational comedy……………………………………………………. 10 5.1.1 Britcom……………………………………………………………….…….…… 11 SECOND PART 6. What makes Britain laugh?..……………………………………………..…… … 11 6.1 Madness & Surrealism………………………………………………………….. .12 6.1.1 Monty Python's Flying Circus…………………………………..………….…… 12 6.2 Political Satire…………………………………………………..…………….…. 14 6.2.1 Yes, Minister……………………………………..………………….……. …….. 15 6.3 The Race……………………………………………………….…………….. …. 17 6.3.1 Da Ali G Show……………………………………………………………….. … 18 6.4. The Family………………………………………………...…………….…… … 20 6.4.1 Only Fools and Horses………………………..……………..……... .. 21 THIRD PART 7. It’s Monty Python!.………………………………………………... ….… 24 8. Manipulation in Political Life……………………………………… ……. 26 9. “Boyakasha!”..................................................................................... 27 10. "This time next year, we'll be millionaires!"………………………. .… ….. 30 Conclusion…………………………………………………………. 33 Appendices Appendix A……………………………………………………………….. 35 Appendix...
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...conventions of the realist novel Realist novel through divide in class. Generic convetions are romance, comedy (of manners) and drama. Austen details marriage throughout and this will reflect the society at the time of writing. The pragmatism is the need to be married. The novel employs narrative technique of free indirect speech. Narrative – 3rd person, effect on genre. Romance is represented through characters being kept apart. Misconceptions, miscommunication and quick judgements are key facts. Mr Darcy the alpha male who takes charge of the situation. The heroin must be saved, clear convention however she is not the typical as she is not in phycial danger but instead her families place in society is (impotant theme during time). The relationships between characters, especially the main of Elizabeth and Darcy. ‘In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you’ – Elizabeth. (Detail of relationship, tone and language). Argument - being microcosm of society and money. There is a lot of sexual tension and potential love affair – only a device. Elizabeth as a character is not completely romantic. She’s witty and changes her heart. Question of the novel being a moral tale and there is the consideration of ramifications of reckless behavior. Is it a true consequence of folly? Comedy is evident. Austen pokes fun at society. Satirical look at the life the author lives in. Austen uses the...
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...Bryce Dale U0846264 A Survey of Jewish and African American Humor Ethnic humor is a widely used social mechanism that can help ethnic groups, whether brought together by religion or skin color, come to terms with their identity as well as negotiate shifting relationships with other groups of varying backgrounds. Multifaceted in nature, ethnic humor can be used both internally to ridicule members of one’s own society as well as externally, ridiculing oppressing parties. Either way, ethnic humor allows for oppressed societies to advance in the face of adversity. The two most prevalent cases of this are in the Black and Jewish communities. I will go on to explain the similarities, such as ancient origins of Jewish and African American humor, and the differences, like the opposite routes the respective styles took as they modernized in American culture. Perhaps the reason for two largely oppressed groups to incorporate humor into their culture is best explained by T. Cohen when he says, “An absurdity can be and example, a symbol, or even, say, an emblem of incomprehensibility. To laugh at absurdity can be an acceptance of its incomprehensibility.” African American humor has even converged with Jewish humor on many occasions, such as the musical The Jazz Singer, where Jews portray black characters, and even more recently with Jewish comedian Larry David portraying ethnic differences between Blacks and Jews on Curb Your Enthusiasm. We will now examine how two ethnicities with...
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...genre of black comedy, comedy, crime and thriller, whilst also touching on horror at points (the murders). The Avengers Assemble has a hybrid genre of sci-fi, action and fantasy. I will be looking at the parts of these movies that are typical of the genres that they are categorised in. The first text I will explore is Sightseers. In black comedies and crime, the iconography and location is often rural countryside; so Sightseers is challenging the conventions of the crime genre – often held in places associated more with ‘gangsters’, e.g. council estates, rougher areas (perhaps more populated) as opposed to the peaceful nature of the countryside. The choice of a caravan park adds a feeling of tranquillity and isn't an immediate location that springs to mind when it comes to thinking about the crime genre - so Ben Wheatley, the director, who has directed black comedies in the past, will have wanted to challenge the conventions of these movies. The comedy aspect is explored within quite a few scenes, the jokey comments that Tina is making to her mum at the beginning of the movie (where she repeats 'mum' several times, which is becomes quite humorous). The sort of humour used does challenge the conventions of a comedy as there are no out and out jokes, but some of the shots used such as Tina throwing food inside a bears mouth create a shock factor, that also makes you laugh - this is another way in which Ben Wheatley has challenged the conventions. Black comedy and the touches...
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...The Benign Violation Theory is defined by Peter McGraw and Joel Warner in their article, “The Humor Code” (McGraw and Warner). The Benign Violation Theory is, “the idea that humor arises when something seems wrong or threatening, but is simultaneously OK or safe” (McGraw and Warner). In other words, humor is found between the balance of too offensive and too boring. So, when joking about domestic violence what makes the subject offensive? What makes the subject boring? It’s obvious what makes domestic violence humor offensive- it’s a crime. Not only is domestic violence a crime, but it is a deadly crime. According to the most recent study, over 1,600 women are killed each year due to domestic violence (Wyman). These are not very easy numbers to laugh about. On the other hand, what would make domestic violence humor boring would be if the comedian tried to tip toe around the subject and treat it like the elephant in the room. The comedian must intrigue the audience into listening to them, but not take the seriousness too far before pulling out the punch line. This is what the Benign Violation Theory is all...
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...famous comedies written by Shakespeare. It is written in the modern style, and is mainly in prose form. It was written for the audience in the Elizabethan era of England, which was the age when females were considered significantly inferior to their male counterparts. Shakespeare has used this concept of gender for creating humour in his play. The characters Benedict and Beatrice are involved in a complex relationship which contrasts between love and hate. Both Beatrice and Benedict are strong willed, intelligent characters, who fear that falling in love will lead to a loss of freedom and eventually heartbreak. Various theories have been proposed which govern humour and comedy. The superiority theory proposed by Plato describes the darker side of comedy that Is often laughed at over unfortunate situations and social standings. Infirmity in others as compared to our own is often laughed at. These same principles has been applied to the story of the play, and the inferiority of females has been used as the basis for creating humour. [quick quote & example to back this up?] The characters Shakespeare's “Much Ado about Nothing” contribute to build the humorous essence of play through their roles. Several characters of the play presented comical language and gestures such as Benedick and Beatrice’s unromantic backbiting. In addition, the high-mannered Elizabethan society in which the characters of the play lived in also played a part to make the play a comedy. Beatrice...
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...Elianne El-Amyouni Dr. Sabah Ghandour English 244 Comedy and Tragedy in Drama “All tragedies are finished by a death. All comedies are ended by a marriage,” (Byron, N.D.). To some degree, Byron is somewhat correct. Of course, there are dramatic texts considered under the category of “tragedy” that do involve death while there are also those that do not. In Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba, the play tragically ends with the death of one of the main character’s daughters. On the other hand, Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, although including tragedy and sadness in the ending, did not involve death. Likewise with comedies, although some classics do end in marriage as in Chekhov’s The Brute, comic endings can vary greatly. Moreover, plays over time have varied greatly in their morals, structure and form, and belong to a much larger scale than only death and marriage. Musical Greek dramas, biblical re-enactments of Medieval drama, pastoral drama of 16th century Italy and the “Theatre of the Absurd” are all contributors to the definition of drama. While Byron may not have been completely serious when coming up with this saying, it is unfair to limit the end of all tragedies to death and of all comedies to marriage, especially since the categories of drama vary greatly. First of all, a common genre in dramatic plays is tragedy. Garcia Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba is an ideal example of Byron’s “tragedy”. The play discusses the sexually repressed lives of a group of young women...
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