BUI301 Funny Story
From Screenpedia
Blount 301 Funny Story is a seminar taught in the Blount Scholars Program by Jeremy Butler, professor emeritus of television and film, the University of Alabama, during the fall 2022 semester.
Course objectives
- The course will present analytical methods for understanding how humor functions in film, television, and other media.
- The course will discuss theories of humor.
- The course will introduce students to various makers of humorous stories.
Course analyses
A (mostly) visual analysis
Each student will analyze the visual humor in a short film by Buster Keaton.
- You will be assigned a short
- Learn basic Wikipedia editing and create a Wikipedia-style article for your short on Screenpedia. (The best articles will be uploaded to Wikipedia.)
- Learn how to make screenshots (probably with VLC Media Player) and capture at least one from every shot in the short.
- Submit your screenshots.
- Select a short segment (minimum 5 minutes) and identify comic moments in it.
- Use the theories of humor we discussed to explain why they are comic.
A (mostly) verbal analysis
Each student will select a half-hour TV comedy and analyze its use of humor. Elements of the analysis include:
- Recaps (short summaries of the plots) of episodes (posted to Blackboard)
- Identification of the show's narrative problematic.
- Discuss how it plays out in two specific episodes (using the recaps for reference)
- Discussion of specific examples of theories of humor: superiority, relief/release, and incongruity
- Explain the theories of humor first and then provide at least two examples for each theory
- Use the analysis of Modern Family in The Sitcom as a model for analysis
Online study guides
Chronological order
List of discussion notes
Study groups
Group A:
- Architha Bommena
- Anna Gardner Herren
- Ava Sweeney
Group B:
- Daisy Hudson
- Josh Mellott
- Kate Paras
Group C:
- Alex Landgraf
- Logan Busbee
- Marguerite Sprain
Group D:
- Mary Elizabeth Martin
- Sam Sompayrac
- Zachary Foley
Texts & resources
Books
- Noël Carroll, Humour: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).