CIN270Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Smart-1
11 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Tuesday, Feb. 8 2018
CIN270Y1
CLASS 2.10
Reconfiguring American Film Genres III: Romantic Comedy
Smart Cinema
• Viewers are meant to see these families as representatives of certain societal norms
• Representation of malfunctioning families shows characters who are emblematic
From Indie to “Smart”
1. Characters = emblems
2. Form is a game (or puzzle)
3. When in doubt, read as anti-Hollywood
Awkward Humour
• Many media forms today rely upon “awkward humour”
• Discomfort, physical ineptitude
• Characters lack self-awareness
• They’re clueless…
• About themselves, the world, how they’re seen by others…
Laughter?
• Superiority towards the object
• Freud: outlet for aggressive tendencies
• Jokes can be hostile, “clear away social barriers”
• Hobbes: apprehension of the inferior
• Plato: inadequacy of the object
Henri Bergson
• “mechanical inelasticity”
• Special “lack of adaptability to society”
• Comic figures misconstrue social customs
• They misrecognize their relation to others
Differences in Perception
• Awkward humour: differences in perception
• Subjects are INATTENTIVE to the world
• They fail to see themselves
Hollywood’s Romantic Comedies
Three major fields of conflict:
1. Generations – meet the parents
2. Men and women (couples, obstacles, unity
3. Within the self
Eternal Puzzle? Fantastic Interiority
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Smart cinema: viewers are meant to see these families as representatives of certain societal norms, representation of malfunctioning families shows characters who are emblematic. From indie to smart : characters = emblems, form is a game (or puzzle, when in doubt, read as anti-hollywood. Awkward humour: many media forms today rely upon awkward humour , discomfort, physical ineptitude, characters lack self-awareness, they"re clueless , about themselves, the world, how they"re seen by others . Laughter: superiority towards the object, freud: outlet for aggressive tendencies, jokes can be hostile, clear away social barriers , hobbes: apprehension of the inferior, plato: inadequacy of the object. Henri bergson: mechanical inelasticity , special lack of adaptability to society , comic figures misconstrue social customs, they misrecognize their relation to others. Differences in perception: awkward humour: differences in perception, subjects are inattentive to the world, they fail to see themselves.
