Questions for the 'Comic Mode'

Extract 1 Mimesis

1. In your own words explain mimesis.

2. How does Sophocles represent or imitate human behavior in the play Oedipus the King?

3. How does John Barth do it in his play Giles the Goat Boy.


Extract 2 Origins of the tragic and comic views of human behavior.

In Extract 1 Joseph Meeker reveals two views of human behavior, one tragic the other comic. Group 1 will explain this in detail during the seminar.For now answer the following questions once you have read your extract.

1. According to Meeker what is the origin of the tragic view?
2. What are the assumptions made about 'man'?
3. Explain why Meeker thinks comedy is universal.
4. Why does Suzanne Langer say comedy is "amoral".
5. What makes comedy pessimistic and tragerdy optimistic?
6. Paraphrase the last paragraph.

Extract 3 - Comus and Lysistrata

1. Who is Comus?
2. What is his role in Nature and in human affairs?
3. What has he got to do with comedy?
4. The ancient comedy of Lysistrata illustrates the role of Comus. Read the description and paraphrase it for the class showing how the demi-god works to restore equilibrium.
5. How does comedy regard tragedy?

Extract 4 - Who is imitating who?

1. "Art imitates life." Is this true? What did Oscar Wilde think?
2. How did Don Quixote become a knight errant.
3. Explain the author thinks that modern people can't really be convincingly tragic anymore. To help you, in line 21 you could replace the word 'Moderns' with 'People living in the modern scientific age'.
4. What is the prerequisite for tragedy.
5. What is the additional belief the goes along with this prerequisite?
6. What could make a tragic heroe's quest absurd?
7. Why does tragedy parody itself?

Class discussion:

Do you agree with Meeker? Explain your answer.

Why we laugh

There is nothing comical beyond what is clearly human. A landscape can be beautiful, gracious, sublime, insignificant or ugly, but it can never be laughable. (Henri Bergson, Le Rire pp2-3).


In this unit we will look at some of the reasons why we laugh and the nature of comedy. We will begin with an analysis of a particular advertisement that showed on Prague TV in 2001.

We will do it from three points of view. First, using the ideas of French philosopher Henri Bergson, then of Russian philosopher and literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin, and finally of biologist and literary theorist Joseph Meeker.

Click on the link below and watch the advertisement then answer the questions to check your comprehension. After that, in small groups compare your answers before attacking the discussion questions below.

Be Kind to Your Local Nazi - Youtube



Comprehension questions

What is the main point made by the advertisement?

Why, according to the adverisement, do nazis find it hard to make contact with other members of society?

What example of a social program is shown in the advertisement to help nazis integrate into society.

Discussion questions

Part A
1) Explain how the humour in the advertisement works.
2) Do you think the advertisement achieves its goals?
Part B
3) What do you think the reaction of the nazi community was in Prague after seeing this advertisement?
Click on the following link and listen to an item from Radio Praha (Radio Prague) in which the campaign methods and success are discussed. Answer the questions below after you have finished listening.

Anti-racist campaign considered a success

4) Where had the advertisement been shown prior to its screening in Prague?
5) What was the most important target group?
6) What was the strategy to dissuade them from joining neo-nazi groups?
7) What was the reaction from the fascist community?
8) The response of the target age group was positive. How did this age group respond to earlier anti-racist campaigns?

Answers will be in the next post.

Analysis

Part 1 - Henri Bergson's Le Rire

Read the following summary of French philosopher Henri Bergson's essay Le Rire, Written in 1940 'Le Rire' was an attempt to explain why people laugh. Once you have read the brief summary analyse the advertisement from Bergon's point of view.


Part 2 - Bakhtin's 'Carnival Laugh'

Read the following summary of Mikhail Bakhtin's understanding of the purpose of the carnival in Medieval and Renaissance Europe. Once you have done this analyse the advertisement from Bakhtin's point of view.

Bakhtin's Carnival Summary

Answers will be in the next post.

Part 3 - Joseph Meeker's Comic and Tragic Modes

In groups you will study sections of The Comic Mode by Joseph Meeker and answer questions.

I will give you your readings in class.

Tragic and Comic Modes Summary


For you to consider:

Try to explain the humour in this sketch

The fish slapping dance


Further Reading

Toby Graffit, Edith McMorran and Jane Taylor (2005) The Anatomy of Laughter. Legenda.


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© All Copyright, 2007, Ray Genet