Week 15: The Last Laugh (Movies about Comedians)

Over the past fifteen weeks, we have explored American film comedy from a number of angles, and I hope that the combination of these various points of view has had an impact on how you see comedy films and American culture in general. Frankly, I think it's the culture part that gives this stuff its relevance. As we have discussed, it can be very hard to see outside of the ideologies to which we subscribe, but comedy films can and often do provide much needed perspectives that can help broaden our understanding of what it means to be alive at a certain time or place, whether decades ago or here and now.

As we have seen, these films can also be a lot of fun to watch. I hope that you did enjoy the movies I assigned, or at the very least, that you could appreciate them to some degree. I like to think that everyone in this class watched some movies that they had never seen, and maybe some that they had never heard of before. Ideally, there were even a few that surprised you with their sheer awesomeness. I am also fully aware that most people probably won't watch things like Sullivan's Travels or World's Greatest Dad unless they are assigned to do so, and in that respect, I am merely fulfilling my sacred oath as a film instructor, which dictates that I will make my students watch really good movies that they might not otherwise watch.

That said, I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching this course, and I hope that you got something out of it as well. Now that we're about done with it, I'll admit that this class has involved a lot of writing, both for you and for me. Obviously, I can't speak for you, but personally, I have appreciated the opportunities that this class has provided to articulate and share some of these things that I think are really interesting -- and of course, many of these same ideas also happen to be components of my dissertation, so this has been a good place for me to break down some of these concepts through example and analogy. Besides, I firmly believe that the more you exercise your brain, the stronger it gets. Education really does make people smarter. So does comedy, for that matter. There's a reason we're called smart asses. 

Our class blog, which started as a single webpage with some bad code at the beginning of the semester, now functions properly and contains over a hundred pages, most of which were written by you, the students. And just so you know, over the past four months, this site has received over seven thousand hits from all over the world. People are reading your research and film reflections and probably even learning something. 

It seems that the students have now become the teacher... and so my work here is done.

I shall now go back to wandering the earth and fighting ninjas.

Most people don't realize that you can get kicked out
of ninja school for something as simple as having
Tic-Tacs in the pocket of your corduroy pants. 

Seriously, though, you should all be proud of the work you have put into this class. And yes, I am aware that I have asked a lot out of you, but that is only because I knew you could do it. This is a four thousand level class, which means that many of you will be graduating after this. Before you go out (or back out) into the professional world, I wanted to give you some idea of what employers expect from college graduates. 

This is part of why I have had strict deadlines that I expect you to follow and why I have high standards that I hold you to in your work. Your boss either does or will or expect the same. When you're in college, you pay for your knowledge, which is yours to keep, and then when you graduate, your employer rents it from you (along with your time and labor) in return for a weekly paycheck. There are certain things that they will expect you to know. While I realize that being able to name the director of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World will probably never come up in a job interview, there is a very good chance that potential employers will want to know how you relate to and understand American culture in its many shades of complexity. To that end, one of the goals of this class has been to teach you how to recognize some commonly overlooked realities about the world we live in as viewed through the lens of comedy films. 

The screening questions were designed to make you think, and I always gave full credit on them if you met the word count and actually answered the question. I do not believe that you should be penalized for engaging with an idea, even if I disagree with your answer. These exercises, from my perspective, were more about the thought process than the product. That said, I always looked forward to reading what you had to say, and I was often very impressed by your insights. This is truly a smart group of students. 

My only regret is not having a giant chalkboard.

In the neoliberal model of higher education, however, I realize that students are also consumers, and so I hope everyone feels like they got their money's worth out of this class. We could have just watched the movies that appear in every film textbook and taken online quizzes. I also could have arbitrarily graded comments on a message board, but I think that, generally speaking, there is little to be gained from this approach beyond course credits. If anything, you may walk away with some fragments of random information. Even as much as I love trivia, when it comes down to it, I think that there is more value in gaining intelligence than knowledge, and so one of the primary objectives of this course has been to promote critical thinking, particularly as it relates to the cultures in which we are immersed. Of course, I hope you also learned a great deal about the underlying mechanics of comedy, as well as its many social functions. As for the history stuff, that was all bonus knowledge. Think of it as two classes for the price of one. No coupon needed! 

As you may or may not know, this is the last class that I will be teaching at BGSU. I will be graduating with my PhD this summer, at which point I hope to move forward in my career in pursuit of new adventures (that may or may not involve ninjas, but will almost certainly include a grappling hook and a hang glider). This was the first time that I have ever taught this particular class, and without a doubt, it has easily been one of my favorites. I hope you liked it as well. Just for the record, this is also the only online class that I've ever taught, and I designed it from the perspective of someone who has never particularly liked online classes. So rather than basing it upon some preexisting idea of what an online course is supposed to be, I built it from the ground up with certain objectives in mind. 

In order to know if we have met these objectives, and to appease my curiosity as to the general effectiveness of this course (considering that I likely won't ever see the course evaluations, and even if I did, they're typically quantitative, which isn't as useful in refining one's teaching methods), I would very much like to know what you thought of this class. As I aspire to constantly improve as a teacher, that means that I need to learn from my students whenever the opportunities present themselves. With this in mind, for this week's assignment, I want you to write an honest reflection of the past fifteen weeks in American Film Comedy. Please note that the content of your response will have absolutely no impact on this or any other grade that you receive. It will also be the last of your work that I even look at this semester. As always, answer the question and meet the word count and you will receive full credit. Feel free to go beyond it if necessary.

In no particular order, some of the things I would like to know include: 

What were your expectations when you registered for the class? 

Were those expectations met or exceeded, or was this class something other than what you had hoped it would be? 

Did you find this class to be too difficult, too easy, or somewhere in the middle? 

What did you think of the overall format of the class? Do you feel that the online environment was used effectively? 

What are some of the most interesting things that you learned in this class? Was there some random piece of knowledge that you found to be particularly interesting?

Were the lectures useful? Did you have a favorite? 

What were some of your favorite films that we watched and why? Were there any that surprised you, either as being particularly good or particularly bad? 

What were some of your least favorite movies that we watched and why? 

Were there any weeks in which you watched more than one of the selections? If so, which week(s)? 

Is there anything that I stated in a lecture that you completely disagreed with? If so, please articulate a counter-argument so that I may see the issue from your perspective. 

Did the material we covered make sense as individual units and as a whole? 

What did you think of the textbooks? Did you prefer one over the other? Did you have a favorite chapter? 

What about the supplemental (PDF) readings? Did you find those to be interesting?  (By the way, they can all be found in The Humor Prism in 20th Century American Society, edited by Joseph Boskin. It's a very good book. The only reason I didn't assign it is because we only read three of the articles out of it, but if you liked those, I do recommend it. Just like with the other books, you should be able to find a used copy of it online for cheap.)

Is there anything else that you want to tell me about this class? 

P.S. Is grandma still farting?

(which is a joke that makes sense if you watched The Jerk last week)

Frankly, not seeing you face-to-face makes it somewhat difficult to gauge whether you have enjoyed this class or not, so for your penultimate assignment, I'd like you to state your opinions directly in the form of your final screening question response. You may also include a crayon drawing, if you'd like.

Please note that for shamelessly self-promotional reasons, I may include these within my teaching portfolio, but if I do, they will remain anonymous. I will not, however, edit any of the content.

So for this week's screening question, please write a standard-length response that addresses these questions, but that also includes any additional thoughts you may have regarding this class, whether positive or negative. I am genuinely curious to know what you think, and all you have to do is provide an honest response in order to receive full credit. (Also, since most of you have turned in every screening question throughout the semester, that makes this one entirely optional, since I only grade twelve of them. That said, your feedback is appreciated nonetheless.) Last but not least, one more question that I'd like you to address, and this is the most direct way that I will be able to gauge whether or not we have met the course objectives:

How has this class changed the way that you view American comedy films and culture?

These will be due next week, and then the week after that, your final projects are due. This week's assigned reading is a PDF on Canvas called "Standup Comedian as Anthropologist" in which the author draws some interesting parallels between these professions. As we have seen throughout the semester, comedy, much like anthropology, can be thought of as a set of basic methodologies that are designed to offer insights about human nature and the cultures to which we belong. Upon completion of this course, you will all be armchair anthropologists. 

I also want you to finish up the last eight pages of the Misch book, which probably won't take more than five minutes. As for this week's films, they are all about comedians. Watch at least one of them after you've read the PDF, and as you're watching it, consider the insights that these comedians offer into American culture and human nature -- insights that anthropologists only wish they could articulate so concisely. 

Lenny is a biopic about Lenny Bruce, a controversial comedian from the late fifties and early sixties, while Man on the Moon is about Andy Kaufman, who many would consider to be a postmodern comedian. Finally, Richard Pryor: Live in Concert is an uninterrupted standup performance by one of the most influential comedians of the past fifty years, recorded at the height of his career. As it relates to this class, consider how these comedians and their various styles of comedy relate to the times and places in which they achieved their greatest fame. Although you do not have to write about it, I think you'll agree that they each tell us a lot about American culture at these various moments in our history. 

Thank you for an enjoyable semester, and for exceeding my expectations as students in an upper-level class. You all worked very hard, and I hope that you feel that the knowledge, critical perspectives and analytical skills that you gained in the process were worth it.

Final papers/projects are due by Wednesday, May 4 at 6:00. Papers should be uploaded to Canvas, and if you made a video, either post a link on Canvas or email me about setting up a large file transfer. 

Godspeed and good luck. 



* and thanks to everyone whose pictures, knowledge and links that I found online and used on this website for educational purposes. 

To quote the plaque with the Faber College motto in Animal House, "Knowledge is good." 

Sharing that knowledge is good, too. Pass it on.