Topic #1: We have been placing a great deal of emphasis on the on-screen performers in the films and clips we have screened so far this semester. With a few exceptions—Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Leo McCarey, Howard Hawks and Preston Sturges, we have not concentrated too greatly on directors. There are many notable directors spanning the history of the movies that have made a tremendous impact on screen comedy. From Mack Sennett to George Cukor, from Billy Wilder to Mel Brooks, from Amy Heckerling to Judd Apatow, from Nora Ephron to Tyler Perry to Woody Allen…each of these directors has created a body of work that is unique to them. Using an auteurist approach, select a filmmaker and analyze their approach to comedy by examining three of their major works. In this multi-film analysis, you should discuss comic themes that repeat in their work, the timeliness of the comedy vis-à-vis what was happening in the culture when the films were released, and how you feel they have made a significant contribution to the genre or subgenre, if appropriate. You are not limited to the directors mentioned above, but you must avoid relying on films we have already viewed or discussed at length or any that we have scheduled for the remainder of the term.
Your 4 essays should make a thesis-driven interpretative argument, using both narrative and visual evidence to support your claims. Don’t expect to cover everything in the film or films, but focus on one particular aspect or thematic element.
Your essay must make use of at least two outside academic sources; one of these may be our text or other readings I have posted on Blackboard. Film reviews without their own bibliographies and notes are not considered academic sources.
Double-spaced. No more than one-inch margins on all sides. No larger than 12 pt. font. Times New Roman. Cover page is not part of the page count. Cite your sources using MLA formatting.
I chose these two producers to talk about and the movies are movies that I already washed.
Judd Apatow—The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Tyler Perry—Madeas’s Family Reunion
Reference film viewed in class Billy Wilder—Some Like It Hot
feel free to add other film directors from the paper guideline.
