British Film and Comedy
Learning Objectives
- Re-cap the exam requirements for this
section
- Develop understanding of film genre
- Develop understanding of the
characteristics of British (and US) comedy
FM2 Section B: British Film and
Comedy Genre
• 20% of AS (10% of A2)
• Assessed by exam:
– Approx. 50 minutes to answer
– Choice of 2 questions
We only have 7 weeks for this
module
• Week 1: Exploring film genre and nature of British (and
US) comedy
• Week 2: Exploring macro (and micro) aspects of film,
focusing on narrative and representation
• Weeks 3 & 4: Studying Hot Fuzz and Brassed Off
(after school showing) and film of your choice in groups
(to be presented to class)
• Weeks 5 & 6: Studying Four Weddings and a Funeral,
present film of your choice to class, exam revision
• Week 7: Case study films comparison and mock exam
What is Comedy?
• The ability or quality of people, objects or
situations to create feelings of
amusement in other people
Starter task
1. In pairs label yourselves A and B
2. Take it in turns to read each joke
from the envelope to your partner
3. Write the name of the joke you
found funniest on the post-it note and
stick it on the board
Starter task
1. In turns, read the following jokes to
the class
2. Think about which is your favourite
joke and why
“Two hunters are out in the woods
when one of them collapses. He
doesn't seem to be breathing and his
eyes are glazed. The other guy whips
out his phone and calls the
emergency services. He gasps: "My
friend is dead! What can I do?" The
operator says: "Calm down, I can
help. First, let's make sure he's
dead." There is a silence, then a shot
is heard. Back on the phone, the guy
says: "OK, now what?"
When Chuck Norris does pushups, he
doesn't lift himself up. He pushes the
world down.
Mother Superior and a nun are
driving along a country lane at night
in the rain. Suddenly the devil
appears from the darkness, eyes
aflame, blocking their way.
Mother superior says to the nun,
"quick, show him your cross"
So the nun winds down the window
and yells "get out the way, you ugly
bastard"
Subverting linguistic expectations – expected “drink” to be a noun
rather than a verb, unexpected answer – ridiculous
How do you make a cat drink? Easy!
Use a liquidizer!
Witty humour
There was a student taking a final exam in a
very large lecture class. The professor called
time, and said that everyone must stop writing
or their exam would not be accepted. One
student continued to write furiously until all the
other papers had been collected. Going down to
the professor, he attempted to turn in the exam.
The professor says, "I saw you writing after time
was called, and I'm not accepting your paper."
"Do you know who I am?", says the student.
"No, and it doesn't matter."
"Good."
The student then stuffs his exam into the
middle of the stack and walks off.
A Pun!
1st Eskimo: Where did your mother
come from?
2nd Eskimo: Alaska
1st Eskimo: Don't bother, I'll ask her
myself!
A man walks into a doctor's office. He
has a cucumber up his nose, a carrot
in his left ear and a banana in his
right ear. "What's the matter with
me?" he asks the doctor. The doctor
replies, "You're not eating properly."
An English teacher wrote these words
on the whiteboard: "woman without
her man is nothing". The teacher
then asked the students to punctuate
the words correctly.
The men wrote: "Woman, without her
man, is nothing."
The women wrote: "Woman! Without
her, man is nothing."
Do you notice any similarities
between the jokes?
• Humour is a matter of personal taste – it
is subjective
• Humour is often about the unexpected
or unusual, creating surprise:
– Audience expectations are subverted
Q: “What do you called a 3 legged
donkey?
A: “A wonkey”
Film genre re-cap
• Genre is a way of categorising a type of film
• Task:
– Write down a film genre and at least 2 examples of
films representing them (e.g. Horror, Scream and A
Nightmare on Elm Street)
– What features do the films share? Discuss in pairs
• Genres have certain characteristic features
allowing us to tell them apart:
– Iconography: the things you expect to see and hear
– Some genres are less easy to classify then others
• Sub-genres: genres within genres
• Hybrid genres: mixing genres, sometimes to
create a new genre:
– e.g. Scream, mix of “teenpic” with “slasher” to create
“teen horror”
Types of humour
• Irony - the way of speaking that shows you are joking
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or that you mean the opposite of what you say.
Self-deprecatory – Humour at the expense of yourself
Schadenfreude – laughing at someone else’s
(unexpected) misfortune (means “shameful joy”)
Slapstick - comedy based on simple jokes, e.g. people
falling over or hitting each other.
Black humour - humour dealing with the unpleasant or
dark side of life (e.g. death, people's problems) Things
you can’t change
Observational humour – humour created out of
realistic situations.
Humour (cont’d)
• Satire - the use of humour to attack a person, an idea
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or behaviour that you think is bad or foolish.
Farce – an exaggerated situation that turns into an
embarrassing one.
Sarcasm - the mocking of a person, situation or thing
Inter-textuality – when one media text cross
references another for humorous effect.
Parody – imitation of an original work, often to mock or
satirize, for comical effect (commonly to dispute original
work)
Comedy of manners – satirizing the manners of a
social class
Task
• Answer these questions for the following
comedy clips we are about to watch:
– What type of humour (e.g. satire) do you
think is being used?
– Do you think the humour is effective?
– Why (not)?
Thinking about the clips we have seen and
other comedy you have seen before:
- What characterises British comedy?
- Does it differ to US comedy? How?
- What does this say about British and the
US (and perceptions of them)?
Extension activity
• Do some of these clips confirm or perpetuate
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British stereotypes such as:
The British are emotionally repressed (hiding
emotions behind humour?)?
The British are class obsessed
The British are imaginative and creative
The British are not too proud to laugh at
themselves
The British are funny!
What characterises US comedy (and
what does it say about the US)?
• Less irony?
• More emotional?
• More witty?
• More “in-jokes” – sharp talking, confident
tone?
• Conforming to or challenging stereotypes
about the US?
Conclusion
• Comedy is one of many different film genres
– It can be defined as the ability to create feelings of
amusement in others and is subjective
• There are many different types of comedy (e.g.
satire, slapstick) but:
– It is often about the unexpected or unusual, creating
surprise
• It can be argued that certain British comedy has
certain identifiable characteristics
British Film and Comedy
Learning Objectives
- To review understanding of Macro features from AS Media
- To develop understanding of Macro and Micro features,
focusing on Micro features and Narrative particularly
Research Seminar Case Study
• In groups of 3 or 4 you need to:
– Choose a British Comedy film you have all
seen and enjoyed or that you want to see
– Prepare a 5/10 minute presentation on the
film (using any visual aids you like)
– To be presented on (DATE TBC) but start
working on this now – watch the film in the
next week
– Make sure you don’t choose the same film!
Research Seminar Case Study
• Above all else you need to show you have
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engaged with the film – that you know and
understand it….
….but think especially about:
– Narrative
– Representation (e.g. gender, age, nationality,
sexuality)
– Other Macro and Micro features
• Please tell me your groups and film next lesson
Some suggested films
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The Full Monty
Shaun of the Dead
Any Carry On film
Ali G Indahouse
Chicken Run
Bridget Jones’ Diary
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Love Actually
About a Boy
Notting Hill
Bean
Withnail and I
Any Monty Python film
East is East
Re-cap test
• Complete the sheet in front of you
• Swap with a partner and mark
Storytelling Task
• In pairs, tell the story of your life to your partner
• Before you do this you will need to plan the things you
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want to tell and put them into an order you think is
suitable and effective – only tell your story when you are
absolutely sure you have shaped it as you want.
Remember things like:
– The need to immediately engage the interest of the
person you are telling the story to
– The importance of retaining that person’s attention
– The need to put things into an order that will allow
the listener to make sense of what has happened to
you during your life
One final condition: there is a time limit of 10 minutes to
the length of your story
• Then brainstorm – what were the good or bad aspects of
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the story you told/heard? For example:
- Strong/realistic characters (good use of dialogue)
- Well paced/structured (e.g. not hurried)
- Build up of (dramatic) tension
- Tone of storytelling voice
- Happy ending?
- Created strong emotions (e.g. laughter, sadness….)
- Good use of language (e.g. varied sentence length,
varied vocabulary etc)
• This is what narrative is: a story!
• But it also refers to the academic study of the
principles by which stories are structured:
– Characters
– Setting
– Structure:
• Time and space travel (linear or non-linear?)
• Cause and effect
• When thinking about narrative we must always
consider the expectations of the audience –
what are they and are they fulfilled or not?
Do all stories have the same
basic structure?
• Theorists of narrative structure suggest that all
films (and indeed stories) have the same basic
structure:
– We are introduced to a hero and shown the world
they live in
– The normality of this world is disrupted
– The hero sets out to restore order (resolution)
• Why do you think this is?
• Task: can you think of any films where this
structure is not followed? Discuss.
Basic Narrative Theory
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Todorov’s Theory – narratives begin in equilibrium
which is then affected by an event leading to
disequilibrium. Problems are then solved so that
equilibrium is once again achieved.
Propp’s Theory – analysed 100s of folk tales and
identified 8 character roles and 31 narrative roles:
villain
hero
donor – provides some magical property
helper – aids the hero
princess – reward to the hero and object of villain’s schemes
father – rewards hero
dispatcher – sends hero on his way
false hero (or anti-hero)
Strauss’ Theory – looked at narratives in terms of
binary oppositions – he was interested in things
existing in opposition to each other such as good and
evil.
Conclusion
• Films can be seen as stories (or narratives)
• You need to analyse the different ways in
which films as stories (or narratives) use
certain common recurring features of
storytelling or narrative structure.
Micro and Macro features
• We can read films at 2 levels:
1. Macro
2. Micro
• Look at the sheets I have given out – you
must store these carefully as they contain
important definitions of Macro and Micro
features
Macro features
• Genre
• Star
• Auteur
• Narrative
• Discourse of realism
• Mode of address
• Issues of representation
Micro features
• Technical codes:
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Camera
Sound
Lighting
Editing
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Actor movement/expression/vocal delivery
Costume
Setting
Props
• Performance codes:
• Other useful terms are:
– “Mise-en-scene” – everything the director puts into any
frame (people, costume, lighting, props)
– “Cinematography” – includes photographic elements,
lighting, framing and composition and special effects
Task - analyzing a film
• We will look at a clip from (CHOOSE FILM)
• Complete the Macro and Micro template
handed out to you whilst watching the film
• Using random name generator – talk
about selected aspect of film
• Watch clip of film again
Task – audience expectations
• We will look at a clip from (CHOOSE FILM)
• When I stop the film write down what you
think will happen next
• How did the next section of the film
compare to your expectations?
Conclusion
• All films can be seen as stories (or narratives):
– Films as narratives use certain common
recurring structural features
– But these will be subverted in some films
• We can read films at 2 different levels:
1. Micro
2. Macro
– We need 1 to understand the other!
Learning Objectives
- Develop understanding of representation
- Begin to develop knowledge and
understanding of Four Weddings and a
Funeral
Representation
• Discuss - what areas should we consider in relation to
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representation?
Gender
Class
Age
Sexuality
Ethnicity
Regionalism
Disability
• Task – write down any stereotypes you can think
associated with each area
Gender stereotypes – are they
true?
• Women
• Men
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Physically strong
Rational
The breadwinner
Sex-obsessed
Hate shopping
– Don’t care about
appearance
– “Bond of trust” with
mates
– Messy
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Physically weaker
Emotional
Housewife
Want “cuddles”
Love shopping
(especially for clothes)
– Appearance important
– Gossip/bitchy/nag
– Tidy
Class stereotypes
• Task - brainstorm working, middle and upper-class
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stereotypes.
Southerners are rich, middle or upper class
Northerners are working class
The upper class are in-bred, snobbish and dim-witted
“twits” who vote Conservative. They are also gentlemen
who act and speak very politely (in “Queen’s English”).
The middle classes are vain and social climbers
The working class are uneducated, drink lots, vote
labour, live on council estates, are often involved in
crime, and have lots of children
Four Weddings and a Funeral
• Made in 1994
• Directed by Mike Newell
• Written by Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Mr
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Bean, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones’s Diary)
Starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell
Became highest grossing film in British history at
time of its release
“Comedy of manners” satirizing the British
upper-middle classes
Set in south west England
Learning Objectives
Begin to develop knowledge and
understanding of Four Weddings and a
Funeral, especially concerning
“Britishness”
Discuss note-taking sheet
Look at individual scenes, answer
this question on sugar paper
• How are micro elements used to construct
representations of “Britishness”?
Character analysis
• Charles:
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Bumbling fool (always “putting his foot in it”)
Slightly nerdy (e.g. glasses)
Witty, ironic and self-deprecating
Eccentric
Poorly organised (e.g. always late)
Charming
Shy/reserved but ultimately assertive
Polite
Unable to commit (always best man, never the groom, “you’ll
never love anyone, because you never let them near you” –
Henrietta)
– Stereotypically upper class and British (accent, name etc)
Character analysis
• Carrie:
– Acts as a contrast with Charles – American vs British
characteristics
– She is strong, decisive, worldly, glamorous (e.g. used to work for
Vogue), sexually and emotionally confident, assertive and
powerful – a “post-feminist”?
• Matthew and Gareth: Quiet and loud homosexual couple
• Henrietta: Upper class, emotionally fragile, in love with
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Charles
Scarlett: eccentric, less upper class
Hamish: Scottish politician
Tom: aristocrat (7th richest man in Britain) and stupid
Narrative
• 5 acts or stories within the story that
almost stand alone in themselves
• Follows Todorov narrative structure,
satisfying audience expectations
• At its core, it is a simple love story dealing
with the universal themes of love, death,
humour and friendship
• It treads a fine line as a rom com between
comedy and sentimentality (melodrama)
Britishness
• Stereotypical upper and middle class British humour is used:
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Witty dialogue (lots of this)
Satire/irony/sarcasm
Slapstick
Farce
Schadenfreud
Self-deprecation
• What other elements help construct British representation?
– Traditional English wedding on 1st May (Marquee, Champagne
reception, wedding invites)
– Clothes/haircuts
– Accents
– Setting and location (e.g. Castle, Country House
– Cars (e.g. Land Rover – car of landed gentry)
– Wealth
• Gender representation: men as emotionally cold, aloof, women as
emotionally intelligent