A Companion to Film Comedy

From the very dawn of the era of moving pictures, filmmakers from Hollywood to Hong Kong have been playing it for laughs. Yet despite comedy s levity as a form, the legendary French auteur François Truffaut called it by far the most difficult genre, the one that demands the most work, the most talent, and also the most humility .

This wide–ranging celebration of the variety and complexity of international film comedy covers work from the days of silent movies to the present, and from around the world, including Europe, the Middle East and Asia as well as the United States. These specially commissioned essays map the myriad ways that comic films have reflected and influenced history, culture, politics, and social institutions. As well as engaging with different strands of comedy such as slapstick, romantic, satirical and ironic, the Companion tackles mixed comic genres, individual performers and directors, and broader topics including gender and social–political issues in comedy. Each subject is placed in its formative social, cultural and political context, while the multidisciplinary international contributors ensure a depth and breadth of perspective.

Andrew Horton is the Jeanne H. Smith Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of Oklahoma, USA. An award–winning screenwriter, he is also the author of twnty–eight books on film, screenwriting and cultural studies, including  Screenwriting for a Global Market (2004),  Writing the Character–Centered Screenplay (2nd edition, 2000), and  The Films of Theo Angelopoulos (2nd edition, 1999). His screenplays include Brad Pitt s first feature film,  The Dark Side of the Sun (1988), and the award–winning  Something in Between (1983), directed by Srdjan Karanovic. He has led screenwriting workshops around the world as well as across the United States.

Joanna E. Rapf is Professor of English and Film & Media Studies at the University of Oklahoma, USA. She writes regularly about film comedy, with recent essays on Woody Allen, Jerry Lewis, Roscoe Arbuckle, Harry Langdon, and Marie Dressler, and has edited books on a range of subjects including Sidney Lumet, On the Waterfront, and Buster Keaton.