From Aristophanes to South Park

Interdisciplinary study of the comic tradition from Aristophanes to modern sitcoms and movies. Special attention given to the analysis of the carnival origin of comedy, the social, religious, and political function of comedy, the structure of the comic plot, the trickster, the comic hero, and the comic type. Authors include: Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, Shakespeare, Molière, Goldoni, Beckett, Ionesco, Fo, and Black and Native-American folktales. Secondary readings include Aristotle, Freud, Hobbes, Bakhtin, and Nietzsche. All readings in English.