Humor in Use: Culture, Gender, Deviance

ANTH 136, Spring 2005 –- Humanities 119, Wed. 2:45-5:30

Prof. Susan Seizer

Office: “Vita Nova” 113

Phone: ext7-3547

Email: sseizer@scrippscollege.edu

Office hours: Tues/Thurs 2:30-4 (or by appt.)

This seminar begins from the premise that humor is a good site for the anthropological study of culture. We will look at a variety of cultural contexts for humor, from staged public performances to private jokes. We will be primarily concerned with the many uses to which humor is put (with a nod to “style,” from wry and dry to crass and camp). Within this overall framework of studying humor in use, we focus on the presence of gender as both preferred text and ubiquitous context both in use and in theory. Our springboard for the study of theories of gender humor will be Freud’s Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious. We discuss Freud’s paradigm in relation to other theories, updating it with our own. Our challenge is to find ways of understanding the complex role that gender, culture, and cultural deviance play in what we find funny.

Course Requirements:

1) Reading: This is a seminar course that meets just once a week (14 classes total). The reading load is heavy, but worth it. Expect 75-100+ pages of reading per week. The readings vary widely, and I will orient you as to what to expect prior to each class meeting.

a) There are four required books for the course, available at Huntley bookstore:

• Freud, Sigmund. 1960 [1905]. Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious. Ed. and trans. James Strachey. NY: W.W. Norton and Co.
• Basso, Keith H. 1979. Portraits of “the Whiteman”: linguistic play and cultural symbols among the western Apache. Cambridge U. Press.
• Seizer, Susan. 2005. Stigmas of the Tamil Stage: An Ethnography of Special Drama Artists in South India. Duke University Press.
• Newton, Esther. 1972. Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America. University of Chicago Press.

b) There is one recommended book, also available at Huntley bookstore, from which there are several chapters assigned in the course of the semester. The book is also on two-day reserve in Honnold, and the assigned chapters are also available on ERES:

• Gray, Frances. 1994. Women and Laughter. Virginia U Press.

c) The bulk of the reading for the course is comprised of articles. These are available on electronic reserve [ERES] through Honnold library. The primary benefit of electronic reserve over the traditional hard-copy course pack is financial; ERES costs only the paper on which you print. The articles are available on ERES to download and print at your leisure; some students download the entire course pack all in one sitting, others download only the required readings week by week.

*To access electronic reserve: go to the Claremont College Library’s homepage (http//:voxlibris.claremont.edu) and click on Blais. Once in Blais, click on Course Reserves and select “electronic reserve.” (Alternately, http//:eres.claremont.edu is a direct route into the start page for electronic reserve.) Course materials are accessible both by course number and by professor’s name. When you try to actually view the readings for the course, you will be asked for a password; the password is “sseizer136” (case sensitive; use all lower case letters with no spaces in between name and number).

For students who prefer to work from a hard copy only, all articles on the syllabus are also on regular reserve at the Reserve Desk at Honnold library.

2) Class Participation: As a seminar, the course will utilize both lecture and discussion formats during class meetings, and on-line discussion and journal entries throughout the week.

a) In Person: In-class discussion will be based on both the readings and film/video viewings (see below). A high level of class participation is expected, both on-line and in-person. Attendance is mandatory; missing a class without a good excuse will lower your grade 5%.

· Online: There is a course folder for this class in WEBX [Scripps College Web Discussion Site] located under “Academics” on the Scripps College homepage. The course folder is housed in Anthropology[it becomes visible only after you have registered and logged-in to WEBX]. Within our course folder, there are two subfolders. One is for responses to the weekly reading; the other is a “joke journal.”

• Reading folder: This folder is the place to post your responses to the week’s reading. Write an approximately one-page weekly response (roughly one paragraph per essay/chapter). Your posting will be read both by me and by your fellow class members. Let us know 1) what you understand to be the author’s main point; 2) what you learned from the reading; 3) what, if anything, you found clarifying, or confusing, about this reading. Feel free to ask questions to the class as a whole, as well as to respond to other students’ questions; this folder should be a forum for discussion to supplement our class meetings. You must post ten times over the course of the semester, and each posting counts for 2% of your grade, so a total of 20% of your final grade. YOU MUST POST BY 2:45 PM ON THE TUESDAY BEFORE CLASS to give everyone 24 hrs to read before class.

• Joke Journal folder: As a means of opening our eyes to the culture of humor that surrounds us, all class participants are asked to keep a joke journal. Each week, write down at least one humorous event (or attempt at a humorous event) to which you were witness or in which you participated. If you maintain your journal privately, share at least one weekly entry with the class by posting it in this folder. When recounting a joke’s telling, or when writing an account of a humorous event (or an attempted humorous event), try to remember and record as much of the context of the event as possible: who said what to whom, where, and when; what happened prior to and after the telling; who laughed; who didn’t; what kind of laughter did the event elicit; and anything else that strikes you as important to the telling/event. The instance of humor should be “live” for these journals, i.e. not a list of jokes you downloaded from the internet, or a joke from a sitcom (unless this proved the trigger for a “live” incident among a particular viewing audience). I expect this journal will prove useful to think with throughout the course, as well as providing the raw materials for your mid-term exam (and potentially for a final paper/project). Again, you must post ten joke journals over the course of the semester, and each posting counts for 2% of your grade for a total of 20% of your final grade. YOU MUST POST BY 2:45 PM ON THE TUESDAY BEFORE CLASS. Have fun with this!

3) Film/Video Viewing:

We will view selected comic segments from films and t.v. in class. If you have never seen these particular films or t.v. shows, you may like to view some or all of them in their entirety prior to the class where we view and discuss excerpts; please arrange with me to borrow the videos if you would like to screen them before our class meeting.

4) Exams and Grading:

The midterm is an in-class exam consisting of 15 identification questions and 2 short essays, requiring you to review and synthesize the material covered in the first half of the course.

For the final project you have two options.

Option #1: Analyze two joke journal entries, one of your own and another from a classmate. In your analysis use at least three different theoretical approaches that we have discussed in class, as well as any other perspectives that you feel the material calls for. Each analysis should be 4-5 double-spaced, typed pages.

Option #2: conduct a research or ethnographic project whose topic is entirely up to you. This may be either a group or an individual undertaking, and you may present your research either in a paper for me (8-10 pages, double spaced) or as a live presentation/performance to the class. If the latter, provide a detailed outline of your project as a handout to accompany your presentation. These will be scheduled for the offical time-slot of the final for this class. (Those students choosing to present should discuss their ideas with me by the end of 12th week.)

Grading for the course is based on the following percentages:

• Class participation = 10%

• On-line postings = 40% (Readings folder = 20%, Joke Journal folder = 20%)

• Midterm exam = 25%

• Final pape r or project = 25%

Syllabus

Class 1, Jan. 19: Introduction to course

· Organization, requirements, syllabus.

· Examples of joke journals from Prof. Seizer

· Discussion of “gentile jokes” hand-out

· In-class viewing of “Roseanne” (the Bar Mitzvah episode).

Class 2, Jan. 26: Cultural norms and standard: the basis for humorous deviation

Reading:

• Mandel, Oscar. 1970. “What’s So Funny: The Nature of the Comic,” in The Antioch Review, Vol. XXX, No.1, pp. 73-89.

• Apte, Mahadev. 1985. “Introduction,” Humor and Laughter: An Anthropological Approach. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 13-26.

In-class viewing:

• Standard masculinity and the stock sissy/swishy deviants of Hollywood humor: the first 15 minutes of “The Celluloid Closet,” 1995

• Homophobic jokes in sit-coms: 15 minutes of clips from 1995 episodes of “Seinfeld,” “Frasier,” “Ellen,” “Friends.”

• The first half of the “Ellen” coming-out episode (original broadcast date 4/30/97)

Class 3, Feb. 2: Classics of humor theory: the superiority theory, the relief theory, and the incongruity theory

Reading:

• Morreall, John. 1987. “Introduction,” The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor, pp.

1-7

• Excerpts from The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor:

· Plato, p. 10-13 (+ Plato, Republic, 386a-398b; 605c-608b)

· Aristotle, p. 14-16; (+ Aristotle, Poetics, 1447-1450, Pts. 1-6, 12-13 & catharsis, 81-91).

· Hobbes, p. 19-20

· Spencer, p. 99-110

• Bergson, p. 117-126 (+ pp 186-190 from Bergson, in Sypher, ed. 1956, Comedy)

• Gray, Frances. 1994. “Theoretical Perspectives,” Ch.1, Women and Laughter, pp. 1-40.

In-class Viewing:

• Charlie Chaplin, excerpts from “Modern Times” and “The Gold Rush” (the first 17 minutes of “Modern Times,” and the shoe-eating scene from Gold Rush)

Class 4, Feb. 9: Freud’s triangulated model of dirty jokes and the gendered locations of pleasure, relief and aggression in Freud’s theory

Reading:

• Freud, Sigmund. 1905. Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious. Read the whole book if you can. If not, skim pp. 1-105 and read pp. 106-193 carefully.

In-Class Viewing:

• The first half-hour of Jim Carrey’s “The Mask” (1994)

Class 5, Feb. 16: The importance of context (1): ethnic humor

Reading:

• Keith Basso, 1979. Portraits of “the Whiteman”: linguistic play and cultural symbols among the western Apache. Cambridge U. Press. Read the whole book, focusing on Chs. 3-5, pp. 35-82.

Recommended:

• Alan Dundes, 1987. Ch. 6, “The Jewish American Princess and the Jewish American Mother in American Jokelore,” in Cracking Jokes: Studies of Sick Humor Cycles and Stereotypes. Ten Speed Press, pp. 62-81.

• Mahadev Apte, 1985. “Humor, Ethnicity, and Intergroup Relations,” Ch. 4 in Humor and Laughter: An Anthropological Approach, Cornell U Press, pp. 108-148

· James Sterngold, “A Racial Divide Widens on Network T.V.,” N.Y. Times article, 12/29/98.

Class 6, Feb. 23: Anthropological “joking relationships” as structured interaction

Reading:

• Radcliffe-Brown, A.R. 1952 [1940]. “On Joking Relationships,” and “A Further Note on Joking Relationships,” Chs. 4 & 5 in Structure and Function in Primitive Society, Glencoe, IL: The Free Press, pp. 90-115

· Terry, Charles. 1997. “The Function of Humor for Prison Inmates.” Pp 336-347 (ERES)

• Apte, Mahadev. 1985. “Joking Relationships” in Humor and Laughter: An Anthropological Approach. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 29-81.

Reference [on reserve]

· Douglas, Mary. 1975. “Jokes,” in Implicit Meanings, Routledge, pp. 90-114.

• Bateson, Gregory, 1958 [1936]. Naven. Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 1-107 [skim]

In-Class Viewing:

An episode of the British sitcom “Absolutely Fabulous,” looking especially at Saffi and Patsy’s relationship.

Class 7, March 2: The importance of context (2): sociolinguistic analyses of jokes.

Reading:

• Seizer, Susan. 2005. Introduction, chapter 4 & chapter 6 in Stigmas of the Tamil Stage.

• Sacks, Harvey. 1989. “An Analysis of the Course of a Joke’s Telling in Conversation,” in Explorations in the Ethnography of Speaking, ed. Richard Bauman and Joel Sherzer, second ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 337-353.

• English, James F. 1994. “Humor as Social Practice: Rethinking Joke-Work” in Comic Transactions, Cornell U. Press, pp. 5-19.

Recommended reading:

• Kirshenblatt-Gimblet, Barbara. 1975. “A Parable in Context: A Social Interactional Analysis of Storytelling Performance,” in Ben-Amos and Goldstein, eds., Folklore: Performance and Communication. The Hague: Mouton, pp. 105-130.

In-class viewing:

• Video footage from Prof. Seizer’s fieldwork on Tamil popular theater.

Class 8, March 9: Midterm Exam.

This is an in-class, written exam. It has approximately 10-15 identification questions, and two essay questions. The first essay tests your understanding of Freud’s analysis of jokes. The second allows you to consolidate several of the ideas on humor you have encountered thus far by analysing a joke event from your own or a classmate’s joke journal. Your analysis should apply at least two of the theories we have encountered in the readings in the first half of the course (e.g., Mandel and Plato, or Bergson and Freud, etc.).

*Bring a printout of a Joke Journal entry that you like, or that intrigues you in some way, to class.

***

Spring Break (March 11-21)

***

Class 9, March 23: Folly, Clowning, and the Carnivalesque!

Reading:

• Bakhtin, M.M. 1984 [1965]. Selections from Rabelais and His World, Indiana U Press, pp. 1-12, 239-244.

• Willeford, William. 1969. “The Fool and the Woman,” in The Fool and His Scepter, Northwestern U Press, pp. 174-191.

• Davis, Nathalie Zemon. 1975. “Women on Top,” in Society and Culture in Early Modern France, Stanford U Press, pp. 124-151 [and notes, 310-315]

Recommended reading:

• Mitchell, William E. 1992. “Introduction: Mother Folly in the Islands,” in Clowning as Critical Practice, University of Pittsburgh Press, pp. 3-37.

· Vilsoni Hereniko, 1992. “When She Reigns Supreme: Clowning and Culture in Rotuman Weddings,” in Clowning as Critical Practice, University of Pittsburgh Press, pp. 167-191.

In-class viewing:

[open to student suggestions: The Simpsons? South Park? Beavis & Butthead?]

Class 10, March 30: Performances commenting on modernity: distance, detachment, alienation, and reassurance (what kind of impact does a performance have, and how is this impact created?)

Reading:

• Ron Jenkins, 1994. “Preface” pp ix-xii, “Urban Slapstick and Survival” Ch. 1, and “America’s Comedy of Detachment” Ch. 7 in Subversive Laughter.

• Brecht, Bertolt. 1964. “Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting,” in Brecht on Theatre, trans. John Willett. NY: Hill and Wang, pp. 91-99.

Recommended:

· Zijderveld, Anton. 1968. “Jokes and their Relation to Social Reality.” Social Research V35 N2 Summer 1968

In-class viewing:

• Johnny Carson clips

Class 11, April 6: Can feminists be funny? the female grotesque

Reading:

• John Lahr, 1995. “Dealing with Roseanne,” The New Yorker , July 17, pp. 42-61

• Mary Russo, 1995. “Female Grotesques: Carnival and Theory,” in The Female Grotesque: risk, excess and modernity. Routledge. pp. 53-73 (+196-200, endnotes)

• Frances Gray, 1994. “Born in the USA,” Ch. 2 in Women and Laughter, pp. 41-79

Recommended reading:

• Helene Cixous, 1980. “The Laugh of the Medusa” in New French Feminisms, ed. Marks & de Courtivron, U of Massachusetts Press, pp. 245-264

• Sian Mile, 1992. “Roseanne Barr: Canned Laughter -- Containing the Subject,” in New Perspectives on Women and Comedy, ed. Regina Barreca. Gordon & Breach, pp. 39-46

· Caliskan, Sevda. 1995. “Is There Such a Thing as Women’s Humor?” American Studies International, Oct. 1995, Vol. XXXIII, No.2

• Mahadev Apte, 1985. “Sexual Inequality in Humor,” Ch. 2 in Humor and Laughter: An Anthropological Approach. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 67-81.

• Mary Klages, 1992. “What to do with Helen Keller jokes: a feminist act” in New Perspectives on Women and Comedy, ed. Regina Barreca. Gordon & Breach, pp.13-22

In class viewing:

• Rosanne Barr, “Domestic Goddess” stand-up routine

• clips from Lily Tomlin, “The Incredible Shrinking Woman”

• Cartoons: “Sylvia”; “Cathy”; “Dykes to Watch Out For”; “Hothead Paisan”

• Magazines: Ms. “No Comment” back covers; Playboy and Esquire cartoons

Arrange to view two full-length films before next class meeting:

• “Blackmail” (dir. Alfred Hitchock, 1929)

• “A Question of Silence” (dir. Marleen Gorris, 1983)

Either Sunday April 10 or Monday April 11

Class 12, April 13: “Getting it” and the female spectator

Reading:

• Doane, Mary Ann. 1982. “Film and the Masquerade: Theorising the Female Spectator,” inScreen 23.3-4, Sept-Oct 1902, pp. 74-87.

• Modleski, Tania. 1988. “Rape vs. Mans/laughter: Blackmail” in The Women Who Knew Too Much: Hitchcock and Feminist Theory. NY: Methuen. Ch. 1, pp. 17-30.

• Doane, Mary Ann. 1989. “Masquerade Reconsidered: Further Thoughts on the Female Spectator,” in Discourse 11.1, Fall-Winter 1988-89, pp. 42-54.

Recommended reading [for clarification on the Lacanian theory of masquerade]:

• Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble, pp. 49-54

• Judy Elsley, 1992. “Laughter as Feminine Power in ‘The Color Purple’ and ‘A Question of Silence’” in New Perspectives on Women and Comedy, ed. Regina Barreca. Gordon & Breach, pp.193-199

Class 13, April 20: Camp as a survival strategy: the normative performative, or gender as meta-text

Reading:

· Newton, Esther. 1972. Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America.

· Sontag, Susan. 1966. “Notes on Camp,” in Against Interpretation. Dell, pp. 275-292.

· Dyer, Richard. 1992. “It’s being so camp as keeps us going,” in Only Entertainment. Routledge, pp. 135-147.

· Dyer, Richard. 1993. “Straight Acting,” The Matter of Images. Routledge, pp. 133-136.

Further reading [on against-the-grain theatricality, and female reappropriations of camp and cross-dressing]

• Case, Sue-Ellen. 1993. “Towards a Butch-Femme Aesthetic,” in The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader, pp. 294-306.
• Davy, Kate. 1992. “Fe/male Impersonation: The Discourse of Camp,” in Critical Theory and Performance. Reinelt and Roach, eds., U of Michigan Press, pp. 231-247.

View “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” (1994) on your own time if you have not seen it; we will watch a few clips in class

Class 14, April 27: Putting our theories in play on current phenomena

***Seniors present their final projects today; all senior final papers due today

· In-class viewing: “The Laughing Club of India” (Mira Nair, 2000)

· In-class viewing: “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (Larry David/HBO, 2002 season)

· NY Times article on Curb Your Enthusiasm

· Open to your suggestions of things to view and analyze together if we have time!

Class 15 (last class), May 4:

· student final project presentations

Final: May 11 due in my office by noon.

We may meet as a class to view any remaining final projects and to welcome summer!