Emily_K

I always knew they were practical effects being used, but to actually have them say that as you're watching it really brought it home as to how, especially that last one, could have been his last film if he moved just a little too far to the right, left, back or front. He had such commitment to his style of comedy and to a gag, which I for one think is awesome. I loved the first one too it was adorable and hilarious.

I was watching The Dick Cavett Show on Hulu last night and saw this one. It's very interesting not only about comedy, but also about the film industry in general wasn't sure if there was a way to share a link from Hulu so here it is on youtube. . I also thought the weird (in a good way) links between a lot of them with bugs bunny, Frank Capra kinda stutters like porky the pig and clark Gable in It Happened One Night (one of my all time favorites) was the inspiration for Bugs Bunny. Peter Bogdanovich wrote a book called "What's Up Doc". I also love when they talk about Hollywood ending and around that conversation Frank Capra brings up Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy, how they actually inspired a lot of the cartoons that unfortunately people ended up taking to more then their art form of comedy. Even though it was really the same thing. They also, near the end, talk about how Leo McCarty came up with the basis of the Laurel and Hardy which is hilarious and interesting,(sorry if I spelled his name wrong, when I looked it up people have spelled it two different ways for the same person).

I just love the character he gives to each gag I think the policeman is one of my favorites. he can even take something as simple as slipping on a Banana peel and make it his own.

After reading today's lesson, especially this part "But another way to think about "exaggeration" is to consider, as does film scholar Don Crafton, how "the gags of early slapstick serve as a source of narrative 'excess'—the pie in the face, the slip on a banana skin, the burst of digressive violence--…impedes narrative development and resists the storytelling logic of classical Hollywood cinema. "(Slapstick Comedy, 7) In this formulation, the gags are so exaggerated and so excessive, they literally stop the movie and any forward momentum of the plot. It is definitely a thesis to consider as we begin to watch slapstick gags evolve over time in the classic Hollywood system." I thought back to a few hours before when I was watching Blazing Saddles (spoiler alert. i'm sure most have seen it already but just in case.), and the scene near the end when they are fighting each other and it zooms out to the studio lot and all that great hilarious stuff happens. I just thought it was a perfect example of how "the burst of digressive violence--...impedes narrative development and resists the storytelling logic of classical hollywood cinema."(Slapstick Comedy, 7). here's the link. Also it's a great representation of sound, like the over exaggerated noise when the director hits the guys hat hahaha. SaveSave