What’s so funny? This course will investigate the humorous, the bawdy, the brash, and the offensive in the history of drama and film. We will read especially closely from the works of the first great humorists of the Western tradition, Aristophanes and Plautus, and will track their influence through performance halls and cinemas from Shakespeare’s Globe Theater to Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Satisfies the historical requirement for Literature as well as the Area II requirement in Ancient and Medieval Studies.
