carolyn's follow up note is very useful in isolating one element that has
thus far been unmentioned . . . carolyn is of course dead right about
woody
allen but to some extent -- actually a very great extent i believe --
that's
because his films are often filled with topical humor, and humor can be
more anchored in topical specificity than other modes of narrative . . .
consider for example the difference between annie hall and manhattan . . .
both are VERY invested in a new york sensibility . . . but to the extent
that
the former depends more on topical jokes it requires more of what
carolyn calls "cultural knowledge" than does the equally new york-ist
MANHATTAN . . . that is, when the mode is topical humor if one
doesn't get the reference the joke is lost, and since the joke is
really all there is very little remains . . . but in MANHATTAN there
is a real theme that transcends [or escapes] the specific cultural
milieu . . . of course one needs to know something about the
conventions of love in our culture to get it at all, but the more
narrowly defined info that ANNIE often depends on is not
necessary to make sense out of the later film . . .
what this amounts to [i think] is that humor is much more likely to
depend on specific cultural knowledge than are other modes of story
telling . . . and while i certainly don't want to suggest that carolyn has
to go back to woody allen yet again, i suspect that if she wants to
find THAT KIND of cultural specificity she may well have to stick
to comedy -- and topical comedy at that, of which probably the
most obvious instances are satires . . . note, for example, that the
skits on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE would be utterly meaningless
to someone who had not been following whatever issues and
characters are being spoofed . . . once we move away from a satiric
mode the story itself is likely to have some hold on an audience
even if the specific cultural references remain unrecognized
mike
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07/30/01 06:46 PM
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Ok I do appreciate all the feedback to my inquiry, however I feel as
though I need to clarify what my actual intentions are (in terms of
"cultural context"). I'll just start with an example-in the film Annie
Hall the scene where the foreigners are spotted coming out of Zabars will
only be funny to "you" if "you" know what Zabars is and what function it
serves. I highly doubt this scene would prompt laughter (nonetheless
clarity)from someone in say, southeast asia or even Kansas. Woody Allen
constructs his films to appeal to a very SMALL, SPECIFIC audience, who he
sees as already having the "cultural knowledge" to understand what is
happening within the film. And as for anyone else who has no such
knowledge, screw 'em. His films are still wildly successful. They hit
the target perfectly. Now what I am needing-PLEASE do not make me do this
paper on another Woody Allen film! I don't doubt the films suggested thus
far lack what I am proposing, but now maybe they can be narrowed down a
bit. I hope that I made myself a little clearer on what exactly it is I
am hoping to achieve.
Thanks, Carolyn Coulter
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