Submitted thesis The Portrayal of Czech Society in Petr Schulhoff's Film Comedies of the Normalization Era analyses the cinematography of the Czechoslovak Republic in the seventies and the eighties through the topic of social a ideological values which they present. Its primary concern is the question what are selected movies saying about Czechoslovak social reality of that time and which instruments of semiotic mediations are used for this purpose. The main assumption of the work is that also escapist entertainment described the era, setting and characters according to norms dictated by the communist government and thus help to stabilize the system.

No description available.

This paper will cover the making of my thesis film Rachel’s Madcap Theater. I will break down all of the interdisciplinary aspects and collaborations with other artists that formed the final film: screenwriting, production design, directing, cinematography, sound, music, and special effects. For each of these categories, when appropriate, I will compare and contrast the changes made during the main stages of filmmaking: pre-production (all decisions made before shooting begins), production (all decisions made while shooting the movie), and post-production (all decisions made after shooting ends). I will then provide self-analysis of my process in order to judge both the ultimate success of my thesis film (did I make the film that I originally intended to make?) and the strengths and weaknesses of my personal abilities.

Thesis advisor: Scott T. Cummings / My Senior Honors Thesis may be understood as a two-part investigation that addresses both theoretical and practical concerns of physical comedy and the language of gesture. I will first present some of my more general findings about comedy in order to more accurately zero in on the figure of 'the Fool.' I will thereafter investigate the function of the Fool in society and report on two of his most definitive iterations: Arlecchino, of the Italian Commedia dell'Arte and Bill Irwin of the contemporary stage. These theoretical components will eventually serve as a foundation for the practical side of my project- the creation of my own physical performance piece. In the final part of this document I will outline the process of conceiving and developing a physical comedy performance all my own, referring to my research whenever possible. My hope is that this paper will serve as both an informational document about some of the most important historical influences on physical comedy and the language of gesture, as well as relate how those influences affected me in the process of imagination and creation that is the joy of theatre. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2005. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theater. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Esta tese apresenta uma tradução dos fragmentos de Aristófanes e três estudos relativos a eles. O capítulo I, mais geral, é dedicado às fontes. Trata do contexto em que esses fragmentos surgiram, no período helenístico, e da sua transmissão, sobretudo através de escoliastas e lexicógrafos. O segundo e terceiro capítulos tratam de duas comédias em particular, Geritades (Geritads) e Convivas (Daitals). Nesses dois capítulos, a análise dos fragmentos está conjugada a um paralelo com comédias preservadas: no caso de Geritades, que tem por tema a crítica literária, Rãs; e Nuvens, no caso de Convivas, cujo assunto é o embate entre a nova e a velha educação. A segunda parte da tese contém uma tradução acadêmica dos 589 fragmentos de Aristófanes, a partir do original grego para o português. Esse corpus corresponde a todos os fragmentos do comediógrafo, com exceção daqueles que não são atribuídos a uma comédia específica, as chamadas incertae fabulae. / This thesis presents a translation of Aristophanes fragments and three studies about them. The initial chapter, of a more general nature, deals with the sources where the fragments are to be found, the context in wich they were created and their transmission, mainly through scholiasts and lexicographers. The other two chapters focus on two specific comedies: Geritades (Geritads) and Banqueters (Daitals), and parallels are drawn with extant comedies. Geritades is the object of comparative analysis with Frogs, since both plays are concerned with literary criticism. As to Banqueters, the thesis looks into points of contact with Clouds: the contrast between the old education and the new education is a central theme in both comedies. The second part of the thesis consists of an academic translation of the five hundred eightynine fragments, from the Greek original into Portuguese. This corpus corresponds to the totality of the comedians fragments, with the exception of those fragments that are not attributed to any specific comedy, the so called incertae fabulae.

Satire is often construed as little more than an entertaining form of mockery, of which political and religious satire are only topical instances. However, trends in contemporary satire suggest that it can operate as a sui generis mode of rational discourse. I argue that recent satire often trades in undermining the exchange of coercive ideas, that in doing so it exhibits specific social/political commitments, and that it suggests ways of diminishing the harmfulness of abusive speech through practices of reading or hearing such discourse which do not permit violent ends. This argument proceeds along the following steps: First, satire’s rational function is to undermine the strength of reasons through repeating and embellishing their irrational use. Employing arguments of JL Austin and Robert Brandom, I describe satire as a way of interrupting the giving and asking for reasons by supposing expressed beliefs to have unrealistic intentions, and thus employing them toward unlikely ends. Second, political and religious satire exhibits at least two identifiable commitments which are central to classical social contract theory: that political power should be subject to the collective consent of the governed, and that those in power should not cause harm to the governed. Third, especially within liberal democratic contexts, satire can function to undermine the abuse of power by employing such coercive speech towards socially just ends. Undermining harmful speech implies an ontological consequence that one is denied the social role of perpetrator. This consequence is suggestive for the view that human identity is significantly rooted in public discursive performances; that is, satire exhibits strategies both for diminishing the effectiveness of harmful speech and creating for the perpetrator a new public role. The approach to theorizing from recent satirical trends has consequences which evoke explicitly theological themes of justice and reconciliation.

O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar como se dá a ligação entre poesia e política nAs Rãs, de Aristófanes. O poeta estrutura a peça de modo que esses dois temas estão presentes o tempo todo, pois, desde o início, Dioniso está em busca de um bom poeta, para que ele salve a cidade. Assim, ao longo da peça, Aristófanes associa Eurípides à nova geração de políticos, demagogos cuja cidadania é muitas das vezes contestada e que são retratados como bajuladores e corruptores do povo. Esses, por sua vez, são contrapostos a Alcibíades, único dentre os políticos da nova geração citados na peça que tem origem aristocrata e é justamente o escolhido por Ésquilo para governar a cidade, tragediógrafo que ganha a competição no Hades e recebe o prêmio de voltar à vida e a missão de salvar Atenas. / This work aims to analyse the connection between poetry and politics in Aristophanes Frogs. In The Frogs, the poet structures the play in such a way that both themes are present at all times. An example of this is found in the beginning of the play when Dionysus, looking for a good poet that can save the city, journeys to Hades to bring Euripides back from the dead. Throughout the play, Aristophanes associates Euripides with a new generation of politicians, demagogues who have their citizenship questioned many times and are portrayed as flatterers and corrupters of people. These politicians are set against Alcibiades, a politician of a new generation that comes from an aristocratic background and is the one chosen by Aeschylus to lead the city. Aeschylus, on his turn, is the tragedian who wins the competition in Hades and is granted the prize to go back to life and receives the mission to save Athens.

The 1970s brought a change to the face of the television sitcom, particularly with the works of Norman Lear, as comedy began to shift its focus away from portrayals of the ideal nuclear family to more complicated interactions with the outside world. This thesis focuses on All in the Family and the various ways that the series broke ground in its methods of social discourse. The series’ unique representation of working-class domestic life and its various distancing techniques provided a new challenge for sitcom audiences. With other Lear series and the likes of M*A*S*H and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, the 1970s television comedy landscape provided platform for socially conscious discourse. However, this period of progressive entertainment declined toward the end of the decade, as series like Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley sought to look backward rather than forward. From the 1980s to the 2000s, with a few exceptions, the focus of the sitcom reverted back to the preservation of idealized domestic and workplace families with the likes of Family Ties and Friends. However, the 2010s bring the promise of new social relevancy in television with series like Black-ish, which negotiate 1970s relevancy with 2010 narrative and aesthetic style, and streaming, non-network programs like Orange is the New Black and Transparent that experiment with genre in new ways.

Esta tese apresenta uma tradução dos fragmentos de Aristófanes e três estudos relativos a eles. O capítulo I, mais geral, é dedicado às fontes. Trata do contexto em que esses fragmentos surgiram, no período helenístico, e da sua transmissão, sobretudo através de escoliastas e lexicógrafos. O segundo e terceiro capítulos tratam de duas comédias em particular, Geritades (Geritads) e Convivas (Daitals). Nesses dois capítulos, a análise dos fragmentos está conjugada a um paralelo com comédias preservadas: no caso de Geritades, que tem por tema a crítica literária, Rãs; e Nuvens, no caso de Convivas, cujo assunto é o embate entre a nova e a velha educação. A segunda parte da tese contém uma tradução acadêmica dos 589 fragmentos de Aristófanes, a partir do original grego para o português. Esse corpus corresponde a todos os fragmentos do comediógrafo, com exceção daqueles que não são atribuídos a uma comédia específica, as chamadas incertae fabulae. / This thesis presents a translation of Aristophanes fragments and three studies about them. The initial chapter, of a more general nature, deals with the sources where the fragments are to be found, the context in wich they were created and their transmission, mainly through scholiasts and lexicographers. The other two chapters focus on two specific comedies: Geritades (Geritads) and Banqueters (Daitals), and parallels are drawn with extant comedies. Geritades is the object of comparative analysis with Frogs, since both plays are concerned with literary criticism. As to Banqueters, the thesis looks into points of contact with Clouds: the contrast between the old education and the new education is a central theme in both comedies. The second part of the thesis consists of an academic translation of the five hundred eightynine fragments, from the Greek original into Portuguese. This corpus corresponds to the totality of the comedians fragments, with the exception of those fragments that are not attributed to any specific comedy, the so called incertae fabulae.

A presente tese analisa o percurso cômico do cinema na Itália até sua transformação em commedia all\'italiana. Transcorrido entre 1958 e 1977, o movimento baseou-se na representação neorrealista, no cinema mudo e na commedia dell\'arte para retratar a Itália durante o boom econômico iniciado nos anos 1950. Antecipados pelas trajetórias do diretor Vittorio de Sica e do cômico Totò, os grandes criadores empenharam-se em praticar um humorismo ácido e crítico. Diretores como Mario Monicelli, Dino Risi e Pietro Germi, atores como Alberto Sordi, Vittorio Gassman, Ugo Tognazzi, Nino Manfredi, Stefania Sandrelli, Monica Vitti e Franca Valeri, roteiristas como Age Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli, Rodolfo Sonego, Suso Cecchi d\'Amico, Ruggero Maccari e Ettore Scola retrataram a distopia italiana encenada nas ruas, nas praias, dentro dos automóveis. A era do consumismo desenfreado consumiu o próprio homem, e seu épico de angústias foi descrito no cinema por meio de máscaras cômicas. / This thesis analyzes the comic route of cinema in Italy until its transformation into the commedia all\'italiana. Between 1958 and 1977, the movement was based on the neo-realist representation, the silent film and the commedia dell\'arte, to portray Italy during the economic boom begun in the 1950s. Anticipated by the trajectories of director Vittorio de Sica and the comic Totò, the great creators committed themselves to practicing an acid and critical humor. Directors like Mario Monicelli, Dino Risi and Pietro Germi, actors like Alberto Sordi, Vittorio Gassman, Ugo Tognazzi, Nino Manfredi, Stefania Sandrelli, Monica Vitti and Franca Valeri, writers like Age Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli, Rodolfo Sonego, Suso Cecchi d\'Amico, Ruggero Maccari and Ettore Scola portrayed the Italian dystopia staged in the streets, on the beaches, inside the cars. The era of unbridled consumerism consumed man himself, and his epic of anguish was described in the movies by comic masks.