This degree project aims to research if stand-up comedy has the potential to be a tool for social change, in terms of awareness-building and empowerment. It also researches if a specific comedian can be a voice and representation for multiple social movements. The research uses content analysis of stand-up comedian Dave Chappelle to also answer how he jokes and comments on social movements. The literature review and theoretical framework covers important concepts and theories regarding the background of using humor and comedy as a tool for social change, and theories regarding representation, intersectionality and stereotyping.   The research method used is content analysis to interpret segments from Chappelle’s Netflix specials and clips on YouTube, as well as online articles and social media comments from the audience of these clips. In total 9 clips were analyzed. The content analysis focuses on Chappelle’s stand-up comedy, his jokes, and comments between the jokes.    The conclusion of this research is that stand-up comedy can be a powerful tool for empowerment and spreading awareness but needs to be finely calibrated to serve its purpose and still be entertaining. Purpose, identity, representation, and an intersectional perspective are key factors for performances that can be awareness-building and empowering. Stand-up comedy has the potential to lower the threshold for important discussions in and between groups regarding sensitive and difficult issues. In regard to Chappelle, his point of view as an African American man makes his jokes on social movements and issues both empowering but also controversial. It also shows that jokes and comments are most effective when talking about issues that relates closely to the identity of the performer.   The degree project contributes to C4D by exploring stand-up comedy as a communication tool for promoting social and development issues through awareness-building and empowerment. The findings of the study can be useful for NGO’s, governments, and other actors working in the field of development and social change and in collaboration with influencers.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Before the “sick” comedians arrived onto the comedy landscape political and culturally based humor was considered taboo, but the 1950s witnessed a dramatic transformation to the art of stand-up comedy. The young comedians, including Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl, became critical of American Cold War policies and the McCarthyistic culture that loomed over the nation’s society. The new stand-up comics tapped into a growing subculture of beatniks and the younger generation at large that rebelled against the conservative ideals that dominated the early post-war decade by performing politically and socially laced commentary on stage in venues that these groups frequented. The two comedians that best represent this comedic era are Jewish comics Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce. Their comedy was more politically oriented than the other “sick” comics, and they started an entertainment revolution with their new style. They became legendary by challenging the status quo during a historically conservative time, and inspired numerous comics to take the stage and question basic Cold War assumptions about race, gender, and communism.

The subject of this thesis is a genre analysis of Soviet film comedies of the late 60s and the 70s that is based on the reception and production history data. The aim of this research is to grasp this type of comedy as a specific political and socially-cultural phenomenon of the Eastern bloc and its relation to Soviet popular culture. A methodology of the genre analysis will derive from Rick Altman's semantic-syntactic approach, which will allow us to describe the chosen genre group as a complex genre trend set in the unique social, cultural, economic and in this particular case also ideological context, to follow the development and fluidity of the genre trend, as well as to find and to compare mutual attributes of the chosen films. The analysis will not be based solely on the group of the most watched films, but also on the production data focusing mostly on the films' budget, as well as dramaturgic supervision and censorship. Another part of the diploma thesis will be based on the gathered reception data such as contemporary media response and viewer ratings, focusing on the important role that Soviet film comedies played in the period and partially continue to play in the present-day Russian popular culture. Fusion of all analytic parts shall bring us to the basic definition of the Soviet film...

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2010. / Title from screen (viewed on February 26, 2010). Department of History, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Jason M. Kelly, Annie Gilbert Coleman, Monroe H. Little. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-125).

Este trabalho de doutorado tem como objetivo a edição, com notas e comentários, das versões da comédia Os Estrangeiros, de Sá de Miranda, contidas no Manuscrito Asensio e na publicação de João de Barreira de 1559, que serão em seguida cotejadas entre si e com uma terceira fonte do texto, a edição de M. Rodrigues Lapa, cuja versão, correspondente à de 1561, difere quase totalmente das encontradas nas outras duas fontes. O Manuscrito Asensio é um importante documento de época que reúne textos da primeira metade do século XVI e encontra-se guardado na Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa. À sua edição semidiplomática dedica-se o Capítulo I deste trabalho, ao qual seguirá um capítulo dedicado à edição modernizada do mesmo texto. A edição de 1559, da qual se preservou um único exemplar, guardado na Biblioteca Houghton da Universidade Harvard, traz diferenças bastantes com relação ao texto manuscrito para ser considerada uma versão. Uma transcrição dessa versão da comédia encontrar-se-á no Capítulo III, que também será seguido por um capítulo dedicado à edição modernizada do texto. No Capítulo 5, apresenta-se o cotejo das três fontes. A comédia Os Estrangeiros é mais do que um documento literário e linguístico, é ainda um documento histórico do Quinhentos português e italiano. Por isso, apresenta-se na Introdução ao trabalho um pequeno ensaio sobre as relações entre o autor, a obra, seu mundo e sua época, além de informações sobre as fontes. / The aim of this doctoral thesis is the edition, with notes and commentaries, of the versions of Sá de Mirandas comedy Os Estrangeiros contained in the Manuscrito Asensio and in the João de Barreiras 1559 published edition, which will be followed by a comparison between them and with a third source text, the edition by M. Rodrigues Lapa, version which corresponds to the text of the 1561 edition and which differs almost completely from the versions found in both of the other sources. The Asensio Manuscript is an important document of its time with fits together texts from the first half of the sixteenth century and which is kept in the National Library of Lisbon. The Chapter I of this work is dedicated to the semi-diplomatic edition of this manuscript version of the comedy, which will be followed by a chapter which brings a modernized edition of the same text. From the 1559 edition rests only one volume which remains at Houghton Library, Harvard University, and its text shows such amount of differences in relation to the manuscript text that it might be considered a version. A transcription of this version will be presented at Chapter III, also followed by a chapter containing a modernized edition. Chapter V presents the comparison between the three sources. Os Estrangeiros is more than a literary and linguistic document, it is also a historical document of the Portuguese and Italian 16th century. For this reason, a short essay will be presented at the Introduction of this work about the relations between the author, its work, its world and its time, beyond further information about the research sources.

Este trabalho de doutorado tem como objetivo a edição, com notas e comentários, das versões da comédia Os Estrangeiros, de Sá de Miranda, contidas no Manuscrito Asensio e na publicação de João de Barreira de 1559, que serão em seguida cotejadas entre si e com uma terceira fonte do texto, a edição de M. Rodrigues Lapa, cuja versão, correspondente à de 1561, difere quase totalmente das encontradas nas outras duas fontes. O Manuscrito Asensio é um importante documento de época que reúne textos da primeira metade do século XVI e encontra-se guardado na Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa. À sua edição semidiplomática dedica-se o Capítulo I deste trabalho, ao qual seguirá um capítulo dedicado à edição modernizada do mesmo texto. A edição de 1559, da qual se preservou um único exemplar, guardado na Biblioteca Houghton da Universidade Harvard, traz diferenças bastantes com relação ao texto manuscrito para ser considerada uma versão. Uma transcrição dessa versão da comédia encontrar-se-á no Capítulo III, que também será seguido por um capítulo dedicado à edição modernizada do texto. No Capítulo 5, apresenta-se o cotejo das três fontes. A comédia Os Estrangeiros é mais do que um documento literário e linguístico, é ainda um documento histórico do Quinhentos português e italiano. Por isso, apresenta-se na Introdução ao trabalho um pequeno ensaio sobre as relações entre o autor, a obra, seu mundo e sua época, além de informações sobre as fontes. / The aim of this doctoral thesis is the edition, with notes and commentaries, of the versions of Sá de Mirandas comedy Os Estrangeiros contained in the Manuscrito Asensio and in the João de Barreiras 1559 published edition, which will be followed by a comparison between them and with a third source text, the edition by M. Rodrigues Lapa, version which corresponds to the text of the 1561 edition and which differs almost completely from the versions found in both of the other sources. The Asensio Manuscript is an important document of its time with fits together texts from the first half of the sixteenth century and which is kept in the National Library of Lisbon. The Chapter I of this work is dedicated to the semi-diplomatic edition of this manuscript version of the comedy, which will be followed by a chapter which brings a modernized edition of the same text. From the 1559 edition rests only one volume which remains at Houghton Library, Harvard University, and its text shows such amount of differences in relation to the manuscript text that it might be considered a version. A transcription of this version will be presented at Chapter III, also followed by a chapter containing a modernized edition. Chapter V presents the comparison between the three sources. Os Estrangeiros is more than a literary and linguistic document, it is also a historical document of the Portuguese and Italian 16th century. For this reason, a short essay will be presented at the Introduction of this work about the relations between the author, its work, its world and its time, beyond further information about the research sources.

In humour studies research, there have been few attempts to elucidate why black humour was such a prevalent, powerful force in late twentieth century culture and why it continues to make a profound impression in the new millennium. As Dana Polan (1991) laments: ???Rarely have there been attempts to offer material, historically specific explanations of particular manifestations of the comic???.1 This thesis offers an interdisciplinary analysis of black humour in the late twentieth century. I contend that the experience of black humour emerges from the intricacies of human beliefs and behaviours surrounding death and through the diverse rituals that shape experiences of loss. I suggest that black humour is an attempt to articulate the tension between the haunting absence and disturbing presence of death in contemporary society. Chapter 1 of this thesis offers an historical and etymological perspective on black humour. In Chapter 2, I argue that the increasing privatisation and medicalisation of death, along with the overt mediatisation of death, creates a problematic juxtaposition. I contend that these unique social conditions created, and continue to foster, an ideal environment for the creation and proliferation of black humour. In Chapters 3 and 4, I examine the structures and functions of black humour through three key theories of humour: incongruity, catharsis and superiority. Chapter 5 looks at ways in which the experience of black humour creates resolutions and forces dissonances for people entwined with loss. In this final chapter, I also consider how black humour may help people make meaning from issues surrounding death. Throughout this theoretical discussion, I interweave the analysis of a range of scenes from contemporary black comic texts (i.e. plays, screenplays and television scripts). On the whole, this thesis works towards a more complex, specific understanding of the phenomenon of black humour within a social context.

Generally speaking, scholarship in the field of Germanistik has taken an interest in Friedrich Schlegel’s early publication, “Vom aesthetischen Werte der griechischen Komoedie” (1794), either because of its perceived influence on German Romantic Comedy [(Catholy 1982), (Kluge 1980), (Holl 1923), (Japp 1999)], or else because of its relevance as an example of Schlegel's still inchoate aesthetic philosophy [(Dierkes 1980), (Behrens 1984), (Schanze 1966), (Michel 1982), (Dannenberg 1993), (Mennemeier 1971)]. As a theory of comedy in its own right, Schlegel’s essay has garnered little attention, in part because of its supposed inapplicability to comedic praxis and at times utopian implications, in part because of its seemingly contradictory argument, and lastly in part because Schlegel himself abandoned the essay’s central premise soon after its publication. However, it is the central argument of the present study that Schlegel’s essay can be shown to be interesting and relevant precisely for the theory of comedy it contains. Through a close reading of Schlegel’s essay on Old Greek Comedy, as well as an examination of Schlegel’s early political and aesthetic beliefs, which will help render Schlegel’s theory more intelligible, it will be shown that Schlegel’s theory of comedy is novel in so far as it is one of the first aesthetic theories to claim that comedic practice is necessarily deprived of aesthetic validity unless it exists in a social atmosphere of freedom of expression, namely, such as that of the Athenians. The implication is that Schlegel here predicates an aesthetic theory upon one of society. Schlegel’s theory is also interesting for the peculiar type of comedy it advocates, namely a joyous comedy (Comedy of ‘Freude’), which stands in direct opposition to the ‘Satirische Verlachskomoedie’ of the Enlightenment and makes use of a comedic mechanism (joy) that is anathema to traditional negative comedic elements (satire, derision, mockery etc.). The conclusion discusses what the relevance and value of these implications might be for future research.

Generally speaking, scholarship in the field of Germanistik has taken an interest in Friedrich Schlegel’s early publication, “Vom aesthetischen Werte der griechischen Komoedie” (1794), either because of its perceived influence on German Romantic Comedy [(Catholy 1982), (Kluge 1980), (Holl 1923), (Japp 1999)], or else because of its relevance as an example of Schlegel's still inchoate aesthetic philosophy [(Dierkes 1980), (Behrens 1984), (Schanze 1966), (Michel 1982), (Dannenberg 1993), (Mennemeier 1971)]. As a theory of comedy in its own right, Schlegel’s essay has garnered little attention, in part because of its supposed inapplicability to comedic praxis and at times utopian implications, in part because of its seemingly contradictory argument, and lastly in part because Schlegel himself abandoned the essay’s central premise soon after its publication. However, it is the central argument of the present study that Schlegel’s essay can be shown to be interesting and relevant precisely for the theory of comedy it contains. Through a close reading of Schlegel’s essay on Old Greek Comedy, as well as an examination of Schlegel’s early political and aesthetic beliefs, which will help render Schlegel’s theory more intelligible, it will be shown that Schlegel’s theory of comedy is novel in so far as it is one of the first aesthetic theories to claim that comedic practice is necessarily deprived of aesthetic validity unless it exists in a social atmosphere of freedom of expression, namely, such as that of the Athenians. The implication is that Schlegel here predicates an aesthetic theory upon one of society. Schlegel’s theory is also interesting for the peculiar type of comedy it advocates, namely a joyous comedy (Comedy of ‘Freude’), which stands in direct opposition to the ‘Satirische Verlachskomoedie’ of the Enlightenment and makes use of a comedic mechanism (joy) that is anathema to traditional negative comedic elements (satire, derision, mockery etc.). The conclusion discusses what the relevance and value of these implications might be for future research.

In humour studies research, there have been few attempts to elucidate why black humour was such a prevalent, powerful force in late twentieth century culture and why it continues to make a profound impression in the new millennium. As Dana Polan (1991) laments: ???Rarely have there been attempts to offer material, historically specific explanations of particular manifestations of the comic???.1 This thesis offers an interdisciplinary analysis of black humour in the late twentieth century. I contend that the experience of black humour emerges from the intricacies of human beliefs and behaviours surrounding death and through the diverse rituals that shape experiences of loss. I suggest that black humour is an attempt to articulate the tension between the haunting absence and disturbing presence of death in contemporary society. Chapter 1 of this thesis offers an historical and etymological perspective on black humour. In Chapter 2, I argue that the increasing privatisation and medicalisation of death, along with the overt mediatisation of death, creates a problematic juxtaposition. I contend that these unique social conditions created, and continue to foster, an ideal environment for the creation and proliferation of black humour. In Chapters 3 and 4, I examine the structures and functions of black humour through three key theories of humour: incongruity, catharsis and superiority. Chapter 5 looks at ways in which the experience of black humour creates resolutions and forces dissonances for people entwined with loss. In this final chapter, I also consider how black humour may help people make meaning from issues surrounding death. Throughout this theoretical discussion, I interweave the analysis of a range of scenes from contemporary black comic texts (i.e. plays, screenplays and television scripts). On the whole, this thesis works towards a more complex, specific understanding of the phenomenon of black humour within a social context.