FYS 1289 - Funny BusinessCredits: 4
What makes something we read or watch funny? Humor is an essential part of human experience, but how does it work? These questions will drive this first-year seminar.
We will
- Read, watch and listen to a lot of funny material
- Learn from comedy pros about humor writing’s forms and techniques
- Discuss cognitive psychologists’ research on what makes people laugh, as well as the tremendous impact that humor has on us
- Analyze the particular messages—aka the “subtexts”—that pieces of comedy convey
After lots of reading and watching and asking, we’ll apply what we’re learning by writing some short humor pieces of our own. Our raw material will be what we observe in our own lives: our relationships with other people, animals, and institutions; the activities that fill up our time and the time of people we know; the vast range of emotions, desires and fears we feel and encounter in others; the experiences of our own bodies; the immediate physical and social environments we negotiate; and larger cultural happenings.
McDaniel Plan: First-Year Seminar
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