ESH6025 - Laughing Matters: Comedy and Contemporary Culture - 2024/25 - Semester 1

Has contemporary culture taken a funny turn? This module offers you the chance to find out. We will look at the recent proliferation of comic novels and short stories, as well as stand-up comedy, sitcoms and film, in order to ask questions such as: why is this funny? how is this funny? should we be laughing at this? and what does this type of comedy say about the contemporary moment? We will also study the theory and philosophy of comedy, using this to inform our understanding of what comedy and laughter do, culturally, psychologically, ethically and politically.