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Tragedy plus time : national trauma and television comedy / Philip Scepanski.
Van Pelt Library PN1992.8.C66 S3 2021
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Scepanski, Philip, author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Television comedies--Social aspects--United States.
- Television comedies.
- Psychic trauma--Humor--Social aspects--United States.
- Psychic trauma.
- Disasters--Humor--Social aspects--United States.
- Disasters.
- American wit and humor--Social aspects.
- American wit and humor.
- Americans--Psychology.
- Americans.
- Television comedies--Social aspects.
- Social aspects.
- United States.
- Physical Description:
- x, 241 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Edition:
- First edition.
- Other Title:
- Tragedy + time : national trauma and television comedy
- Place of Publication:
- Austin : University of Texas Press, 2021.
- Summary:
- "The old joke is that Comedy = Tragedy + Time. Scepanski looks at that equation at a national level, examining how television comedy has dealt with various widescale tragedies, from the assassination of JFK to 9/11 to school shootings. Comedy is often the lens to talk about difficult subjects, but there has been little exploration of how it helps the country understand, process, and cope with trauma on a broad scale. Beginning with Gilbert Gottfried's controversial joke in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 that elicited a response of "too soon!," Scepanski lays out the ways that various sitcoms, comedy sketch shows, and comic news programs have handled tragedies, in ways both tasteful and tasteless"-- Provided by publisher.
- Contents:
- Introduction: Broadcast nationalism, national trauma, and television comedy
- The Kennedy assassination and the growth of sick humor on American television
- Censored comedies and comedies of censorship
- Emotional nonconformity in comedy
- Conspiracy theories and comedy
- African American comedies and the 1992 Los Angeles riots
- Television comedy and Islamophobia after 9/11
- Comedy and Trump as trauma in narrowcast America
- Conclusion.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 9781477322543
- 147732254X
- OCLC:
- 1200039292
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