This course will examine American Comedy, with a particular focus on several significant directors/producers: Harold Lloyd, Preston Sturges, Frank Tashlin, Woody Allen. We will approach this class in equal parts as a directors study, a genre study, an American culture study. Some of the questions we’ll address are: How does comedy function/work? What personal styles emerge from the genre? Are these films and their critical concerns reflective of larger patterns and tendencies in American life? Note: Open to FMA majors and non-majors.