Can you write me 1500-word papers (500-word for each topic)? Please find the attachment below for the assignment questions. I will provide you with the lecture notes.

Week 7

ENGLISH HUMOUR

INTRODUCTION: READ THIS CAREFULLY BEFORE THE CLASS

People often say that humour is the most difficult thing to appreciate in another culture. Nevertheless, certain things are found funny in almost every country around the world (humour connected with personal dignity, body functions, etc.). In this class try and relax and enjoy what you see—it’s meant to be entertaining!

People who visit Britain often say things like: “The British make jokes all the time. I never know whether they’re serious or not.” Certainly humour is very important in British culture, and the ability to tell jokes well and say spontaneous funny things is greatly admired. The British often laugh at the Germans for having no sense of humour, and at the Americans for having no sense of irony. Every night many of the programmes on British television are comedy programmes.

This class will not give you a general theory about British humour, because there is not one. Instead, we will look at a number of different things that the British laugh at, and think about why and how humour works. Make sure that you enjoy at least one good laugh!

Make sure you know the words irony, farce and chandelier.

1) Misunderstandings / miscommunication—The Pink Panther (1963-1982)

One of the most universal foundations for humour involves people misunderstanding each other, whether because of language, culture or personality differences. Misunderstandings are usually a key ingredient of FARCE, and farce has been a central part of British comedy for hundreds of years.

Between 1963 and 1982, six Pink Panther films were made with the famous British comedian, Peter Sellers (1925-80), playing the central role of the French detective Inspector Jacques Clouseau. Sellers developed a very funny, and very influential, way of speaking English with a French accent, and this became part of the joke: other characters in the films, even those supposed to be French, regularly fail to understand him. But in the scene we’ll watch, Clouseau is in England, as part of an investigation. This is from the last film in the series, The Trail of the Pink Panther (1982)

2) Class Comedy—Only Fools and Horses (1981-1991)

A lot of humour is connected with the differences between people. A lot of British humour is especially focused on differences of social class.

Only Fools and Horses is a BBC comedy made regularly between 1981 and 1991, with a number of “specials” made since then. It has been repeatedly voted the greatest British TV comedy. The most successful episode ever, broadcast in 1996, was watched by over 24,000,000 people—over 40% of the population of Britain. The central character is “Del Boy” (Derek), a working-class market trader who dreams of getting rich and moving “up” in society. He lives with his young brother, Rodney, and their grandfather, in a council flat in Peckham, south London.

The episode “A Touch of Glass” was first broadcast on 2 December 1982 and was the first episode to get more than 10,000,000 viewers (about 20% of the population of Britain). In this episode Del and Rodney become acquainted with a Lord and Lady (i.e. people at the very top of society), and learn that they need to have their antique chandeliers cleaned and repaired. Del pretends that they are experts in restoring chandeliers, so they obtain a contract to clean and repair them. Their first problem is to get them down from the ceiling—with the help of Granddad.

Del: Come on, we better get up there. (They start climbing the ladders.) You alright Rodney? Is there anything you want?

Rodney: Yeah, I want to go home. This ladder is none too safe.

Del: The ladder’s alright. Look, this is the chance I’ve been waiting for. Now don’t let me down, Rodney, now don’t let me down. Alright? (Shouting.) Alright Granddad, we’re ready. You can start undoing it now.

Granddad: It’s coming, Del Boy. One more turn, Del.

Del: Right, now brace yourself Rodney. Brace yourself.

3) Laughing at Negativity (and Foreigners!)—A Bit of Fry and Laurie

(1989-1995)

People sometimes say that the British complain a lot—which in some ways is true. But there is also a strong feeling in Britain that you should enjoy and appreciate the good things you have. People who fail to do this are often laughed at.

Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie are two of the most famous comedians and television personalities in Britain. Their TV show, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, was produced in the early 1990s, and is considered by some critics (including your teacher) to be some of the best British comedy ever.

In this sketch a television interviewer (Stephen Fry) interviews a French/German racing car driver (Hugh Laurie) who has just won a big race.

Interviewer: Michael, you must be very thrilled with that result. Take us through the race.

Michael: Yes, well I was not very happy with the car. And we had a lot of problems. And the car was not so good, I think.

Interviewer: Yes, but you won! That’s a great result for you. You must be very happy.

Michael: Well, we had a lot of problems with the car. And I was not so happy. It was very hard.

Interviewer: Yes, but you won!

JAPANESE HUMOUR

According to the article on “Humour” published in the Encyclopedia Britannica in 1974, “the humour of the Japanese is astonishingly mild and poetical, like weak, mint-flavoured tea.” This is certainly wrong! Actually Japan has long traditions of bawdy, vulgar, parodic, satirical, and nonsensical humour that are just as “strong” as the same traditions in Europe. The misunderstanding results in part from the fact that after the 1850s the Japanese generally tried to present themselves as serious, conservative, polite, and artistic to the West. Moreover, Western perceptions of Japan are still strongly influenced by observations made in the period 1868-1945, which was the worst time ever for humour in Japan.

The Meiji Government encouraged the idea that the Japanese people needed to be very serious, and to have complete respect for elders and “superiors,” if Japan was going to become a wealthy, powerful, “modern” country. This idea became part of nationalist ideology in the 1920s and 30s, and making any kind of joke that could be considered “subversive” became dangerous. But even at this time a minority of Japanese continued to make jokes about the Emperor, the military Government, the wars, and so on—and we know this because the Special High Police (Tokkō Keisatsu) kept detailed records. From these records we know, for example, that in 1943 a fifteen year old boy was arrested for writing the following on a telegraph pole:

Announcement from the Imperial Headquarters [Daihon’ei]: Mr. Tōjō has only one right leg.

In recent decades, Westerners have started to discover that the Japanese do have a strong sense of humour even if they do, in general, joke much less than the British.