- Paperback: 377 pages
- Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 2 edition (Sep 15 1979)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0226509788
- ISBN-13: 978-0226509785
- Product Dimensions: 2.3 x 1.5 x 0.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 599 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #827,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
Although books on the comedies of the silent era abound, few have attempted to survey film comedy as a whole—its history and evolution, how the philosophical visions of its greatest artists and directors have shaped its traditions, and how these visions have informed both the meaning and manner of their work.
Blending information with interpretation, description with analysis, Mast traces the development of screen comedy from the first crude efforts of Edison and Lumière to the subtlety and psychological complexity of Annie Hall. As he guides the reader through detailed discussions of specific films, Mast reveals the structures, the values, and the cinematic techniques which have appeared and reappeared in comic cinema.
The second edition of The Comic Mind treats the comic developments of the 1970s in terms of the traditions of film comedy set forth in the first edition, including a discussion of the evolution of Jacques Tati and the emergence of Mel Brooks and Woody Allen as the two greatest American comic stylists of the seventies.
"The most comprehensive study of film comedy yet written in English. . . .The book's extensive index with references to companies from which 16mm prints of many of the cited films may be rented will be of great value to the film teacher and audiovisual librarian."—Choice
Blending information with interpretation, description with analysis, Mast traces the development of screen comedy from the first crude efforts of Edison and Lumière to the subtlety and psychological complexity of Annie Hall. As he guides the reader through detailed discussions of specific films, Mast reveals the structures, the values, and the cinematic techniques which have appeared and reappeared in comic cinema.
The second edition of The Comic Mind treats the comic developments of the 1970s in terms of the traditions of film comedy set forth in the first edition, including a discussion of the evolution of Jacques Tati and the emergence of Mel Brooks and Woody Allen as the two greatest American comic stylists of the seventies.
"The most comprehensive study of film comedy yet written in English. . . .The book's extensive index with references to companies from which 16mm prints of many of the cited films may be rented will be of great value to the film teacher and audiovisual librarian."—Choice
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
I DO not intend to enter the swamp of abstract debate on the nature of comedy and the comic, for that is a quicksand out of which many never climb. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
I DO not intend to enter the swamp of abstract debate on the nature of comedy and the comic, for that is a quicksand out of which many never climb. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
5.0 out of 5 stars
A pretty great book for learners, Feb 14 2012
By Alma Nicholson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Comic Mind: Comedy and the Movies (Paperback)
This book is a handy resource, and the essay topics and background information are put together well. The nice thing about it is that if you're more advanced, you can use it as a seed for an essay, and if you're not, then they've got nearly a whole essay already written for you in the background information. You just have to piece it together logically, which is still a a good exercise.
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Comic Mind, Dec 12 2010
By M. J. Brathwaite - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Comic Mind: Comedy and the Movies (Paperback)
Although I have browsed through this book many times in the library of the University of Canterbury, the only section I had a copy of was the one on comic plots. Being in the process of writing a study of the top-grossing comedies and the ways in which their plots enhance their psychological appeal, I was interested to see if the most popular ones confirmed to the plots as set out by Gerald Mast. This proved to be the case, although the vast majority follow his plots numbers one and seven.My reason for obtaining my own copy of the book was to see if I could find further elucidation on some of the plots he describes. To date, I have not, although I suspect I may do as I continue reading the book.
The book is written in clear, easy-to-understand prose, unlike many books of this type, and plenty of examples are given - a few of them even from the films I am writing about!
In conclusion, this book is a welcome addition to my library, especially as I no longer have to face the parking hassles at the university whenever I wish to refer to it!
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