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Kinds of American Film Comedy
Six Core Genres and Their Literary Roots
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Book Presentation:
This groundbreaking film study begins with a survey of American print humorists from eras leading up to and overlapping the advent of film—including some who worked both on the page and on the screen, like Robert Benchley, Will Rogers, Groucho Marx and W. C. Fields. Six comic film genres are identified as outgrowths of a national tradition of Cracker Barrel philosophers, personality comedy, parody, screwball comedy, romantic comedy and dark comedy. Whether it is Mark Twain or a parody film involving Steve Martin, comedy is most often about blowing “raspberries” at the world, and a reminder you are not alone.
About the Author:
Wes D. Gehring is a distinguished professor of film at Ball State University and associate media editor for USA Today magazine, for which he also writes the column “Reel World.” He is the author of 40 film books, including biographies of James Dean, Carole Lombard, Steve McQueen, Robert Wise, Red Skelton and Charlie Chaplin.
Press Reviews:
• "Gehring remains supreme in film comedy scholarship"—Choice
• "Just about anything with film historian and media writer Wes D. Gehring’s name on it will be of quality."—Cinema Retro
• "Wes Gehring’s Kinds of American Film Comedy: Six Core Genres and Their Literary Roots is a tour de force. Ranging in depth over the subcategories of a mainstream genre, Gehring brings a wealth of research and detailed analysis to this outstanding and model discussion of the varied contexts and formal characteristics of film comedy. The volume includes a most welcome and original survey of the links between print and screen humor. It will appeal to general film-loving readers as well as to scholars and specialists dedicated to film comedy."—Peter William Evans, emeritus professor of film studies, Queen Mary University of London
See the publisher website: McFarland & Co
> From the same author:
Charlie Chaplin and A Woman of Paris (2021)
The Genesis of a Misunderstood Masterpiece
Subject: One Film > A Woman of Paris
Hitchcock and Humor (2019)
Modes of Comedy in Twelve Defining Films
Subject: Director > Alfred Hitchcock
Buster Keaton in His Own Time (2018)
What the Responses of 1920s Critics Reveal
Subject: Director > Buster Keaton
Movie Comedians of the 1950s (2016)
Defining a New Era of Big Screen Comedy
Subject: Genre > Comedy/Humor
Chaplin's War Trilogy (2014)
An Evolving Lens in Three Dark Comedies, 1918–1947
Subject: One Film > Shoulder Arms, The Great Dictator, Monsieur Verdoux
Forties Film Funnymen (2010)
The Decade's Great Comedians at Work in the Shadow of War
Subject: Genre > Comedy/Humor
Mr. Deeds Goes to Yankee Stadium (2004)
Baseball Films in the Capra Tradition
Subject: On Films > Film selections
> On a related topic:
The Oxford Handbook of Screen Comedy (2025)
Dir. Peter C. Kunze and William V. Costanzo
Subject: Genre > Comedy/Humor
Haunted Laughter (2024)
Representations of Adolf Hitler, the Third Reich, and the Holocaust in Comedic Film and Television
Subject: Genre > Comedy/Humor
Hollywood Sex Comedies, 1953–1964 (2024)
A Critical Analysis of 25 Films
by Hal Erickson
Subject: Genre > Comedy/Humor
Comedy in Literature and Popular Culture (2024)
From Aristophanes to Saturday Night Live
Subject: Genre > Comedy/Humor
Film, Environment, Comedy (2024)
Eco-Comedies on the Big Screen
by Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann
Subject: Genre > Comedy/Humor
Inside Comedy (2023)
The Soul, Wit, and Bite of Comedy and Comedians of the Last Five Decades
Subject: Genre > Comedy/Humor
The Drop Dead Funny '70s (2023)
American Film Comedies Year by Year
by Dan Lalande
Subject: Genre > Comedy/Humor
Hollywood Screwball Comedy 1934-1945 (2023)
Sex, Love, and Democratic Ideals
Subject: Genre > Comedy/Humor
Spoofing the Vampire (2022)
Essays on Bloodsucking Comedy
Dir. Simon Bacon
Subject: Genre > Comedy/Humor
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