Exploring Italian comedy through student film projects
Amaryllis Rodriguez, Visiting Assistant Professor
Romance Studies
Italian 103 is devoted to the study of Italian comedy and the Italian sense of humor. During the Renaissance that Italian dramatists were able to establish a pioneering comic tradition that is still very much alive within the Italian society today, the Commedia dell’Arte. This comic style— and the masks that are integral to it, was studied and mastered by renowned actors such as Totu, Sordi and Benigni. It was designed through rules, which dictated particular and precise characteristics e.g. long and repetitive physical movement, language games and curious behaviors. These principles became important canons influencing the European concept of comedy with regards to both form and structure.
In contemporary drama, some of these rules have been enhanced to include movie special effects. As part of our exploration of this phenomenon, each student in the course will create short (2-4 minutes) video projects, each incorporating and demonstrating each one of these three elements: movement, behavior and the use of language. Students will produce these short films three times during the semester. Each exercise will provide the members of the class to provide peer feedback and comment on their own work, and to recognize— through a new and personal perspective — the challenges inherent in creating comedy in Italian.