Title:
Comedic Timing: The Evolution of 20th Century American Comedy
Project Owner:
Nicole Parisi
Summary:
This project will be an exploration of how comedy has evolved in the United States in the 20th Century, spanning from early Vaudeville acts, to radio, to modern day sitcoms. This project will explore how technological advances and social norms made it a requirement for the fast moving industry to progress. Through observing and analysing old comedic acts, scripts, recordings, performance notes, etc., this project should act as a timeline to the ever changing style of entertainment.
Questions to consider:
- How has the advancement of technology allowed for comedians to expand their platforms over the last century?
- What national and global events had an impact on the comedic style and humor of its respective generation?
- How has comedy had an impact on our pop culture and society and vice versa?
Deliverables:
- Primary sources (Ideally at least one per decade to showcase comedy standards for each respective time period), this could include
- Recordings (Audio or Video)
- Scripts
- Performance notes
- Reviews
- Comics
Note: Will probably have to explore other college library collections for certain primary sources. Will need copyright license for certain images (things posted on YouTube from a show/channel/artist’s channel will most likely be okay and everything published before 1926 is in the public domain, which means mid century primary sources will most likely be the most difficult to adapt into webpage)
- Secondary sources (this could include)
- Articles
- Essays
- Books
- Documentaries?
- Timeline JS (to explore the topic on a chronological context)
- WordPress (most likely)
- Domain on Gettysburg sites (already done)
Timeline (by weeks):
- Research/ Reflective post #1
- Project Charter due/ One chapter of The Comedians book per day/ +3 Primary sources
- Connect to library about resources in Special Collections/ Explore other college’s collections/ +3 Primary sources/ Wireframes due/ Reflective post #2
- Begin WordPress page and timeline/ Expand or narrow research as needed
- Continue WordPress and timeline/ Sort out any copyright issues that are not already settled/ Visualization due/ Reflective post #3
- Continue wordpress and timeline/ Clean out whatever issues I may have with copyright/ First draft due
- Revise and edit/ Finish any last minute issues/ Final draft due
- Presentations/ Reflective post #4
End of life plans: As the theme of this project is based in evolution of performance, this website could have the potential to be updated in the future as comedy continues to evolve.
