Benjamin Kole Aspray
As contributor
As commenter
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Re: Something About Memory
Hi Kathleen! You raise a fascinating issue about memory and spectatorship. I'm reminded here of the peak-end rule, which by my Wikipedia-derived understanding explains the psychological phenomenon of remembering an experience as fully characterized b ... -
Why not laughter?
Hi Aaron! I read in your comment an ethical question: How do we permit ourselves to laugh at trauma? William Paul observed of the "low" films of the 80s that "the horror films often become farcical in the extremity of their devices, while t ... -
Duration and Genre
Thanks for your comment, Lisa- Since tension and release are so closely associated with the genre functions of horror and comedy I always assume that any film that would build up before revealing a shocking image is borrowing from them, if not of those ge ... -
Re: Contrived Catharsis
Hi Aaron: Yes, that makes total sense. I absolutely thinking a sort of "there but for the grace of God go I" logic subtends the humor in this clip and allows us to convert trauma into laughter. ... -
Carnivalesque Rape Threats
Stephanie, your use of Bakhtin to enter into this debate is really intriguing. Another aspect of the "carnivalesque" is an active, unruly crowd, which social media and Twitter in particular seems to have reconstituted in the digital age. Followi ... -
Ironic Racism and its Discontents
Lisa, you make a very persuasive case here for assessing irony as a textual function, rather than assuming it belongs to the nigh unchartable terrain of tone. Your analysis also works as a response to the ironic racism thinkpiece genre more broadly, of wh ... -
Function and Form
No doubt intentionally, Kathleen chose a clip that speaks to something she discusses so well: hierarchies of taste in comedy. When he describes marveling at still-lifes ("That looks just like a bowl of fruit!") and critiquing Picasso ("Pabl ... -
Self, other, audience
"Even as Regan creates a straight man for himself in this clip, there are actually three positions being articulated in his performance—self, other, and audience—that seem important to understanding how the comedy works." Well-put! ...