Word: laughter
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...film is set in 1916, before war-weariness had begun to be epidemic among troops and their homelands. The Germans shoot down a French reconnaissance plane that holds two of the movie's main characters, Lieutenant Marechal (Jean Gabin) and Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay). The film almost prompts laughter, for Erich von Stroheim's Captain von Rauffenstein invites the captured parties for a meal before sending them off to a prison camp...
Munching on popcorn and frequently erupting in laughter, over 150 political junkies gathered in the ARCO Forum at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) last night to watch on CNN as the two Democratic presidential hopefuls squared off in a town meeting forum at Dartmouth College...
Writing about the nature of laughter, the French philosopher Henri Bergson said that anything that defies or distorts the human form is funny. But giants are rarely funny. When they are not menacing, they are pitiable. People do not like bigness, even when they are impressed by it. There are sound reasons for fearing the recent megamergers of corporations, but there is also the irrational reaction that we do not like the idea of anything that makes puny our control, our self-regard, our size. Thus the insults "Big man! Big shot!" Thus the derisive "Big deal!" Thus Wilt...
...film gives its human characters only cursory recognition. They are thinly veiled stereotypes giving stereotyped reactions in scenes that have been written a thousand times before, in a thousand better ways. The bats produce only laughter rather than gasps of fear as they crawl gargoyle-like across the screen. Casper and Kimsey are flat and undeveloped. In fact, the sole target audience that will not be disappointed by Bats would appear to be the masochists. Although quite honestly, the same affect could be achieved by banging one's head against the wall for an hour and a half...
...spite of a strong debate on an extremely sensitive issue, the event ended with hugs and laughter between members of the JLSA and members of the Muslim community...