Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. ix, 289 pages : illustrations (some color); 24 cm.

Summary

1. "From broadcast to social media, comedy plays a prominent role in Japan's cultural landscape and political landscape. The Time of Laughter explores how comedy grew out of the early days of television to become a central force in shaping Japanese media over the past half-century. Comedy and its impact, David Humphrey argues, established a "time of laughter" in the media of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries in Japan. Through masterful interrogation of Japanese televisual archives and media discourse, Humphrey demonstrates that the unique temporality of laughter has had a profound role in the cultural atmosphere of Japan's recent past. Laughter both complemented and absorbed the profound tensions and contradictions that emerged in Japanese television. Joyous and cacophonous, reaffirming and subverting, laughter simultaneously alienated and unified viewers. Through its exploration of the influence of comedy and the culture of laughter, The Time of Laughter presents a vibrant new take on Japan's recent media history."--

Series statement

1. Michigan monograph series in Japanese studies ; number 101

Uniform title

1. Michigan monograph series in Japanese studies ; no. 101.

Subject

1. Television comedies > Social aspects > Japan
2. Japanese drama (Comedy) > History and criticism
3. Mass media > Social aspects > Japan
4. Social media > Japan
5. Comedy
6. Criticism
7. Comédies télévisées > Aspect social > Japon
8. Médias > Aspect social > Japon
9. Médias sociaux > Japon
10. Comédie
11. Critique
12. Japanese drama (Comedy)
13. Mass media > Social aspects
14. Social media
15. Television comedies > Social aspects
16. Japan

Genre/Form

1. Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Owning institution

1. Columbia University Libraries

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-284) and index.