Woody Allen

In this extended essay, Vittorio Hsle develops a theory of the comical and applies it to interpret both the recurrent personae played by Woody Allen the actor and the philosophical issues addressed by Woody Allen the director in his films. Taking Henri Bergsons analysis of laughter as a starting point, Hsle integrates aspects of other theories of laughter to construct his own more finely-articulated and expanded model. With this theory in hand, Hsle discusses the incongruity in the characters played by Woody Allen and describes how these personae are realized in his work. Hsle focuses on the philosophical issues in Allens major films by exploring the identity problem in Play It Again, Sam and Zelig, the shortcomings of the positivist concept of reality in A Midsummer Nights Sex Comedy, the relation between reality and art in The Purple Rose of Cairo, the objective validity of morality in Crimes and Misdemeanors, the power of evil in Shadows and Fog, and the relation between art and morality in Bullets over Broadway. He cites Allens virtuosic reinterpretation of older forms of expression and his integration of the fantastic into the comic universeelements like the giant breasts, anxious sperm, extraterrestrials, ghosts, and magicians that populate his moviesas formal moves akin to those of Aristophanes. Both an overview of Allens work and a philosophical analysis of laughter, Hsles study demonstrates why Allens films have more to offer usmorally, philosophically, and artisticallythan just a few laughs.