Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 6, No. 0453. Wednesday, 7 June 1995.
(1) From: Anna Cole <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: TueSDAY, 06 Jun 1995 15:26:11 GMT
Subj: Re: SHK 6.0447 Re: American and British Humor
(2) From: Pam Powell <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 10:01:27 GMT +2:00
Subj: Re: SHK 6.0450 Re: Humor
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From: Anna Cole <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: TueSDAY, 06 Jun 1995 15:26:11 GMT
Subject: 6.0447 Re: American and British Humor
Comment: Re: SHK 6.0447 Re: American and British Humor
To Stephanie Hughes,
Delighted to hear that you enjoy some British humour. I think perhaps you
would not enjoy Absolutely Fabulous if you do not feel comfortable with Fawlty
Towers. The humour is certainly black. It reminds us of a vestigial savagery
that lurks in apparently civilised man - or women in the case of the appalling
Eddy and her side-kick. This is balanced by the decency and good sense of
Saffy the daughter. I believe both AF and FT are morality plays. They are
intended to shock, just as Falstaff's speech in Henry1V part 1, at the end of
Act V,i, would shock a Shakespearean audience. With their more clearly
defined notion of honour, Elizabethans might very well have reacted as you
have - with discomfort - when Falstaff (False Staff?) declares at the end of
his speech: "Honour is a mere scutcheon - and so ends my catechism."
Anna Cole
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From: Pam Powell <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 10:01:27 GMT +2:00
Subject: 6.0450 Re: Humor
Comment: Re: SHK 6.0450 Re: Humor
Dear Robert Applebaum,
Here is one Brit who things Benny Hill is a load of rubbish, very unsubtle to
say the least!
Pam Powell
Univ. of the Witwatersrand
South Africa