Lesson Plan 2

Mr. Sandoz

9th Grade Language Arts

Physical Comedy Within Literature

Objectives: Students will be able to critically analyze physical comedy within a scene from "The Simpsons" episode entitled "Cape Fear".

Essential Question: When is it funny when someone gets hurt? When is it not funny?

Materials: a computer, a projector, "Cape fear" clip from The Simpsons, paper, and a pencil/pen.

Procedure: First, the students will be asked to think about their thoughts on comedy involving pain and injury. They will be asked to write a paragraph on what they think is funny and why. This will take about 5 minutes. 

Next the students will be shown the clip from "The Simpsons" where Sideshow Bob is attached to the bottom of the Simpsons' car as they try to flee to Cape Fear within the witness protection program. While on the road, Sideshow Bob is hit by road bumps, scalded by hot coffee, hit by cactuses in a cactus patch, and finally hit by several rakes as he gets out from underneath the car. The clip is about 3-4 minutes in length.

After the clip, the students will be asked if they thought the clip was funny. We will have a full class discussion about why it was or was not funny. Ideally, the instructor would like to hear arguments from both sides. The instructor will note that cartoon violence shows people getting hurt without consequences, the character may be fine in the next scene. We will discuss how real-life violence has consequences (i.e. broken bones, bloody noses, and even death). This should take 10 minutes.

Finally, the students will be asked to write their notes on the clip in their notebooks, underneath their first free-write. They will explain why the clip was or was not funny to them and give a compelling argument that backs their opinions. This will take about 5 minutes. The students will be asked to hand in their writing at the end of this activity.  

Rationale: This clip shows how comedy can involve pain in many ways. This is a good introduction to novels or plays that involve a lot of physical comedy. An example of a book to use is Pride, and Prejudice, and Zombies by jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith because it uses a lot of cartoonish violence. Plus, this book is a great way to make reading a classic work of literature more fun or interesting to young students. 

Evaluation Method: The students will turn in their writing on comedy. The instructor will read their paragraphs and makes notes or comments on them before returning the writing to the students.