Why do funny movies make us laugh? In this thoughtful essay, by turns stimulating and meditative, distinguished filmmaker and Yale professor Michael Roemer shares his musings on what causes us to chortle, snort, and guffaw when we watch antics onscreen or onstage. Roemer keeps us chuckling as he dissects punchy one-liners, Shakespearean plays, and everything in-between. Incorporating theories from such great thinkers as Sigmund Freud, Charles Baudelaire, Henri-Louis Bergson, and Soren Kierkegaard with the work of classic comedians like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and the Marx Brothers, Roemer examines the purpose of comedy in our lives and in society. Shocked But Connected provides a serious reflection on a lighthearted subject.

By Michael Roemer

Preface
Chapter 1: Surprised
Chapter 2: Freud
Chapter 3: Different and Scary
Chapter 4: Disconnected
Chapter 5: Bergson and High Comedy
Chapter 6: Blind and Helpless but Alive
Chapter 7: Childhood
Chapter 8: Making It Real
Chapter 9: Annie Hall
Chapter 10: Free but Connected