Woody Allen's stand-up comedy was influenced by Bob Hope's quick delivery of lightly scripted lines that sounded conversational. Allen was known as a verbal comedian who got laughs through subtle and witty delivery rather than physical humor. His routines made stream of consciousness material look believable. His comedy topics included autobiographical facts, anecdotes, and contemporary issues. In his films, Allen is constantly present as the narrator, author, and actor/character. Films like Deconstructing Harry explore fiction and reality through characters created by the main character Harry, who is based on Allen. Allen's work uses metafiction to blur lines between frames and levels of form. His characters are sometimes self-aware plotters.
1. Following are excerpts from the hitherto secret private journal of Woody
Allen, which will be published posthumously or after his death, whichever
comes first.
(Woody Allen, The Insanity Defense)
5. STYLE
‘*Woody Allen] is strictly a verbal comedian who
gets all his laughs from the subtlety and wit of
his delivery and none of them from physical
funiness.’ (Lax: 136)
‘Woody is one of the few people who could do
set routines and make it look like stream of
consciousness’. (Lax: 190)
6. ‘Audiences saw him as
a person *…+. That
person, of course, was
far more an invention
than a reality but he
was utterly believable.
One reason was that
he was partially a
product of the
audience’. (Lax: 173)
7. TOPICS
- Autobiographical facts
- Anecdotes
- Contemporary issues
- Upper classes
‘I think I will review for you some of the
outstanding features of my private live and
put them in perspective.’ (Lax: 123)
20. ROLE OF THE
AUTHOR
Sally: “Yes – for nine years- we sold the
place to Mr. Krolian”
Hal: “Max Krolian a fairly well-known
writer”
21. • Max Krolian = Woody Allen
• ‘*the author] playfully introduces himself into
his novels very often through anagrams of
variations on his name’ (Waugh: 132)
22. FRAMES
Max: ‘These wild animals – I created them –
they turned on me’
*…+
Hal: ‘What?’
*…+
Sheila: ‘He invented us’
23. Woody Allen
Max Hal & Sandy
David, Norman, Sheila, Jenny + their story
Personal diary
24. ‘There is ultimately no
distinction between
“framed” and
“unframed”. There are
only levels of form, *…+
only content.’ (Waugh:
31)
- No hierarchy
- Drawer – “And Then
What?” premise
25. CONCLUSION
‘But this movie is not art. It is a clinical
document’ (Maureen Dowd)
‘There is no question that Allen’s movies are
self-reflective’ (Mary P. Nichols)
‘The character played by Allen and the director-
actor who *…+ in the mind of the audience, is
just like the character in the film’ (Tomás
Creus)