ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses more on industry trends and the application of auteur theory rather than on specific films. Auteur theory, first developed by the French New Wave critics, examines a film as a work of art by assuming a singular vision behind it, which is generally attributed to the director. It analyzes the collective works of some of the most successful comedic filmmakers from this era and contextualizes them within the sociopolitical climates in which they were consumed. The chapter explains how disillusionment and apathy regarding individual prospects for upward mobility has mutated into apocalyptic paranoia within the public imagination, which is, of course, reflected in a number of comedic films released in recent years. It offers some remarks about comedy's place in the modern blockbuster business model of Hollywood production, as well as a brief consideration of the future of American film comedy within the international mass media marketplace of the twenty-first century.
