You Can't Take It with You

by George S. Kaufman, Moss Hart

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Examine a renowned discussion of comedy, such as Aristotle's Poetics, Charles Baudelaire's On the Essence of Laughter, Sigmund Freud's Jokes and the Comic, or Northrop Frye's The Mythos of Spring: Comedy. Assess the structure and substance of You Can't Take It with You based on your selected theorist's definition of comedy.

Read either Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance" (1841) or the chapter "Economy" from Henry David Thoreau's Walden (1854). Reflect on how the concepts in your chosen text are mirrored in You Can't Take It with You.

Contrast Frank Capra's film adaptation of You Can't Take It with You with Kaufman and Hart's original play. Identify the changes Capra implemented that reveal his interpretation of family and community. How do the portrayals of the business world in the play and film diverge? Do both versions highlight the same political, economic, and social philosophies?

Investigate the living and working conditions of minority groups—such as African-Americans and Eastern European immigrants—in mid-1930s New York. What would life have been like for an actual African-American domestic worker or a Russian fleeing persecution? Locate genuine accounts to compare with the humorous stereotypes depicted in Kaufman and Hart's play.

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