Rob King
On his book The Fun Factory: The Keystone Film Company and the Emergence of Mass Culture
Cover Interview of August 13, 2009
history /
media studies /
20th century /
business /
film /
pop culture /
migration /
labor /
los angeles /
working class /
Editor’s note
Originally, this interview ran on the Rorotoko cover page under the headline
“The history of comedy is that of the changing social patterns that produce and permit laughter.”
We highlighted two quotes.
On the first page:
“Why people laugh, who and what they laugh at – these are historical categories that change over time.”
On the second:
“The classic comedies of the 1920s are the culmination of a process; the history of earlier companies such as Keystone show that process in development.”