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On Thursday afternoon, students in an upper-level Modern Culture and Media seminar unanimously praised Howard Bromst ’12 for his butt-borne critique of Ingmar Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal.” Transcribed in several academic journals and released as a sound file on iTunes U, Bromst’s fart has already attracted the attention of hundreds of film theory scholars worldwide.
“Every 15 or so years an undergraduate says something about a work that blows decades of academic scrutiny apart,” said Bromst’s professor, Dr. Phyllis Carbonell of the MCM department. “And when it pertains to film theory, it’s not rare that such a contribution will arise from an orifice other than the mouth.”
The teaching assistant for Carbonell’s class, doctoral candidate Todd Herney, agreed that Bromst’s point was an extraordinary one, especially for a student recently inducted into the practice of film theory. “I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I thought he’d lifted the idea from an existing essay,” said Herney. “None of the literature databases I use let you input fart sounds as keywords, though, so I had a really difficult time trying to confirm or disconfirm this suspicion.”
Continued Herney, “Whether or not Bromst was inspired by another theorist, it’s clear that he’s on to a successful career in academia. You don’t come out with something like that and just get ignored. Even if people pretend to ignore you, it’s just because they’re being polite.”
Bromst’s comment came as a response to a question posed by Carbonell. “Does anyone have any thoughts,” she asked, “about why themes of nihilism and alienation lead Bergman to use chess as his film’s central framing device, as opposed to another game, e.g. backgammon?”
“BRAPPP!!!!” Bromst replied, staring down at his desk as the class silently pondered his exposition and then erupted into fervent applause.
Bromst’s sudden insight took the entire class by surprise. Few expected the infrequent participant in class discussion to deliver such an eloquent critique, least of all Bromst himself. “I tried to make it a quiet one but I couldn’t,” he said.
Initially, Bromst demonstrated humility by deflecting all compliments, heaping them instead upon his fellow classmates. “It was totally James,” he told the star-stuck classroom. “James was the one who farted. James, P.U., not cool man. Why’d you fart?”
Eventually, Bromst gave in to his newfound fame. “Okay, okay, I did it,” he announced at a conference hosted by the Society for Cinema and Media Studies. “But you could all be a little more discreet about this. I’d prefer a simple ‘excuse you’ to a tenured position at Tisch School of the Arts.”
Bromst’s idea was most recently cited by famed Harvard theorist Lydia Weber, who wrote the following in the World Journal of New Film Theory: “BURPP BELCH HURLL SNORRT ACHOOOOOOO: ‘BRAP’ (Bromst, 23).”
