What purpose do you think serious scenes in comedies can serve?
Thursday, October 30, 2014
The Royal Tenenbaums
I never felt like The Royal Tenenbaums was an outright comedy. Although it is technically called one, it has several more serious moments throughout. Something I noticed was that in both this film and The Graduate, these serious moments serve as turning points in the story. In The Graduate, when Elaine discovers that Benjamin has been having an affair with her mother, it launches the next "part" of the story. Benjamin tries to win Elaine back, and runs off with her during a wedding. The serious event has great significance, and sets everything in motion for the second half of the film.
The Royal Tenenbaums has the same thing. Richie's suicide is a shocking and very significant event that breaks the movie into two separate halves. When he is in the hospital, it is the first time the family is united again and all on the same side together. Several characters undergo changes too. One of the most notable differences comes from Royal. At first, he had been lying to his whole family about his health condition. Chas, Ethel, and Margot were all still angry with him. But later, his actions are much more sincere, and the secret is out. In the final scenes, we can see Chas is spending time with his father, and Royal does his best to right some wrongs. He signs the divorce papers for Ethel, which was something he knew she wanted. He may not have wanted the divorce to happen, but he was much more selfless now and saw that she would be happy.
What purpose do you think serious scenes in comedies can serve?
What purpose do you think serious scenes in comedies can serve?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think that the purpose of serious scenes in comedy movies are to remind the audience that life isn't always fun and games, adding more reality into the film. The scene reminds us that these characters are still only human, and they still have their own issues and struggles that they deal with during their everyday lives.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you explained Richie's suicide attempt as a point of change for most of the characters. I like to believe that Royal started caring about the welfare of his family when he nearly lost a member of his family. I think that serious scenes serve to bring the comedy down to earth, to keep it from becoming a ridiculous scenario that is impossible.
ReplyDelete