Monday, February 5, 2018
A Little Bird Told Me
The gossip of the members of his community about his demotion, rather than the demotion itself, is the direct cause of the doorman's downfall in The Last Laugh. Some of the most expressive images in the film demonstrate the spread of gossip and the resultant mockery of the neighbors: the camera moves to an outstretched ear, the camera follows the doorman along a walk of shame, grotesque and blurry heads superimposed on the neighborhood mock him with unabashed laughter. What is the movie saying about gossip as a form of communication? What is it saying about the community that listens to it? How does what other people think of us influence how we think of ourselves?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The Last Laugh provides and interesting commentary on the power of gossip, social status, and ego. At first the doorman is respected by his coworkers, neighbors, and family. He walks the street head held high saying high to children and helping them along the way. His neighbors greet him nicely and stop cleaning when he walks by to preserve his fancy doorman uniform. His family is proud to be related to someone of his status as a doorman at the fancy hotel. All of this goes down the drain after his demotion. When his neighbors catch word of his demotion to bathroom attendant they cruelly laugh and gossip about how their neighbor has now become a washroom attendant. Their faces appear, surrounding him as he sneaks around his apartment trying not to be seen. This gossip emotionally destroys the doorman. His social status as a washroom attendant now, is much less than when he was a doorman. His familiar place among his family and friends has been pulled out from under him and he is left with almost nothing. The movie’s use of gossip shows how much we value other people’s opinions about ourselves. Arguably, most the doorman’s pride and love of his job came from when he wore his fancy uniform around his neighborhood and everyone respected him. After he got demoted, and everyone gossiped about his downgrade he was seen differently by his peers which was the main cause of his emotional downfall. Overall, The Last Laugh gives honest representation of the power of social status among our peers.
ReplyDeleteThroughout The Last Laugh the viewer watches the doorman mope around as he has just lost his job which was a huge source of pride for him. While the doorman is subjected to some scrutiny from his neighbors and the people in the hotel as a result of his demotion, most of the ridicule can be seen as a part of his imagination. The blurred and superimposed faces swirling around the screen laughing at the doorman makes it clear to the viewer that the doorman is exaggerating the ridicule he was receiving in his mind. This was a strategic decision by the directors of The Last Laugh because the feeling of other people’s opinions of you taking over your life is a highly relatable one. This relatability helps to evoke emotion in the viewer for the doorman which is a powerful tool in making people engaged in a film. It also calls into question whether the position of doorman actually brought him great happiness, or he just liked it because people thought highly of him because he had the position. The director also makes very direct statement as to what he thinks about people who part take in the ridicule of others by entitling the movie The Last Laugh. At the end of the movie the doorman is seen eating a lavish meal, tipping the bathroom attendant a large amount of money, and smiling. This is him getting his last laugh at the people who gave him a hard time when he was at his lowest point after losing his job. This was included to show that good things will happen to good people in the end while the bad people will be left to suffer.
ReplyDeleteI believe that The Last Laugh, through the depictions of the gossiping people and the gossiping’s effect on the doorman itself, takes a stance against gossiping. By showing the people of the neighborhood’s faces as distorted and blurred as they laugh at him, the movie suggests that the people are just as wicked as they look. In addition, the doorman’s loneliness and heartbreak, so powerfully shown at the intended end of the movie, show the effect of such gossip. The first notable thing, however, is the way the gossiping starts. As soon as the doorman is seen in his new position in the bathroom, there is no effort to clarify the circumstances; the woman instead runs away and immediately spreads her potentially unknowingly twisted version of the truth. By doing this, the truth is carelessly discarded and the false story takes its place. Most significantly, though, is the aftermath of the gossip. The doorman’s torment is shown to us, the viewers, by a disturbing scene in which the blurred, floating, and cackling faces of the women he knew and was respected by follow him down the street. The faces appear devilish, distorted, and almost not human. Shown in this way, the movie suggests that the women are just that. Finally, the crushing intended end of the film shows the result of the gossiping and the teasing and taunting that ensued. The doorman, sitting alone in the bathroom of the hotel with the security guard as his only comfort, seems to have had his life ruined; and in the way that the director wanted to end the movie it seems beyond repair. And so the film, almost all at once, looks down on gossiping by showing not only its evil but also the result.
ReplyDelete