Response to Kaitlin's Blog

I am also very excited for the arrival of December. I love laying inside under a blanket while it is cold outside and then falling asleep with the Christmas lights softly glowing outside of my bedroom window. I adore Fall as a whole, but the entirety of December is my favorite time of year. While I'm not really sure which Christmas movie is my favorite, I do agree that Elf is up there. I wholeheartedly agree with the ideas of incongruity and benign violation that Kaitlin brought up, but I also think much of Buddy's initial humorous moments traversing New York City falls under superiority. For example, we see Buddy walk out into the streets of New York with a look of wonder on his face and he is immediately struck by a car. We laugh at him due to his misfortune and due to his lack of comprehension of the situation he is in. 
Moving away from the theories of comedy, I think a crucial thing to bring up when discussing this film are some of the adult jokes that fly over the heads of young kids. One of the prime examples of this adult humor is when Buddy finds himself working in the mail room. He says, "This is just like the North Pole except for it smells like mushrooms and everybody looks like they want to hurt me." The adult joke comes when one of Buddy's newfound friends begins to pour a liquid into his coffee which Buddy assumes is syrup, he asks for some, and his friend gives him some. Buddy pours the rest into his mug. The scene cuts to them laying on top of a mail pile. Now as a child I thought that it really was maple syrup and I didn't understand that it was liquor and that the pair was drunk. This habit of putting adult jokes is not uncommon in modern children's comedy films. It's very regular in Shrek and Spongebob Squarepants. I find it very interesting how frequent this has become. 

Comments

  1. Shane HerronOctober 19, 2018 at 10:11 AM

    That''s so interesting to think about how your own views of the movie evolved: how one scene could work on so many levels. it suggests that maybe part of what makes the joke funny is that we do imagine how absurd it is to put syrup in coffee, even as adults.

    Also, to be pedantic: most of December is fall, since winter begins on the 22nd (lol)

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 19, 2018 at 10:12 AM

    Superiority does play a huge role in Elf. Without it, Buddy wouldn't be able to express his humorous struggles of living in a New York City.

    ReplyDelete

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