Sunday, September 24, 2017
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?
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The protagonist’s fear of gossip in The Last Laugh exemplifies the troublesome social phenomenon in which individuals base their values too heavily on interpersonal relationships. The protagonist’s complex emotions and nearly delusional imaginations all stem from the fear of what other thinks. For example, he hides his demotion from his family for he does not want to be ridiculed by those who he loves. Similarly, he takes pride in his shinny jacket because he is greeted with respect by neighbors and even strangers. Essentially, He determines the value of objects, occupations, or actions depending on their effects towards the interpersonal relations that he has. While this mindset may seem like an “altruistic” approach towards normativity, it entails a more dangerous consequence of the loss of self. The main character experiences a major identity crisis from a minor change in occupation as he merely went from a doorman to a bathroom attendant, both of which could be equally fulfilling jobs with a minor difference in income. However, this minor change shattered his world. Camera techniques demonstrate his paranoia in dreams and his delusions when facing others’ judgments. This almost irrational reaction perfectly captures the dangerous consequences of an unhealthy dependence on interpersonal relationships. The main characters becomes “enslaved” by others, for he loses the sanity to evaluate actions based on his own interest but rather dominated by the non-substantive judgements of others. When society becomes an empty web of interpersonal relationships lacking strong individual identities, a society becomes ontologically dead—individual empty minds in a collectively empty society.
ReplyDeleteBy employing some of its most expressive shots on the gossip scene, The Last Laugh comments that gossip is particularly effective, yet lowly, form of communication. The shots go to great lengths to show the spread of gossip, which happens very quickly. The speed is shown as factor in the unfiltered nature of gossip, making it a desirable for its small latency. However, the people shown engaging are poor and aren’t shown to have lives off their own, they all wash laundry at the same time every day. This image of poor uninteresting people mocking the protagonist demonstrates that gossip is a tool with which less fortunately drag down anyone better off than them. By invoking this depiction The Last Laugh creates the message that communities who spread and listen to gossip are petty and trivial, searching only to bring others down with them. Unfortunately gossip does bring down our protagonist who feels publicly cornered and humiliated. We see him despair and become physically decrepit; ailments which could’ve easily been avoid if he didn’t place value upon the thoughts of his neighbors. This example of the influence that others have over our self-value is unfortunate, because it is painful to our protagonist. However, this is only the thorn in the rose; In order for society to function individuals must place their faith in others and share similar values, allowing us to accomplish goals greater than we could individually. The sharing of values inevitably leads to society placing value on roles or people, which often determines our understanding of our self-value in relation to this shared notation. The historical context, being just after World War One and during the rise of Communism, of this film suggests that it is a critic of such a system, where self-worth is determined by society. The Last Laugh influences its community by commenting on the system in which we determine self-worth, and asserts that we must determine it for ourselves and not let the thoughts – or gossip – of others bring us down.
ReplyDeleteThe movie captures a perfect spreading in gossip as a form of communication. As the neighbor leans in towards the door to listen in on the conversation, between the daughter and “mother”, whether the person ease dropping hears the facts correctly or not she spreads what she hears creating rumors and immense drama in the community. As the gossip is being passed around, it goes from building to building, people screaming it to each other, to, people whispering it in a friend’s ear. This, in a way, brings the community together to make fun of someone, but this activity of communication gets people to talk and socialize. The community itself is gullible and feeds off juicy gossip for in the movie, that was the highlight (excluding the added happy ending). Whether the gossip was right or wrong, the information was still being passed on because the hungry community seemed to enjoy the activity. Looking at the community overall, they seem too intense about being involved in other people’s lives and business, which is annoying and something no one wants. However, the director makes the community seem this invasive because this happens in real life as well. We have all experienced that moment of embarrassment that turned into the topic of the day for everyone and were made fun of for. It’s exactly similar to that except this form of gossip is in an older generation with adults rather than young teens in a school. This shows that even though adults are grown up they use gossip as a source of communication to keep in contact with people around them, to relate to them, just maybe not as mean as in this film.
ReplyDeleteIn the silent film, The Last Laugh, it seems as though the gossip of the unnamed doorman’s peers about his demotion is worse than the demotion itself. The reason the doorman was upset about the demotion is that it made him feel inadequate and as though he was no longer important in the society he was living in. The gossip and bullying only further amplified this effect on him. While the movie is silent, “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.” Effects such as these make it so the viewer can relate to the doorman and what he is going through. The effect where the viewer sees three large laughing faces on the screen is somewhat disturbing. I think the filmmaker did this on purpose to reflect how the doorman was feeling and so the viewer can even further relate to him. Furthermore, I think the filmmaker made these specific artistic choices to bring attention to how gossiping should be viewed. People who gossip in this movie are the antagonists, the viewer is not supposed to like them. This is the filmmaker’s way of saying that gossiping is bad and it can destroy people who are at their lowest lows. While I enjoyed The Last Laugh, I think I most enjoyed the scenes where the author used special effects to send a message and thicken the plot, rather than using them arbitrarily.
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ReplyDeleteAt first glance, the silent film The Last Laugh may seem like a film that deals solely with irrelevant trifles – a doorman ages and is demoted, an ordinary experience. However, in reality the film acts as a vocal commentary on how society is capable of creating standards and social hierarchies that are malicious and destructive to itself, specifically by focusing on gossip, the primary way information is spread in the film. The film depicts gossip as a potent weapon, because it creates a cycle of desired validation that communities obsess over. The doorman initially feels powerful and happy because his pride is validated through the community’s gossip about his revered job. However, as the doorman ultimately ages and is unable to retain his job, his demotion is made infinitely worse because of gossip, as people are not pointing out and criticizing his age and weakness. The special effects such as the superimposition of blurry heads and grotesque laughing mouths symbolize that gossip is pernicious and harmful, because, in a community, gossip creates the superficial expectation of power and social hierarchy that are then negatively reinforced through communal inflicted shame on one individual, in this case the doorman, when those standards are not met. Gossip throughout the apartment complex forces the doorman’s family to reject him because they cannot bear the social stigma of being associated with the doorman’s demotion, which then further crushes his spirit. Though gossip can validate an individual, it is ultimately harmful because it only creates false expectations that cannot be fulfilled. The film also provides a critical commentary on the community that listens to such gossip, portraying it as one that is primarily selfish. At the start of the film, though the neighbors pay superficial respect to the doorman, they snicker at the doorman behind his back, suggesting that they could be jealous of the power and importance he holds. Therefore, when the doorman is demoted, his neighbors use gossip as a sadistic way to validate their own importance, taking joy in the suffering of others to make themselves feel better. Finally, is analyzing the impact of the gossip on the demoted doorman himself, the audience can see that the film is meant to highlight the irrational thoughts and behaviors of human beings as social beings. The doorman’s demotion itself is not detrimental in a practical sense, he is still employed and the tasks he is expected to carry out are less physically harmful. However, because the film places such dramatic importance on how he is emotionally crushed by the experience of his demotion, which is augmented by gossip, the film is making that point that the opinions of others have a major impact on our own state of mind, even though it shouldn’t. For example, the doorman makes sure to retrieve his doorman-coat even after he is fired because he wants to be a proud father at his daughter’s wedding, and he dreams about being incredibly strong and lifting baggage because all the people at the hotel and his neighbor would then see him as a powerful and respectable figure. The fact that his fantasies include the rest of his community indicates that he places an irrational but completely natural importance on gossip and opinion. The film ultimately argues that, as social beings, humans place an undue and unhealthy importance on gossip, which may bring temporary validation, but will be emotionally and socially harmful in the long run.
In The Last Laugh, one of the most interesting scenes of the movie is when all of the neighbors are gossiping about the doorman losing his job and being demoted to a bathroom attendant. The visual effects in this scene are very creative because not only do they show people gossiping with this effect but they also show the doorman taking the walk of shame. This effect was created by layering two separate films over each other so that both perspectives are shown. This effect not only creates two perspectives but it also says something about how gossip and information travel fast. Before the scene, all of the neighbors are talking about the doorman because they heard he lost his job and they find it hilarious. This shows how gossip may be a very fast way to transfer information, but it isn’t the kindest way to transfer it. The doorman didn’t want for people to think of him lowly so he stole his jacket back to make people think that he didn’t lose his job, but the neighbors only used it to make fun of him more. The doorman let the gossip get to him because it was too much for him to handle, and as a result he lost his ability to make decisions for himself. His inability to make decisions paved the way for the rest of the original film. The movie is explaining to the viewers that they shouldn’t gossip about other people because it can hurt other people’s feelings and subject them to unnecessary tension.
ReplyDeleteIn the Movie the Last Laugh, the use of gossip was shown as a form of communication that can spread very quickly throughout the whole community. Though it was very effective, it is a terrible way to communicate due to the negative impact it gives on the victim of the gossip. The protagonist was already feeling down due to the loss of his respectable job and was kicked while he was down by the people in his community. The people who are supposed to stand with him. This film does this to shows gossip in a negative light and to demonstrate how people react to gossip. Even though the people who are gossiping are poor and the protagonist is probably in a higher financial class, gossip is used to bring down the protagonist to their level. The protagonist was known as a reputable man and that comes with expectations that he did not exceed. The protagonist feels as if he has not only let himself down, but everyone he knows. This causes him to lower his self-worth and want to live alone in the bathroom. This same message is even relevant today as it causes many people to avoid doing anything out of the ordinary to remain unexposed to the public. In today’s world, when someone gossips about others it can really hurt people and cause them to do terrible things. I am not sure if it was like this back when this film was made, but it definitely shows that gossip is bad and leads to bad things.
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