COMEDY
Two very popular
artifacts of culture in past decade of the comedy genre are the movies Step Brothers and The Other Guys. Both movies star Will Ferrell alongside one
accompanying male co-star. In The Other Guys, the co-star is Mark Wahlberg and
in Step Brothers, the co-star is John C. Reilly. Step Bothers is a movie about
two middle-aged brothers who still live at home with their parents and are
forced to become roommates when their parents get married (IMDb: Step Brothers,
2013). The Other Guys forcedly teams up Ferrell with Wahlberg as partners on
the NYPD, as they experience an adventurous series of mishaps on the road to
becoming the city’s next top detectives (IMDb: The Other, 2013). Each duo
provide the audience with a team of mismatched men that are each funny in their
own way but have troubles getting along with each other, which proves to be a
significant part of the formula for comedy spoofs/satires.
FORMULAS
The combination of Step Brothers and The Other Guys
provides a very successful formula for a hilarious spoof or satire comedy
movie. The following paragraph outlines that formula for a successful comedy
and the steps that both movies follow to fit the formula. First, the movies
supply not one but two comedic talents, which according to popular culture
guidelines are all heroes. The comedy comes in the fact the characters are
paired together unwillingly and are in constant disagreement through the
setting of the plot. Then, the team of heroes band together to work toward
accomplishing one goal. However, the formula provides drama in disagreements
between the pair of heroes along the journey as well as more twists and turns
in the plot. Ultimately, the pair put aside their differences and/or are
rejoined through some extraordinary set of circumstances and triumph over the
evil they are facing.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
The general formula named above is the extent of the
commonalities as far as myths and beliefs are concerned. The primary beliefs
demonstrated in Step Brothers are closely related to the American Dream myth
that the movie illustrates. The movie shows the beliefs that one must move out
of the parent’s household (and maintain active employment) in adulthood and
that if a person’s parent is successful, then that person should follow in the
parent’s footstep with a similar career. However, the beliefs demonstrated in
The Other Guys follow the good vs. evil myth. The belief that some type of
police force should be a hero and protector of all citizens and that those
heroes are necessary in all large metropolitan areas is strongly portrayed in
The Other Guys. The film also touched on another belief of the general American
public, which is that all banks, financial institutions, and the people
associated with them are evil. There are some further commonalities between the
two movies in the rituals category. Both movies show a pair of men presented
with a ritualistic rite of passage opportunity, in which both pairs of men have
a chance to transition to a progressed state of life. In The Other Guys,
Detectives Hoitz and Gamble have the opportunity to become the city’s leading
detectives and in Step Brothers, Dale and Brennan have an opportunity to begin
the “adult” stages of independency from their parents.
CONCLUSION AND PERSONAL
REFLECTION
In my opinion, both movies follow a
timeless formula that has been around for ages but has not been overused to the
point that audiences are growing tired of it. The same formula was successfully
used in 1968, in the movie The Odd Couple, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter
Matthau (IMDb: The Odd, 2013). If I could be the director of either of the
films discussed in the paper, I would honestly not make any changes, which is
rare for someone as critical and cynical as me to say. The formula, when
coupled with a talented cast of writers and comedians, is flawless.|
Movie
|
Beliefs
|
Myth
|
Hero
|
Setting
|
Ritual
|
Stereotype
|
Formulas
|
|
Step-Brothers
|
1. One must move out of the parent’s household (and maintain active
employment) in adulthood
2. Children should follow in the
footsteps of their parents if the parents are successful
|
The
American Dream myth
|
Brennan Huff and Dale
Dobak-
|
A
stereotypical middle class household in a suburban area
|
The
typical American ritual of moving out of the household after schooling is complete
|
The “failure to launch” loser boy that lives with
parents
The President of a company jerk
The too-soft, middle class parents
|
Comedy- Spoof
The formula is showing a pair of mismatched
and different men who are both comical in their own way but get paired
together by a situation beyond their control.
Then, the men are shown coming together as a
team, working towards one goal.
But wait, something happens that drives them
apart and makes them feud.
Then they come back together and triumph.
|
|
The Other Guys
|
1.
That some type of police force should be the protector of all
2.
Heroes are necessary in large metropolitan areas
3.
Banks and financial institutions are evil
|
Good
vs. Evil
|
Detectives
Hoitz and Gamble-
Hoitz
is the typical lively detective role of the hero that wants to be the hero.
Saving the day is what he has wanted his whole life.
Alan
Gamble is a less likely hero that performs heroically when put into a
situation to do so
|
In
the action and crime-packed New York City
|
Rites of Passage-
Danson and Highsmith died and left a place for
the next heroes to step in
|
The
over-zealous macho-head cop
The
boring accountant
The
Catholic Hispanic house-wife
|
Comedy- Spoof
The formula is showing a pair of mismatched
and different men who are both comical in their own way but get paired
together by a situation beyond their control.
Then, the men are shown coming together as a
team, working towards one goal.
But wait, something happens that drives them
apart and makes them feud.
Then they come back together
and triumph.
|
REFERENCES
Imdb:
Step Brothers. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0838283/?ref_=sr_1
Imdb:
The Other Guys. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1386588/?ref_=sr_1
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