Movie REVIEW Essays
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MADr.
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English 101-I
April 19, 2006
Film Analysis
Living with the ‘rents
A modern archetype
It seems today that just about everyone knows a young, 20-something guy who still lives with his parents. This theme comes up very frequently in modern movies like Failure to Launch or Mallrats. This stereotype has become a modern archetype and is easily recognizable. Will Ferrell’s character Chaz in the movie Wedding Crashers wouldn’t have been remotely funny if he didn’t live with his mom, but because Chaz was so ridiculous, he provided the reality check for John, the protagonist (played by Owen Wilson) and allowed the climax to take place. This trend of young men who have little to no desire to move forward in their life has become more prevalent in recent years. A recent article in the Washington Post by Leonard Sax estimated that almost one third of men aged 22 to 34 still live with their parents and that this figure is double that of what it was 20 years ago. Everyone seems to agree that this demographic has become less motivated lately, but few ask why.
The archetype of the young man still living at home has become very ubiquitous in modern films. Sometimes the protagonist in the movie lives at home and this is part of the plot’s central conflict. In the comedy Failure to Launch, the protagonist Trip played by Matthew McConaughey is a smart and friendly 35 year old boat salesman, but has no motivation to do anything besides play videogames, hang out with his similarly-disposed friends, dabble in extreme sports and pick up women. His parents finnaly get sick of him living at home, so they hire Paula, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, a professional “motivation consultant” to pretend to fall in love with Trip in an effort to get him out of his parent’s house. Of course, like most generic romantic comedies there were a few mildly suprising twists, humorous side-plots and likeable supporting characters.
Failure to Launch’s plot can easily be viewed as an adaptation of the classic Hero’s healing myth, where Trip is the hero who must leave home to become a complete person. In this case, leaving home is precisely what will heal Trip, who is scarred by a previous engagement to a woman who died. Paula also fits the role of helper character because she is the driving force behind resolving his problem As Paula finds out more about Trip, she actually does fall for him, but of course as soon as he discovers that she was hired by his parents, he refuses her. This conflict eventually resolves and ends up helping to heal Trip and his emotionally scarred past. Modern romantic comedies are rife with this version of the healing myth, where a character finds salvation from emotional distresses by finding Mr. or Mrs. Right.
While there are good examples of protagonists living with their parents in modern films, there are easily hundreds of supporting characters that fit this archetype. Many times these characters are used to give contrast to the main characters. In the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Vince Vaughn plays Eddie, the protagonist John Smith’s partner in business, who harbors John, played by Brad Pitt, when he is hiding from his wife Jane, played by Angelina Jolie, who literally is trying to kill him. Eddie lives with his mother, and this relationship is used as comic relief to the main conflict between John and Jane.
In the movie Garden State, the protagonist Andrew Largeman returns home after nine years’ absence to find many of his friends still living at home while working odd jobs. The director Zach Braff uses this aspect of these supporting characters to mean different things depending on the way Braff wants them to appear. For instance, Andrew’s old friend Mark works as a gravedigger, lives with his mother and lives to party every night with his friends. Mark is portrayed as a nobody, with little desire to do anything and this image partly stems from living with his mother. In contrast to Mark, there is Andrew’s love interest Samantha, played by Natalie Portman, a lovable, quirky, girl next door. She is
When analyzing the semiotic significance of these characters, it is interesting to note their gender difference.
April 19, 2006
Film Analysis
Living with the ‘rents
A modern archetype
It seems today that just about everyone knows a young, 20-something guy who still lives with his parents. This theme comes up very frequently in modern movies like Failure to Launch or Mallrats. This stereotype has become a modern archetype and is easily recognizable. Will Ferrell’s character Chaz in the movie Wedding Crashers wouldn’t have been remotely funny if he didn’t live with his mom, but because Chaz was so ridiculous, he provided the reality check for John, the protagonist (played by Owen Wilson) and allowed the climax to take place. This trend of young men who have little to no desire to move forward in their life has become more prevalent in recent years. A recent article in the Washington Post by Leonard Sax estimated that almost one third of men aged 22 to 34 still live with their parents and that this figure is double that of what it was 20 years ago. Everyone seems to agree that this demographic has become less motivated lately, but few ask why.
The archetype of the young man still living at home has become very ubiquitous in modern films. Sometimes the protagonist in the movie lives at home and this is part of the plot’s central conflict. In the comedy Failure to Launch, the protagonist Trip played by Matthew McConaughey is a smart and friendly 35 year old boat salesman, but has no motivation to do anything besides play videogames, hang out with his similarly-disposed friends, dabble in extreme sports and pick up women. His parents finnaly get sick of him living at home, so they hire Paula, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, a professional “motivation consultant” to pretend to fall in love with Trip in an effort to get him out of his parent’s house. Of course, like most generic romantic comedies there were a few mildly suprising twists, humorous side-plots and likeable supporting characters.
Failure to Launch’s plot can easily be viewed as an adaptation of the classic Hero’s healing myth, where Trip is the hero who must leave home to become a complete person. In this case, leaving home is precisely what will heal Trip, who is scarred by a previous engagement to a woman who died. Paula also fits the role of helper character because she is the driving force behind resolving his problem As Paula finds out more about Trip, she actually does fall for him, but of course as soon as he discovers that she was hired by his parents, he refuses her. This conflict eventually resolves and ends up helping to heal Trip and his emotionally scarred past. Modern romantic comedies are rife with this version of the healing myth, where a character finds salvation from emotional distresses by finding Mr. or Mrs. Right.
While there are good examples of protagonists living with their parents in modern films, there are easily hundreds of supporting characters that fit this archetype. Many times these characters are used to give contrast to the main characters. In the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Vince Vaughn plays Eddie, the protagonist John Smith’s partner in business, who harbors John, played by Brad Pitt, when he is hiding from his wife Jane, played by Angelina Jolie, who literally is trying to kill him. Eddie lives with his mother, and this relationship is used as comic relief to the main conflict between John and Jane.
In the movie Garden State, the protagonist Andrew Largeman returns home after nine years’ absence to find many of his friends still living at home while working odd jobs. The director Zach Braff uses this aspect of these supporting characters to mean different things depending on the way Braff wants them to appear. For instance, Andrew’s old friend Mark works as a gravedigger, lives with his mother and lives to party every night with his friends. Mark is portrayed as a nobody, with little desire to do anything and this image partly stems from living with his mother. In contrast to Mark, there is Andrew’s love interest Samantha, played by Natalie Portman, a lovable, quirky, girl next door. She is
When analyzing the semiotic significance of these characters, it is interesting to note their gender difference.
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I just took a class on classical hollywood cinema, but I can't really help you out...