Author: Toby K

“Wedding Crashers” as a Comedy

On By Toby KIn Comedy/SatireLeave a comment

Wedding Crashers is a 2005 romantic-comedy starring Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Bradley Cooper, Rachel McAdams. It also features a cameo role from Will Ferrell. In the movie, Vaughn and Wilson act as divorce lawyers with many different alias’s that they use to crash weddings. They use this practice as a way to dress up for a party, drink for free, and meet pretty women. During one wedding though, Vaughn’s character gets involved with a young, possessive women while Wilson’s character falls for her older sister, Rachel McAdams, who is about to get married to Bradley Cooper’s character. They end up spending more and more time with the family and things become complicated. Wedding Crashers qualifies as a classic Aristotle comedy because Wilson and McAdams’s characters are sympathetic characters in which the audience hopes fall for each other. They also have a personable charm and you see their love for each other, unlike most other relationships in the movie.

The movie could be considered a romantic comedy for many reasons. One being that the two central characters are young and likeable. They are also apparently meant for each other but are kept apart by a complicated scenario. This scenario being that McAdams is about to get married to Cooper’s character, who is the jerk boyfriend of the movie and Wilson is using his alias the whole time as he is getting to know and falling for McAdams. Spoiler: Wilson wishes, and comes close, to revealing his true identity but can’t in time before McAdams finds out. Although the movie doesn’t end with McAdams and Wilson’s wedding (hint hint), it ends with McAdams’ character and her sister going off together with Vaughn and Wilson and accepting who they really are. Wedding Crashers enhances our understanding of the world by proving a point that you should be true with the people you love and not hide things from people you are closest with. It also teaches not get romantically involved with someone for a long period of time with them not knowing who you really are, so just be yourself.

Satire In ‘JoJo Rabbit’

On By Toby KIn Comedy/Satire, Memory/Past/History2 Comments

‘JoJo Rabbit’ is a historical and satirical comedy about a German city during World War II. The movie came out at the end of 2019 and was directed by Taika Waititi, who is half Jewish. The movie is about a 10 year old kid names Johannes who idolizes Hitler and the Nazi way of life. He dreams of being a Nazi soldier and trains in a Hitler Youth summer camp. Throughout the movie, he imagines he is talking to Hitler (played by Waititi) who could also be seen as his ‘imaginary friend’. Through JoJo, Hitler plays his companion, adviser, and friend. SPOILER ALERT- One day, JoJo finds a Jewish girl in his attic that his mom has been hiding for some time. JoJo is conflicted between his preconceived hate for Jewish people and his naturally kind heart and must make a decision to either follow Hitler’s orders or his own instincts.

Trailer- https://youtu.be/tL4McUzXfFI

Waititi employs satirical comedy all throughout the movie using overstatements and irony. The most prominent use is overstatement. He exaggerates the perception of Hitler greatly by showing him as an idolized celebrity to young German kids. For example, to start the movie, footage of Nazi rallies and Germans going crazy for Hitler is shown with the song ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ playing over it. This compares Hitler to the Beatles showing how each of their fanbases treated them both similarly. Later in the movie, during a scene in which people are greeting others, “Heil Hitler” is said 31 times in one minute to emphasize the ridiculousness of the Nazi way of life. To employ irony, Waititi plays Hitler and portrays him as a sidekick who is weak and powerless, opposite of how he is viewed by the other characters in the film. When Waititi was asked about why he chose to play the role of Adolf Hitler, he said “What better fuck you to the guy?” The movie does more than just make fun of Hitler, Nazi’s, and Hitler worshipers. It shows viewers how ridiculous people in Germany were for supporting and idolizing such a terrible person and adopting the terrible beliefs he preached. Satirical work that criticizes the Nazi’s like ‘JoJo Rabbit’ will continue to be made and hopefully prevent another person like Hitler from coming into power again.

My Way

On By Toby KIn Music Poetry2 Comments

“My Way” is one of Frank Sinatra’s more famous songs and was released on the album titled My Way. Although Sinatra did not write the lyrics, the song was immensely popularized after his rendition was released. “My Way” is a song about determination and life reflection. Here is the link to the lyrics My Way.

The song is as close to poetry as any song I’ve listened to. The song is emotional, uplifting, and has a consistent, clear rhyme scheme. The song is about someone on their death bed looking back on their life. The speaker is satisfied with his life and reflects on living it to the fullest in his own way. The speaker states he’s made mistakes and has some regrets but not too many to worry about. He reminisces on when he had to face adversity and fight through it. The song ends with some emotional lines about times he’s laughed and cried and expresses his pride in the way he lived his life.

The speaker conveys this message to the audience through the use of metaphors and emotional imagery. The poetic devices are employed to make the audience connect to the speaker and emotionally uplifts them.

And now, the end is near

And so I face the final curtain.

These are the first two lines of the song and the metaphor makes the song emotional from the start. He compares his dying days as the curtain being closed on the last part of his life.

I’ve lived a life that’s full

I’ve traveled each and every highway.

This metaphor is the speaker saying he’s ‘been there, done that’. He hasn’t traveled on every highway but he has so much life experience.

Yes there were times, I’m sure you knew

when I bit off more than I could chew

But through it all, when there was doubt

I ate it up and spit it out

I faced it all, and I stood tall

And did it my way

I think this is the most powerful stanza of the song because the speaker has gone away from the sad parts of the song and now he’s reflecting on his proudest moments. He employs metaphors to describe how he handled adversity and overcame some of the struggles he’s been through.

Beloved’s Last Appearance

On By Toby KIn Beloved, Memory/Past/History, Toni MorrisonLeave a comment

Although she disappears after Sethe left her side to attack whom she thought was Schoolteacher, Beloved’s presence is very much felt during the last chapter. Beloved has left town and the townspeople (after finally coming to Sethe’s aid) try to put the memory of Beloved to rest. They keep repeating that Beloved’s story was not one to pass on to future generations. Yet Toni Morrison concludes the novel with the word “Beloved” alone as it’s own paragraph.

This represents the everlasting reminder of the horrible past our country has. Beloved represents the pain and suffering from Sethe’s past coming back to her constantly and she is never able to escape it. Although the townspeople want to escape the past and end the memory of Beloved, she is there in the end and continues to remind people of our brutal past.

Maintaining Relationships

On By Toby KIn Exit West1 Comment

I thought it was both interesting and sad when Hamid wrote about the evolution of the different relationships in the story. He described Saeed’s parents’ relationship, saying that over the years they had sexually distanced themselves from each other and from the way things used to be. Hamid wrote that “Saeed’s mother would sometimes wonder whether he did this out of genuine desire or habit or simply for closeness” (14). Their relationship in a way had lost a flame and it didn’t have an impact on me until Hamid wrote about the dwindling relationship between Nadia and Saeed. On page 200, Hamid describes Nadia’s feelings for Saeed. Nadia wishes she could have their old relationship back and says that she no longer craved his body and that their relationship had become more like siblings. This made me upset because of everything they went through as a couple and their journey together was coming to an end.

This made an impact on me because I feel that a lot of people take relationships for granted. “Exit West” reinforces the importance of relationships opposed to Meursault’s look on life in “The Stranger”. I think when we are on our death bed, we will all look back on the relationships we made with others opposed to how much money we made or how successful we were. Relationships that humans have with one another makes life worth living and it’s important to work hard to maintain healthy and happy relationships in our lives, especially the most important ones.

Evil Heidkamp is Scary

On By Toby KIn Existentialism1 Comment

I did not enjoy Evil Heidkamp’s existentialism lecture. The main reason being that I do not agree with the concept of existentialism. Although the lecture made me look at the book a little differently (and that was the point of it), I was annoyed with Evil Heidkamp because I did not agree with most of the points he was making and I kept thinking that he actually supported existentialism. I’ve found myself disliking Camus and The Stranger because of the support of existentialism. I get the fact that there are social constructs that someone just made up at one point in time but it doesn’t matter that they’re made up. These social constructs like family, friends, money, and religion make humans happy because of how we are taught to enjoy life. It’s hard to go through life valuing these constructs and one day hear Evil Heidkamp’s lecture telling you that these constructs are pointless and that life is absurd. I think there’s so much meaning in life and these social constructs because of the happiness and determination it gives people. I understand the concept of existentialism but it’s a hard topic to wrap your head around and it would be a depressing thing to believe in.

“The Cariboo Cafe” Ending

On By Toby KIn Short Stories1 Comment

The group discussion about “The Cariboo Cafe” introduced the question: Would the story be better or worse without the last missing page? People made good arguments supporting both sides of the question but I think the last page is what makes “The Cariboo Cafe” a great story and is critical for the reader to appreciate Viramontes’s writing.

The last page is necessary to the story because it provides the reader with a satisfying ending. Although it isn’t quite a happy ending, the reader isn’t guessing as to what happens to the mother and Geraldo. It’s true that the Cafe owner is facing a dilemma and we see his decision to call the cops during the end of page 161, but if the story ended there, the reader doesn’t see how crazy the mother is or the harsh truth of the brutality among cops and illegal immigrants.

Also, Viramontes’s best writing comes on the last page. She writes about death in a way I have never thought of, seen, or read before. Her vivid detail when writing “I hear something like broken glass against my forehead and I am blinded by the liquid darkness” (161.5) drew my attention because of her interesting and unique way of describing death. The story as a whole is confusing and I think the author meant it to be that way but the last page is the most clear part and had me, as a reader, hooked to each word unlike the story’s beginning.