Wednesday, February 5, 2020
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 Last Laugh expresses the great influence that society has on the mental of an individual within society. The film shows how society gossip is a hurtful form of communication and can bring down the morale of an individual like the doorman in The Last Laugh. It hurts the doorman so much that he loses the strength to make a “comeback” and find optimism in his life, thus we find him in the bathroom with only the night watchman to give him comfort. It tells the audience how society doesn’t think from the perspective of the one being mocked or made fun of. The instant reaction of the public to the doorman’s demotion is full of gossip and mockery. This kind of reaction is prevalent even today with global news leading to gossip amongst commoners. Social media is also an example of gossip and hurtful remarks being made at the demise of someone or something. The society in this film is a direct reflection of society today in terms of social media and TV. For the individual being gossiped about, what the public perceives or thinks is what is right. In the film, the doorman accepted his fate through the eyes of the public, not through his eyes or his perspective. I think if he thought from his own viewpoint rather than accepting society’s perspective maybe the doorman could have made a comeback from being demoted and not be depressed in the end. Accepting society’s opinions is something people submit to even today through social media and news platforms once again.
ReplyDeleteIn the film, The Last Laugh, gossip about the mans demotion is a reoccurring theme and it has a deeper meaning. When he comes back to his neighborhood after getting demoted, all the people look at him differently and start gossiping about him. This is very interesting to me because this shows that just because his job has changed people see him as a whole new person. In reality, he is the exact same person as he was before just with a different job. All of the gossip makes him go crazy and makes the demotion a lot harder for him. The gossip makes him feel so much smaller than he was before. People talking about him causes him to feel self conscious. When he gets the demotion and is taken into the room with the other workers of the hotel they take off his special jacket which makes him feel so terrible. That jacket gave him a certain status of power and respect. When they took the jacket they took away the respect that others gave to him. He had to take the jacket back so he could respect himself. I think that how other people think of him is extremely important to him because if he didn't care he would not have tried so hard to get him jacket back. He would not feel like garbage for getting a demotion. I think that people base their own worth on how others think of them. This movie has lots of deeper meanings about gossip and interactions between people.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the story of the last laugh status is apparent as an important theme. The doorman is on cloud nine while doing his job as a doorman, but when he is demoted to an unsatisfying job that leaves him wanting more. The gossip and publicity that his demotion in-sighted, was just pouring salt in the wound. He already feels miserable due to the demotion, then when the social aspects take place he loses all self worth, and more importantly self respect. This truly goes to show the power of spoken word, and how what is said can affect the moral of the person being spoken about. It sets up the story to push the ideas in the direction the makers wanted, although it additionally shows the negativity and poor attitude that people have in social situations.
ReplyDeleteIn The Last Laugh, the beloved doorman of the community treats everyone with respect and always greets everyone around him. He is greatly respected as the well-known doorman and he starts to feel almost higher up than some of the people around him. Once he loses his job, he struggles to cope with how he would explain it to everyone, so much so that he goes back to the hotel to steal the jacket to wear back to the community. This is an example of him realizing how many people will think it is embarrassing to lose the job and the respect along with it. When he is found out and his partner sees him working as a bathroom attendant, she is absolutely disgusted and goes home to tell everyone in their community about it. In his walk of shame home we see everyone laughing, pointing, and jarring at him. The movie is trying to show through this clip that since one person sees someone making fun of someone, it is easy for the person next to them to chime in and do the same, starting a chain reaction. This gets to a point where we see the door man with big heads superimposed over top of him laughing hysterically. This is showing the overwhelming feeling the doorman receives from all of the gossip and chattering about him before he even made it home to try to explain what happened. These couple scenes spread the message of how easy it is to spread something to entire communities without even knowing the full details of what happened. This movie predicted today’s society pretty well in my opinion. Everyday people are influenced about what people are saying about each other and it has an impact on the simplest things such as what we wear and say. We see this as the door man feels all of the gossip around him and it drives him to a point where it seems like he almost feels dead inside.
ReplyDeleteIn the Last Laugh, the once revered door attendant suffers from his employer’s policy. Due to age, he is demoted to a “lesser role,” which leads to the unnamed man’s downfall. The respect of the door attendant is immediately shattered as the woman that rooms with him discovers that he had been demoted. The women and other neighbors instantaneously spread the news of the door attendant’s demotion. The women are shown cackling and talking behind the main characters back, while the woman rooming with him and his niece look at him differently. The Last Laugh also shows the ramifications for gossip and the ostracization of a person. The former door attendant falls into a state of depression and loss of self-identity, tying himself to the uniform that he once wore. When the uniform is taken away from him for the last time, we find him on the verge of full mental breakdown (suicide or death) inside of the hotel bathroom. In conclusion, The Last Laugh teaches those who watch it how gossip influences a community and the affects leaked personal information have on its victim.
ReplyDeleteIn the film The Last Laugh, a doorman suffers a tragic downfall as he is demoted to a bathroom attendant. I believe his downfall was the result of his arrogance. Age is an indefinite factor, meaning it is not something that can be controlled. The people who demoted him made an assumption. They needed to be shown that he is still as capable as ever. What made his downfall a tragedy though, was his hubris in his previous position. It was evident that he was very proud of his job, and made everyone aware. He would contently salute people, and would reap the benefits of his status. This is what made his demotion so hard to tolerate, because of how substantial the change was. To the average viewer, all that happened was that his job changed. But to him, it was a loss of pride. He cared much less about the position than his reputation, and that is what was stripped away and made him mournful. What made it worse was the reaction of the public. His hubris created a norm in many people’s lives; consequently, they were just as shocked. An example is the women who admired his power, and was horrified at the discovery of his change. She and the rest of the public treated him with mitigation, losing the respect for him that he has worked hard to establish. If he were not so indulged in the status of his previous job, he would not be so somber upon being demoted. This is why his downfall would be considered a tragedy, because with his job went his happiness.
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