Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Shiny, Happy People
The concluding scene of The Last Laugh depicts the incredible gluttony and generosity of the unnamed, demoted doorman after he miraculously inherits a fortune from a dying American millionaire. He feasts on mounds of food, eating caviar as if it were candy and drinking champagne as if it were water. A tracking shot of the "spread" emphasizes the opulence and indulgence of our hero. What is the point of this ending? Is is a happy ending or a parody of a happy ending? Is this supposed to be objective reality or a fantasy? Is this a cynical commercial ploy or is there deeper significance to the ending?
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The point of the happy ending is to reemphasize the idea that one’s job and wealth can change spontaneously, so no one should base their entire self-worth on their position and economic status. Early on into the movie, the protagonist works as a doorman. As a doorman, his family, neighbors, and coworkers all respect him, and he takes pride in his job. However, without much notice, he is demoted to bathroom attendant due to his age and incapability to adequately complete his job. At this point, he becomes depressed and a laughingstock of his neighborhood and family. This affirms that he, his family, and his neighbors solely determine their perception of him based on his job. After his demotion, he walks hunched over and always has a defeated look on his face; this not only accentuates his old age but also shows how deeply ashamed of himself he is. However, in the added happy ending, the demoted doorman once again experiences a random change of fate when he inherits a millionaire’s fortune. The ending shows him happily partaking in an absurd amount of food; he is no longer depressed or visibly struggling to walk and keep going in life. The protagonist’s initial loss of social status and eventual gain of social status serve as examples of the highs and lows of life that everyone must endure. Jobs and wealth are often variables in a person’s life that they cannot fully control; therefore, one’s complete worth as a person should not be dependent on these variables.
ReplyDeleteThe finale of The Last Laugh depicts our protagonist overcoming his demotion and public humiliation through miraculous and unbelievable circumstances of instantaneous wealth. This ending is far from a happy one. Although the director was forced to alter the ending of The Last Laugh, I feel that its inclusion did help drive home the realness of the original ending. We only see our protagonist regain his happiness when other worldly circumstances take place and, as the intertitle said, “the author took pity on him”. To me, this hammers home the directors own belief that happy endings only come in stories, while the real world is only a series of disappointments, failures, and humiliation. Although the studio wanted a happy conclusion for this film, the ending that was delivered to audiences, while not outwardly bad does portray a cynical view of the idea of a happy ending. Rather than a happy ending in which the former doorman comes to terms with his new role as a bathroom attendant and mends his relationship with the other villagers, he spontaneously becomes a millionaire who has no time for those who were cruel to him when he was at his lowest. The director does not believe in happy endings. He believes people fall from grace and never recover, forever resigned to their new place at the bottom of the totem pole. Since he was unable to leave this as his message at the end of his film, he showed the audience a caricature of happy ending that showed them how foolish the idea truly is.
ReplyDeleteThe epilogue is clearly a sarcastic “last laugh” that the author uses to criticize those who asked for a happier ending to a supposed tragedy. The happy ending is shown to be extremely shallow in terms of what the character does as well as his relationships with other people. Rather than show the deep emotions that were portrayed previous to the epilogue, the author dove straight into the extravagant lifestyle of blunder that the main character goes through. The main character is shown giving to money to people left and right exhibiting his selflessness and ultimately the altruism that only the night watch was willing to give. Although the epilogue had some deeper messages of giving back and judging based of social class, the first half was much more somber and realistic in the way that not everything was rushed like a fairy tale. The wastefulness as well as pig-like characteristics depicted by the main character when they are feasting are just one of the few pompous actions that transformed a pitied main character one that who is thought of as overbearing and pretentious. This ending is not truly a happy ending but rather a poke at fairy tales and the nonsensical fantasy of childish luck. The protagonist no longer works as a doorman and his transition from doorman to washroom assistant is one mirroring his self-esteem. Once held in high regards, the doorman loses all status of wealth and respect not only from his community but also his family. This transformation is clearly filled with emotion and grief that pulls out the pathos and compassion of the audience whilst the epilogue, a short jaunty episode, is lacking in development of plot, characters, and a deeper message.
ReplyDeleteThe ending of The Last Laugh is a parody of a happy ending that plays some significance in the overall message of the story. The ending is seen to be a parody through the implausible way it gets our protagonist out of trouble. Rather than trying to create a semi reasonable solution to our depressed hero’s plunge into the life of a washroom attendant, director F. W. Murnau gets the last laugh on the audience by creating the most absurd inheritance rule in a will to give us a happy ending that fits nowhere. In a movie that follows a rather realistic portrayal of one’s life can be completely upheaved by events that they couldn’t fully control, this ending feels passive aggressive in its tone. While you watch our hero splurge on expensive champagne and caviar, it’s hard not to feel that you too are being force fed a happily ever after, as if to say, “you want a happy ending? I’ll give you a happy ending.”
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do feel that this ending manages to be a parody with a deeper meaning relating to the overall message of the story that one’s worth should not be based on something as fleeting as external status. The only times you see our hero happy is when he is flaunting his status, whether it be strutting around town in his doorman uniform waving to those on the street, or generously giving his money away to anyone who will ask. The second he is demoted, he spiraled into depression, unrecognized and nameless in the streets that once waved when he passed. His self loathing is given further fuel when his community mocks him and his family rejects him because of his lack of social standing. As the movie’s original ending of simply our hero sitting in a chair being comforted by a stranger plays, there is a sense of hopelessness in the air. This sense of hopelessness is kept through the happily ever after because of how outrageous it is. There is an underlying sense of sadness, because the only way out of the life our hero had been trapped in was through a miracle. The same society that kicked our protagonist down accepts him back with open arms because he now fits their mold of someone to be respected, but if anything were to happen to that wealth, he would end up back as a restroom attendant. The Last Laugh demonstrates how damaging the fleeting aspect of external status can be, and what happens to those caught in the turn of the tide.
The ending of the last laugh provides what the director intended without his original tragic ending. Due the studio asking for a happy ending the director needed to create one without ruining his story about the fall of a doorman. The ending is a “too good to be true” scenario where while it embodies the idea of a happy ending it mocks that idea through over simplification and gross satisfaction. The food is never ending the cigars are plentiful and money is given out on a whim to beggars in the street as a camera pans over all the people lined up with their hands out for their share. The significance of the ending stems from the director’s unhappiness to produce a happy ending to a truly tragic film. Instead of the doorman dying in his sorrow he instead inherits immeasurable wealth unwittingly just to satisfy the desire of a film company. What the director did with his ending made it significant by showcasing such and opulent display it can be easily recognized as a sham and maybe just a belief of the main characters while he sits on his chair on the bathroom. The ending is to remind us that while we do enjoy viewing these happy endings, it is a warning that this will not always be the case and a American millionaire will give you a fortune due to dying in your arms.
ReplyDeleteThe ending of this film is the doorman is, quite literally, getting his Last Laugh. Due to the director needing to add this scene, as it was not in the original script, this scene's interpretation changes. Instead of being purposely sewn within the main storyline of the doorman, this ending pokes fun at the desire to always conclude a film with a happy ending.
ReplyDeleteWe see this desire even today, for example, with "family-friendly" shows, superhero movies, and really most movies in general. The main character in these movies struggles at the beginning, but ends up turning their life around and lives "Happily Ever After".
Although this scene may not have much significance from the director's POV, the viewer can interpret certain messages. For example, the doorman has turned from a humble (even when he was at his lowest) gentleman who spoke with all his friends and family, to a millionaire "snob" who does not have time for anyone besides himself alongside one man happened to be there when he got rich.
This movie had an unexpected ending, and I do believe it would be more powerful (and realistic) had the doorman stayed poor. I found it very interesting that I enjoyed the ending of this movie simply because of the clicheness of it - how a man can get beaten down by society only to rise up above them all - perhaps proving the point of movie endings like this simply to cater to an audience's emotions.