Topic > A study of how the films Some Like It Hot, Dr. Strangelove and Blazing Saddles address social issues

Some Like It Hot, Dr. Strangelove and Blazing Saddles are respectively the most popular comedies of the twentieth century and directed by Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick and Mel Brooks. Social issues exist in each of the films. Nancy Goldman, in her article Comedy and Democracy: The Role of Humor in Social Justice, learns from many artists that humor can "challenge audiences' assumptions, present alternative perspectives, generate conversation, and broaden the scope of thought" (3) . All films use humor to enhance their messages. Some Like It Hot challenges public perceptions of gender and sexual identity and emphasizes the perpetuation of social class through gender, Doctor Strangelove attempts to make an audience affected by the fear of nuclear bombs laugh, and Blazing Saddles satirizes racism . Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Some Like It Hot is a satire and farce comedy. The film challenges our perception of gender and sexual identity. Throughout the film, the male protagonists cross the gender line between men and women. Jerry and Joe change clothes and dress up as women in an all-girl band. Before, they always looked at women as love interests. Jerry compares women to cakes and pastries in bakeries. When they first cross-dress, they feel connected to women when the wind lifts their skirts: “It's so windy. They have to catch colds all the time." Their efforts to walk in heels imitating the movements of jelly on springs help them recognize the women's difficulties: "It's a completely different sex." Furthermore, the camera focuses first on their big shoes and on their legs before their faces. Jerry complains: “I feel so naked. Like everyone is looking at me.” This statement and the camera angle show a drag queen's self-consciousness about unfeminine traits article, Nancy Goldman quotes George Carlin's saying about the effect of comedy: “No one is ever more himself or herself than when the message comes through to the brain and laughter begins. That's when new ideas can be implanted. If a new idea presents itself at this time, it has a chance to grow." the public strongly discriminated against homosexual people and perpetuated stereotypes about them. The film presents images of drag queens to the audience so that they can comfortably accommodate homosexuality. This film also talks about social classes through gender issues. Both the protagonists and Sugar Kane are mediocre musicians. Jerry and Joe are heterosexual, but are willing to deal with women to protect their lives from the mob. Jerry feels the need to marry Osgood and sings and dances in his hotel room after Osgood proposes to him. Jerry visualizes the results of the marriage and unconsciously celebrates them in his bed. Jerry even ignores contemporary “laws” and “conventions” that are against gay marriage and homosexuality when Joe reminds him that he is a man: “This might be my last chance to marry a millionaire.” The moments of being put to safety transform Jerry into a different person. Sugar Kane's fantasy is to marry a millionaire who reads the Wall Street Journal. Consider marriage a guarantee of security. “If my mother could only see me now.” Sugar Kane is afraid that her mother will find out that Sugar has lost her innocence andher feelings of security, everything Sugar had when she was younger and living with her mother. Jerry as Daphne, who is poor and persecuted by the mob, shares a similar thought with Sugar about marrying for material gain and security. Through humor, the film lightheartedly exposes the insecurity of both women and men, making them unconsciously reflect on themselves. Strangelove is a dark, sarcastic comedy with farce and morbid humor. In the film, the music speaks to what is happening. The soundtrack plays the theme song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" from the American Civil War, when Captain King Kong dons his ten-gallon hat and executes the bombing plan sent by General Ripper from Burpelson Air Force Base. The soundtrack plays the song again as the crews fly to its new objects. The song ironically glorifies the mass killing of humans and equates nuclear bombing with the war of the previous century. The soundtrack also plays "Try a Little Tenderness" as the tanker plane extends its boom to fuel the bomber below. The song evokes a sexual theme of the two planes making love to each other. At the end of the film, the famous World War II song “We'll Meet Again Some Sunny Day” plays into contradictory effects with the nuclear bombs of the Russian Doomsday Machines as the bombs blow up the world. Playing ironically in the background, the song ridicules the Cold War and diminishes people's fear of nuclear bombs. The Cold War terrified people all over the world, especially in America and Russia. It's a major theme in Dr. Stranglove. However, the leaders in the film do not have the qualities to resolve the conflict and the war room resembles a theater. The urgent meeting between the president and his advisers resembles a poker game in which people sit at a large, large table, facing each other. However, only a few people speak during the meeting. Other people just occupy seats and don't contribute to the discussion. Therefore, leadership turns out to be dysfunctional. On one wall is the Big Board with flashing lights that resembles a pinball machine. The room has plenty of food on the buffet table in the midst of war negotiations. The setting of the meeting, which indicates indulgence and pleasure, is contradictory to the purpose of the meeting. Furthermore, President Muffley's monologue undermines his credibility as a leader when speaking on the phone with the Russian Prime Minister. He struggles to convey his idea to the Prime Minister, but his efforts are in vain because they find no solution: “Well, listen, what do you think I think? Can you imagine how I feel, Dmitri? Why do you think I'm calling you? Just to say hello? Of course I like talking to you. Of course I like to say hello. Not now, but any time, Dmitri. . . . All right! You're more sorry than me! But I'm sorry anyway. I'm as sorry as you are, Dmitri. Don't say you're more sorry than me, because I'm capable of being as sorry as you. So we're both sorry, okay? All right". The repetition of childish and crude language covers the entire conversation between the leaders of the two countries that control the majority of nuclear weapons. Because Goldman studies that “humor has the ability to block negative emotions such as fear and anger, emotions that make us more reactive than proactive and more rigid than flexible,” the amateur, incompetent leadership and recreational environment of the war room overwhelms the fear of hydrogen bombs (5). Not only does the leadership and war room setting in Doctor Strangelove trivialize nuclear war, but sex also emerges to diminish the painful effect of wars. The conflict of.