Topic > A look at how carnival situations are central as portrayed in the films Dr. Strangelove, Some Like It Hot and Blazing Saddles

Parodies and satires exist with the purpose of mocking something serious, helps contribute to the general criticism of a situation. Most parodies and satires have carnival themes, originally created by Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin. The definition is that it subverts and liberates any assumptions of the dominant social hierarchy through humor and chaos. Julian Wolfrey describes the carnivalesque “not as a form of universal political response to conditions of oppression and political containment, but rather as an ongoing strategic disruption of social norms, ideological containment, and bodily order and property” (Critical Keywords in Literacy and Cultural Theory, 2004, page 27, print). In the three films Some Like It Hot (1959), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) and Blazing Saddles (1974) each of the directors and writers uses satire, parody or dark comedy to address the social issues of the time by placing their characters in carnival situations. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The role of identity plays an important role in comedies, especially in films that involve cross-dressing. Many movies and TV shows involve stories of men or women who cross dress up in an attempt to get out of certain situations. In the film Some Like It Hot the main protagonists Joe (played by Tony Curtis) and Jerry (played by Jack Lemmon) witness a murder by gangster Spats, which was nicknamed the Valentine's Day Massacre. Trying to escape from the gangster Joe and Jerry decide to escape to Florida by disguising themselves as women in an all-female band, Joe decides to call herself Josephine while Jerry calls herself Daphne. The theme of disguise is mainly related to the fact that the characters have to hide from danger. Joe and Jerry's cross-dressing adventure brings out the idea of ​​a carnivalesque inversion of gender hierarchies, which allow for socially taboo experiences and pleasures. This exposes disturbing hegemonic heteronormative beliefs, causing a rift and calling attention to cultural, social or aesthetic dissonance. Joe, the womanizing and self-absorbed saxophonist, immediately takes Josephine's role very seriously in an attempt to stay alive, this can be seen when they board the train and he argues with Jerry about their disguise names. Jerry on the other hand seems like the woman in their relationship, always listening to and following Joe's stupid ideas like taking out his gold fillings to bet on a horse race. When Jerry becomes Daphne she enthusiastically embraces the role, such as the scene where she hangs out with Osgood Fielding III (played by Joe E. Brown), Daphne enjoys free food and salsa dancing all night. This becomes something that Jerry has never had a romantic experience like this before. Returning from her night out, Daphne tells Joe that he has fallen for his money and that she wants to elope with Osgood, only to divorce him over the settlement. Joe explains to Daphne that this is impossible because he is a man and cannot consummate the marriage. These scenes create a level of transgression as Billy Wilder tests the boundaries of homosexual encounters between two of his characters by throwing them into situations with men who think the two are women. Joe and Jerry's carnival dressing is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the other films. Racism and stereotypes have been a major element to comedy with stand-up comedians like Red Foxx and RichardPryor who used them in their pieces. Their pieces are never explicitly racist, but they draw white audiences' attention to national issues about African Americans. In 1974 Mel Brook published Blazing Saddles, a parody of the western genre, he wanted there to be no limits to the film by using every gag from the book. The film centers on Bart (played by Cleavon Little), an African-American railroad worker appointed sheriff of Rock Ridge by conniving state Attorney General Hedley Lamarr (played by Harvey Korman) who just wants to bulldoze in town to build a trail. for one of his railways. Despite becoming the protector of Rock Ridge, Bart receives a lot of hate from the citizens he is trying to protect due to their ignorance of the fact that he is African American, this can be seen when Bart enters Rock Ridge only to have guns drawn. against him. After Andrew Bergman's draft of the screenplay was published, originally titled Tex-X, Brooks wanted an African-American perspective on the script, so he sought out Richard Pryor to be involved. When Richard Pryor got hold of the script, he wanted to talk openly about race and not be held back by breaking known stereotypes. Having no boundaries gave Pryor the right to laugh at white people, and white people laughed with him. The use of the n-word is very evident in the film and is mostly used towards the main character Bart, the people who used the word were hillbillies, simpletons and idiots. Brooks used the word many times not to offend but “to show racial prejudice. And we didn't show it as good people, but as bad people who didn't know better. Creating stupid people would then allow Bart to easily manipulate any situation and emerge unscathed. Rockridge is made up of people as Waco the Kid (played by Gene Wilder) says, “simple farmers…people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... idiots." Giving everyone the name Johnson in town shows that their people have been interbreeding for years causing everyone to have the same last name and be a little slow. Bart on the other hand is smart, funny and cunning, even putting aside all the hatred of Rock Ridge to stop Mongo from devastating the city. This proves that Bart, being an African American, can still be a better man than the ignorant citizens of Rock Ridge. Even at the end of film Bart unites the people of the city with the African railway workers to repel the armies of Lamarr, according to the term everyone must live together peacefully in the city Finding a common enemy, everyone joins together to build the fake city and prepare for the final battle of the film shows that despite differences, people can unite to fight an enemy that will do anything to take down each of their factions. Unity is also evident in Doctor Strangelove when the missiles were ordered with the consent of General Ripper, when the president. Merkin Muffley (played by Peter Sellers) must call the Russians to convince them that the United States did not intentionally fire nuclear weapons. The telephone conversation is funny because the Russian prime minister is very drunk and cannot understand anything the president says, finally saying that he will counterattack the United States with their death machine. This makes the president end the assault as soon as possible to unite the world. People come together for the betterment of their personal world, as the people of Rock Ridge defended themselves from Hedley Lamarr and the United States having to deal with Russia for the betterment of the community. The ideas of a dystopia become reality in Doctor Strangelove during the course of the film with the imminent attack of American forces on theRussian soil. Doctor Strangelove was based on the book Red Alert by Peter George, the book had a very serious tone which was later transformed into a black comedy after a treatment by Stanley Kubrick, he changed the theme of the story because during the writing of the screenplay which, "in the trying to put meat on the bone and fully imagine the scenes, you had to keep leaving out things that were either absurd or paradoxical, to prevent them from becoming funny; and these things seemed to be close to the heart of the scenes in question. (Macmillan International Dictionary of Film and Directors, Detroit: St. James Press, 1984-1994, vol. 1, p.26, Print). The scenes of Doctor Strangelove, from which the film takes its title, represent the most absurd character, portraying the fallen dreams of the Third Reich by constantly calling the president my fuhrer. Towards the end of the film, when the end of the world is about to occur, Doctor Strangelove suggests a breeding camp for the people in the bunker, which seems like some sort of bad dream. Strangelove even suggests that they designated class systems for their underground society to thrive. These ideas raise the topic of nihilism, which is the rejection of all religious and moral principles, which is basically the belief that all life is useless. General Ripper goes on strike because he believes the Russians must be stopped and that our two nations cannot coexist, finding no meaning in his life he decides to destroy the world. Even the leaders of the War Room seem to have forgotten their humanity because once the bomb explodes there is no point in trying to maintain a standard of living but simply survive, even acting like children when it comes to the important matter of stopping the bombs. . On top of that, the leaders of the United States were all riddled with anxiety throughout the film, eventually leaving all their worries behind and accepting the fact that they are in the midst of the end times. Strangelove, Blazing Saddles, and Some Like It Hot all share the universal theme of failure and not truly accepting your flaws. They share this theme because of their postmodernist themes, postmodernism as often described by Carl Boggs, “questions established social hierarchies and discourses and at the same time describes a society in the midst of turmoil, chaos, fragmentation and violence: a social order which gives rise to and sustains a popular mood of anxiety, cynicism, and helplessness” (Carl Boggs, Postmodernism the Movie*, National University, New Political Science, Volume 23, Number 3, 2001, Journal). Joe and Jerry in Some Like It Hot are two very poor jazz musicians who have nothing to offer and are stuck in a gangster feud, this leads them to cross dress as a form of escaping their financial problems and spits out the gangster. In Blazing Saddles, Bart becomes the sheriff of Rock Ridge with much racial hatred from the people of the town, only through the chaos of Hedley Lemarr's henchmen do the people of the town slightly accept Bart. The film Doctor Strangelove depicts the world on the brink of destruction and the world leaders surrender to the destruction of the world due to the loss of communication with one of their bombers. Throughout the film we see the inside of the cockpit of the bomber and inside are all the different religions and ethnicities that coexist before the end of the world. The pilot commander, Major TJ "King Kong" (played by Slim Pickens) is the leader of the plane and is the whitest and most Protestant of the rest of the crew, also the most enthusiastic about the start of World War III. Even at the end of the film Major TJ rides the atomic bomb to its destination like a rodeo bull because of the name by which he will be known in the.