[For my annual
Valentine’s follow-up, I wanted to keep the FilmStudying going and
highlight some non-favorite filmmakers and films. Share your own non-favorites,
film or otherwise, for what is always the most fun crowd-sourced
post of the year!]
On the value and
the limits of satire when it comes to contemporary, contested events.
One of the more
interesting artistic transformations of the 21st century has been
that of writer and director Adam McKay.
McKay rose to prominence through his collaborations with comedian Will Ferrell
(and others) on a series of extremely silly comedies: Anchorman (2004) and its sequel, Talladega Nights (2006), Step
Brothers (2008), and The Other Guys (2010).
If you haven’t had a chance to see any of those films, the most important thing
to emphasize (and one you can gather from just about any clip from any of them) is that
they are almost entirely, and very purposefully, non-thematic, overtly not
interested in social or cultural issues and just trying to make audiences laugh
as consistently and hard as possible. But in 2015, McKay wrote and directed The Big Short, a
satirical dramedy based on Michael
Lewis’s book of the same name about the 2008 housing crisis and financial
meltdown. And this past Christmas saw the release of a second, very similar McKay film, Vice, a satirical dramedy based on
the life and political career (to date) of Dick Cheney (starring Christian Bale
as Cheney, Amy Adams as his wife Liz, Sam Rockwell as George W. Bush, Steve
Carrell as Donald Rumsfeld, and many more actors).
These satirical
yet serious takes on hot-button contemporary issues parallel in many ways one
of the 21st century’s most popular cultural genres: the satirical
news commentary and comedy program. Originated by Comedy Central’s The Daily Show (especially once Jon
Stewart took over the hosting gig), this genre
has become one of the most prolific in recent years, from Stephen Colbert
and John Oliver to Samantha Bee and Hasan Minhaj (among others!). Even late-night
talk show hosts have gotten in on the act in diverse but equally compelling
ways. What unites all these satirical news programs is their desire to walk a
fine line between making audiences laugh (not constantly, but at least
consistently) and providing thought-provoking commentary on current events, and
I would say McKay’s recent films are aiming for that same sweet spot. I haven’t
had a chance to see Vice yet, but I
did see The Big Short and it was most
definitely seeking to provide both laughs and knowledge, often in the exact same
sequences (as with the famous and controversial use of random beautiful actresses
to talk about the fine points of housing policy and economics). As that
hyperlinked sequence featuring Margot Robbie notes, knowing these seemingly
boring details is pretty vital to understanding the last decade in American
life, and the goal of using comedy and satire to convey such details links
McKay’s recent films to these news programs.
Yet I have significantly
more ambivalence about McKay’s films than I do about those programs, and I
think it boils down to one factor: the use of talented, likable actors to
create sympathy for figures who have contributed negatively and destructively
to these recent histories. That was somewhat the case with The Big Short’s protagonists, mortgage brokers (played by highly
likable actors such as Ryan Gosling and Christian Bale) who seemingly fought
the system yet at the same time profited greatly by predicting and betting on
the upcoming crash and crisis. And it’s very definitely the case with Vice—again, I haven’t had a chance to
see it as of this writing, but part of the reason why is that I love watching
Christian Bale in anything, and really don’t relish the thought of him playing
Dick Cheney, to my mind one of the truly evil figures in the last century of
American political and social life. Every historical figure is a
flesh-and-blood human being, with various layers and sides, and so I suppose
every one is also worth extended attention and even sympathy. But I don’t know
that we need an entire film creating such a multi-layered portrait of Dick
Motherfucking Cheney (that’s his full name, y’know), and I likewise am not at
all sure that the lighter touch of comedy and satire are appropriate when it comes
to depicting such a figure. I suppose there’s a place for such films, but they’re
likely to remain non-favorites for this AmericanStudier (and for reviewers such
as Slate’s Bilge Ebiri, it seems).
Next
non-favorite tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you
think? Responses to this post or other non-favorites you’d share?
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