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?
The movie portrays gossip as an extremely faulty method of communication. A good method of communication is one where thoughts can be expressed and understood only by others using that same form of communication. Therefore, a faulty method of communication would either be one where the thoughts are either incorrectly communicated, or the recipients aren't chosen, but can still decipher the message. An example of this would be oral communication. People that are nearby when someone is speaking will hear the speaker, so the speaker doesn't have the ability to somehow render those that aren't being addressed unable to hear what they have to say. In the same way, gossip is shown as a faulty method of communication as those living in the apartments were able to easily hear the unfortunate gossip of the man being demoted from being a doorman. The movie paints gossip in a bad light as a method of communication, but it also shows how effective gossip is when used in a demeaning manner. Gossip is able to change the minds of those that hear it, with the example of the community laughing at the ex-doorman after hearing something that they didn't confirm for themselves. This implies that the community that the ex-doorman was a part of, didn’t value him as a person, but only valued him for his position. As soon as they heard something that sullied the ex-doorman, they immediately believed it, took it as hard fact, and acted on it, proving that they, as a community, really didn’t care about the doorman.
ReplyDeleteI think the movie is saying that gossip is an extremely influential form of communication that spreads very quickly, is difficult to contest, and can cause a great impact and much shame for the subject. In the film, after one woman neighbor finds the doorman working as a washer, the first thing she does is run back and tell someone about it. When the other neighbors hear about his occupation as a washer, they immediately believe the words of the woman who saw him, even assuming that he had been lying to them about working as a doorman; instead of sympathizing, they openly make fun of him. This is shown progressing from one woman overhearing the news through a door and telling others, to neighbors shouting to each other across their balconies. The neighbors seem to care and place importance on the man's occupation simply because it is the thing being gossiped about. When his family finds out, they don't give him a chance to explain himself, and shun him. The film depicts the doorman as mentally wounded by the teasing of his neighbors and the shunning from his family. The scene with the neighbors' superimposed blurry faces emphasize how much of a toll the doorman takes from their strong dramatic reactions to the gossip. The dream scene also proves that the doorman wants to be accepted in a community and applauded for his commitment and effort, because it shows many people complimenting his efforts lifting the suitcase at the end of the dream. In the doorman's view, this is a good scenario where he is proud and happy to help. In contrast, his real-life neighbors judge and ridicule him for being demoted, and even though he was friendly to them, they laugh at his misfortune as soon as they hear the first bit of gossip. The film portrays gossip not as causing the doorman's feelings of inadequacy and shame, but rather amplifying them to a great extent. If only a couple people made fun of him, he wouldn't have been as emotionally devastated. The film uses optical effects to demonstrate his own reaction to his neighbors' reactions to the gossip that they heard, and by doing so proves that gossip influences the character of the doorman because he cares deeply about what the others think of him.
ReplyDeleteThe movie shows a lot about gossip being a form of communication, and how easily gossip can be spread. When the doorman got demoted, there were a lot more people who found out about it than should have. There are a few different ways that this information could have got out. One of the ways being that someone overheard him being fired and then told someone else, who told someone else, and so on from there. Majority of the time, these kinds of people have no right to be spreading such information in the first place because it is none of their business and has nothing to do with them. The information of the doorman being demoted eventually got spread throughout his neighbors and the hotel guests. Gossiping is never the best way to communicate because there usually tends to be a fair share of false information involved. This says a lot about the community because of the fact that they just laughed at him rather than felt sorry for him. With the entire community laughing at him, obviously this is gonna make him feel sad, anxious, and possibly depressed. He was already upset about being demoted, so having people laugh about it to your face is just gonna make someone feel even worse. This would make someone feel bad about themselves, and feel very discouraged. I feel that the movie did a good job of capturing how someone would feel if something bad happened to them and was spread to a bunch of people, just to have them all make fun of and laugh at you.
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ReplyDeleteThe movie The Last Laugh portrays gossip as a flawed form of communication that can spider web and create lasting impacts on many lives. The role that gossip plays in this film is essential for the way the plot progresses. It leads to the downfall of our main character the doorman and can be viewed as a pitfall of the community that they all live in. The producers introduce the gossip rather late in the film when compared to many of the other major plot points. It is only when the doorman is demoted to bathroom attendant and his “mysterious” woman comes looking for him at the hotel. Upon finding out about the doorman’s demotion she runs back to their community and quickly spreads the news. Very specific shots and angles are used by the directors to inform the viewers that this was gossip and it was spreading quickly through the community. The techniques used include camera movement towards an outstretched ear, a tracking shot as the doorman walks with his head hung low through the community, and hideous hallucinations of heads haunt him from the buildings of his neighborhood. I believe that because of the ways the producers choose to portray gossip and the effects that it has on our main character they were hoping to show how damaging it is. They wanted to pass along the idea that gossip can be detrimental to a person’s mental health and it can ultimately break up a community by doing so.
ReplyDeleteOne of the key messages The Last Laugh tries to get across is that gossiping about a particular person’s life can be harmful to their wellbeing. Certain words said about someone, in this case the doorman, can be hard to combat and to rebuttal against, especially if harmful gossip has spread to many people. The Last laugh definitely shows how gossip is an ineffective form of communication in society because of the way false information about the doorman gets spread. When the woman walks in on him when he was working as a washroom man, people in his neighborhood and people close to him assumed that he had been lying about being a doorman even though he got let off from the job a couple days before. When people around him assume that he was lying about being a doorman and just dressing up as one, they shun him from society and ostracize him. After society shuns him he goes crazy and goes through a drunken dream spell. The spreading of false information around the city about the doorman is a testament to how damaging gossip can be to people’s lives. Once the majority believes a narrative whether it is false or not, the individual whose life is being affected by the gossip can rarely combat false rumors. The doorman’s neighbors and others in the cities opinions also affected how the doorman viewed himself. In the film the director used camera angles to emphasize the emotion on the doorman’s face when he was shunned by society and also used camera angles to show him weaker than the objects around him, which was a reflection on how the doorman viewed himself after being outcast by society.
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