When the unnamed doorman in The Last Laugh is demoted to bathroom attendant, his world collapses. At the end of the film he is estranged from his family, fellow workers and neighbors and only the night watchman gives him succor. Is this film a tragedy in the Aristotelian sense (that is, does he fall because of some tragic character flaw?)? Is it an indictment of the society of the time? A study of the inevitable effects of aging? Or, to put the point another way, whose fault is the doorman's downfall?
In “The Last Laugh”, the unnamed doorman’s fate is a result of both his imminent aging and society’s persistent demand of workers to perform without error so that businesses will thrive in a greedy system. Society in “The Last Laugh” relies on creating profit, which means that there is a high demand for workers who are qualified to efficiently work in a specific field. Due to the unnamed doorman’s inevitable effects of aging, society naturally replaces the inefficient doorman with one that is able to strongly contribute to creating revenue, or at least consistently execute tasks. The film’s opening scene introduces the cruel working environment by depicting the elderly doorman struggling to carry a suitcase in the pouring rain. The suitcase appears to be daunting as a consequence of the low angle, which interprets it to be a strenuous obstacle for the doorman to overcome. The simple task that he failed to execute due to his inescapable elderly physique cost him his job. The effects of these events spiral him into a deep depression, which he never truly recovers from until the last fifteen minutes of the film. Society’s rapid pace of living leaves behind a trail of people who could not keep up with their demands. The unnamed doorman happened to be the next victim to the unfair consequence. Due to the culture of society and people demanding more from each other, society in “The Last Laugh” creates a brutal environment which quite literally only the strongest will survive. Though the doorman was inevitably aging, this does not eliminate the fact that he should not have been fired from his only passion, his job.
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ReplyDeleteI think the answer to all of these questions, besides the indictment of society, is yes. The overarching flaw the old man has is that he is simply too old. Through this old age, he grows frail and weak. We see this in the movie, as throughout the film, the old man is portrayed weaker and weaker with more and more high shots. These shots stress his weakness, as it makes him look frail. I am not arguing that aging was not his fault. Aging is a natural thing that happens to everyone. However, his ignorance and pride were his faults. He is working as a baggage carrier, a job that requires strength. Coincidentally, when you age, you lose strength. The old man knows this, but he chooses to ignore it. You can’t simply ignore the inevitability of your job loss. That is why I believe that it is his fault when it comes to his shock from losing his job. Though I don’t believe society is to blame. The loss of his job is reasonable, he was simply too weak. Though it seems immoral to demote him to a bathroom worker, it is just how the world works. If he was working a different job, age really wouldn’t matter. For example, if he was a bus driver, his age really wouldn’t have been that big of a deal. However, because his job relies on strength, you need to be strong. Even though it seems sad that he lost the job, it is completely within reason. For the aging question, the simple answer is yes. There isn’t much of an argument really. He got old, he got weak, and he got demoted because of it. In all, I think it is nature’s fault for his aging, as it is completely out of the man’s control. However, I believe that it is his own fault for not realizing he is growing old, and the results that may bring.
The film “The Last Laugh” is a tragedy because the cause of the doorman’s downfall is his own character flaw: self-worth. The doorman prides himself in his job, however when he loses it because of his age, it is evident to the viewer that this was the only thing that gives him pride. His unemployment brings him into a depressive state, where he stays for the rest of the movie. The doorman desperately tries to pretend that he still has his job, in fear of losing respect. So much so, that he steals the doorman uniform and lies to his family when he arrives home for the wedding. Then, he drinks a little bit too much and starts to hallucinate. In his dream, he imagines a group of men trying to lift heavy luggage at the hotel, but they are struggling greatly. He, in his uniform, enters the scene and with one arm lifts the luggage above his head. The crowd claps for him and the group of men are amazed. This dream sequence emphasizes his unhealthy connection to his job and how his self-worth depends on it. In real life, no one claps for him when he lifts the luggage, however this dream shows that he views his job as validation for his strength and feels this even when it’s not there. If he was able to see that his job does not define him as a person, this movie could have had a happy ending. However, it is the fact that the doorman never learned his self-worth, that the movie ended originally with him alone in the bathroom awaiting death.
ReplyDeleteThe fault of the fall of the doorman in The Last Laugh by F. W. Murnau is an equivalent mix between society and his own failures. When the doorman loses his job from aging he already knows how his neighbors will react to his demise so he hides his reduction in rank because he cares deeply about others’ opinions of him. This is a failure on the doorman’s part, and if he had decided to not care about others’ sentiments towards him, it would have allowed him to live a happier life without the pressure of up keeping with the expectations of the prestigious position. On the other hand, the doorman should not have to feel the pressure from society about his job status, and this pressure created an unhealthy mental space for him. Aging, as well as retirement or demotions, are normal events in an individual’s life as they get older and they should not contribute to a negative perception of a person. Another fault of the doorman and his demise is the association with his occupational rank and his own self-worth. Similarly, to not caring about others’ opinions, he needed to have the capacity to know his own self-worth, regardless of the status of his employment, and the capability to put aside his pride. Finally, the rapid gossip of society escalated the doorman’s demise and produced trauma because it reinforced the connection of his self-worth to his usefulness and ability to hold an admired occupation. These connections between society’s expectations and the doorman’s failures generated the downfall of the doorman.
ReplyDelete“The Last Laugh” is a tragedy in the Aristotelian sense, mocking the doorman’s trait of overvaluing the superficial, capitalistic society. Throughout the film, the exaggerated emotions that are heightened by cinematography capture the doorman’s prioritization of his image and specifically, social status. As the plot progresses, it is clear that he as well as his community defines his self-worth from his job. In the beginning of the film, the doorman appears to be very prideful of his job. His grand uniform with shiny, gold buttons, depicts his social status as a doorman. It is evident that his job, and the uniform that comes with it, represents a well-respected, yet superficial position within his society, shown when he parades through his town in his uniform as everyone celebrates him. Once he loses his job position as a doorman, he is immediately put into a depressive state. The fall from his social status is represented with the employee taking off his uniform, ripping a gold button off his former suit. After this plot point, the wellbeing of the doorman spirals downwards. He is demoted, and eventually, the town mocks him for his loss in social position. The director also mocks the capitalistic society with the over-exaggerated and absurd reactions from the doorman’s neighbors that are emphasized with the optical illusions seen in the film. The film is crafted so viewers will be disturbed by the reactions of both the doorman and the town people. Using these film tactics, the director successfully argues that the downfall of the doorman is his inability to separate his self-worth from the capitalistic beliefs of society.
ReplyDeleteThe Last Laugh is a movie about perspective, the social stigmas and perceptions of people, and as the film progressed it showed how the doorman’s world deteriorated as his lost his job, which he held such pride for and tied his self-worth to. This film is an indictment of the dangers of confusing self-worth versus usefulness, and to not let your pride or other people’s opinions get to you. Early in the film, the doorman is portrayed as happy and content, particularly in the context of his occupation. He goes out of his way to appear formidable and proper to his neighbors, saluting in perfect military stance, and nodding stoutly to young kids. The doorman was known having women fawning over him, and being generally perceived as respected. The doorman obviously loves his job, and exhibits much pride from his job. Then, the unnamed doorman is demoted to bathroom attendant, and the film drastically shifts. Immediately, he tries to hide from his neighbors, so they don’t see him as anyone less than a strong doorman. Then, when his neighbors eventually did find out, he loses admirers, is scorned by the public, and is generally rejected. His shame is so great that the groom of one of his close people in his life must make sure absolutely no one sees him showing him hospitality. The doorman himself loses motivation to live, he no longer stands upright, he pre-exiting conditions seem to get worse. The camera shakes and moves slower than previously in the movie. He barley is able to carry about his job, and is yelled at for making mistakes. This film criticizes the character flaws of the unnamed doorman, how he ties his self-worth to his job to such degrees, and how his intense concern about his neighbors’ opinions make his life overall worse. His health physically gets worse the more he grovels in his sadness and rejection. The neighbors in this situation, characterize society in a particularly special way because their opinions matter so much more to him than strangers or the general public. This film shows that people may have negative opinions or not support you, but you still must chose how you respond and how you will let it affect you.
ReplyDeleteAlthough on the surface it may appear that the story told in F.W. Murnau’s The Last Laugh is one about the inevitability of aging, in examining the film more deeply, the viewer will find that it actually teaches a lesson about the consequences of excessive pride. Analyzing the film in this way will thus lead the viewer to regard it as a tragedy in the Aristotelian sense. In order to better understand the reason for the doorman’s downfall, which clearly correlates to his demotion to bathroom attendant, we must first examine the sequence of events that lead to his demotion. In other words, why is the main character fired from his doorman job? According to his boss, it is because his “old age and fragility” now inhibit him from doing his job well. However, these qualities only become apparent to the boss when he sees the main character needing to sit down, drink water, and rub his aching knees and back after lifting a particularly heavy suitcase. What is clear to me about this scene, though, is that it is not really the main character’s age that has caused him such difficulty in lifting the suitcase, but rather the terrible physical shape that he has found himself in after all these years of being a doorman. The main character doesn’t actually appear to be that old, and any person his age who is in semi-decent shape would be able to lift the suitcase no problem. Therefore, it is really the fact that he is out of shape that gets him fired as a doorman. So why is he in such bad shape? The answer, evidently, is conceit. He has come to think so highly of himself that he feels like he can do anything and that he is, in essence, immortal. We see glimpses of this arrogance and perceived immortality when the character struts pridefully through the streets with a puffed-out chest, formally salutes everybody he sees (even though he is just a doorman), sneaks a taste of the cake that reads “for the wedding guests,” and pulls out his pocket mirror every thirty seconds to admire his beautiful face. The neighbors fawning over him and doting on him for all these years have only served to feed his ego and blind him even more to his own humanity. As a result, what he finds after his beloved uniform is taken away is that decades of living in this way has left behind an aging, overweight, out-of-shape man who has now lost the very source of his pride. Thus, it is really the doorman’s conceit and perceived immortality that cause him to lose his job and spend his remaining years as a lowly bathroom attendant, undoubtedly making this film an Aristotelian tragedy.
ReplyDeleteI would not necessarily say that the doorman’s downfall is a tragic character flaw in F. W. Murnau’s “The Last Laugh”. The reason he was demoted to the bathroom attendant in the first place was because he sat down since he was tired and his boss saw him sitting. The doorman’s old age got him demoted, as he was too weak to continue carrying suitcases, but doing so as to classify it as a tragic character flaw would be a misinterpretation. Eventually everyone is going to grow older, and become weaker as a result of that. Because of this, I would not say that the doorman falls because of a character flaw, as growing older is something that was completely inevitable and out of his control. His boss did not realize this, so he fired him, but it will eventually be something that his boss will face in the future too. Some blame still could be put on the doorman for continuing with his job for far too long. Though we see in the beginning of the movie, the doorman loves his job. His upbeat facial expressions and low camera angles make it look like he is on the top of the world while carrying a suitcase. This scene at the beginning of the film helps to show how much pride the doorman has for his job. But once demoted, the doorman’s pride gets crushed which is one of the reasons he tried to hide his demotion from his family. Once the town finds out about the doorman’s demotion, the new spreads quickly through gossip. I believe that this is one of the most influential parts in the doorman’s downfall. There are many scenes throughout the film where you can see the women whispering to each other, and even yelling out the windows. As they spread rumors about how he had been demoted, he is publicly shamed by the society. The one thing the doorman tried to hide got out, and he was exposed. With people gossiping at his every turn, the doorman had no one to help support him. The last scene in the film is the doorman sitting on the bathroom floor, unable to keep himself sitting upright. The doorman is slightly to blame for his attachment to this job, and as a result not being able to recover from his demotion. But in the end after all the gossip, there was no one for the doorman to turn to for aid.
ReplyDeleteThe Last Laugh is a tragedy but I don’t think it is in the classical sense. It shows how time takes its toll, humans like fruit expire. It’s not only a sign of the times but showing what happens to the unheard and unseen. The people who do the jobs we don’t want to do, the people we all too often pass without a second glance. What happens when you’re unseen and unheard? Do you just live and keep living, or do you slowly fade as everyone begins to forget you? This film is what happens when you just begin to slowly fade. I think this is also why we don’t get any identification of any of the characters beyond our lead. Not only is it representing his loss of memory as time marches forward but a loss of memory that those around him experience. As his physical and mental state declines, he is no longer fit for such an upfront role as being a doorman so they move him further and further into the shadows until he finally dies a sad quiet death. This movie is a very real experience for many people. Dying just to be forgotten, being pushed to the side. Now to talk about the ending, a lot of people have disdain for the ending but in my eyes, it’s the perfect cap to a movie about death and aging. To go on a quick tangent, I have seen a film recently titled It’s Such a Beautiful Day by indie animation pioneer Don Herdzfeldt. In the film, Herdzfeldt explores memory loss and the slow painful death that comes with it. By the end of that film, our main character Bill succumbs to his illness, but instead of him simply just dying at the end of the film we get an out-of-place flash forward of what Bill’s life could look like. He lives and lives, learning every language reading every book, doing everything Bill never got the chance to while alive. This is to be seen as wish fulfillment in order for Bill to die with no regrets. In a similar vein, I think the ending of this film is also wished fulfillment. A post-mortem dream a humble doorman has to trick himself into believing his life was worth more than it actually was, a way to pass on with no regrets believing you are the king of the world. That truly is the final punchline of this film, The Last Laugh, if you will.
ReplyDeleteIn F.W. Murnau's "The Last Laugh", the tragedy of the doorman's life is in the Aristotelian sense and has no correlation to an indictment in the film's society. The unnamed doorman is someone who took great dignity and honor in his job as well as other people's opinion on him, therefore the loss of this job proves to be detrimental to his life. I view this event as a result of a character flaw in the doorman, that being that he was too overly ambitious and overly proud of his status as doorman, to the point where it clouded over the fact that he was becoming too old and weak to still carry bags. The dream scene where he lifts the luggage with one arm shows that he is basically delusional and holding onto a fantasy about his job as a doorman. It is not a character flaw if somebody gets old as that is something that happens to everybody, however it’s a flaw to not know your physical capabilities based on your age. The problems this man faces including, losing his job and needing to lie to his family and others, all come from his own denial that he was finally getting too old for his job. It should have been apparent to him that the physical requirements of his job would very soon be too much for him, but this was not apparent to him, based on his flaw of taking too much dignity in a job.
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