To Be Or Not to Be
Full disclosure before the blog post, the readings did not
help me with writing but it did help me to decide not just to make this post a
movie review. Now its more
deconstruction instead of a traditional movie review.
To Be or Not to Be is a great movie produced and stared
by Mel Brooks. It does a great mix of
social, historical and lowering of class comedy. It takes place in Poland during the Nazi occupation
and is about a Dr. Fredrick Bronski (Mel Brooks) trying to get out of Poland with
his acting crew and a multitude of Jewish people. He is very uptight and self-centered and a
lot of the comedy comes from his belief that he is the best actor. The lowering of class and social commentary are very similar in
this movie. They both happen around and
to Dr. Bronski with him having to adjust to his situation. The jokes about him going from rich to poor
and him having to work with the guy his wife is cheating on him with, in order
to accomplish his goals.
The lowering of
class comes from Dr. Bronski going from a mansion to living in a ghetto, which
he is openly infuriated with. He also
has to deal with his wife cheating on him with a polish fighter pilot, which is
summoned to her room when Dr. Bronski recites that famous quote from hamlet, “To
be or not to be”. When this happens he
gets so frustrated that he cares more about it more than World War II. The historical humor and commentary comes from the Nazi
occupation. The movie makes fun of the Nazi
marking of homosexuals with triangles, by having a gay man use it to his
advantage to find a date. It also makes
fun of the Nazi occupation by having the main characters accuse them of being
addicted to occupying things. It is an excellent movie and everyone should see
it or the 1942 original.
