One of my favorite things to do is remind my parents of how old they are. I mean, for real, they were born in the 1960s! I literally learned about the 60s as part of US history classes, so that means even education thinks my parents are old. So, I tell them they're old in indirect ways. Instead of calling my dad "dad," I now exclusively refer to him as pops. When my mom downloaded Snapchat I asked her if she got confused or couldn't see well enough and actually wanted to download a dictionary. That sounds mean but I have a snapstreak with my mom!
So, usually, if they want to watch a movie, it's some weird, old thing that looks like it was filmed with a rock instead of a camera. But, I have to give them credit sometimes. Without them, I probably never would've watched or even hear of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. If you don't know anything about this movie, at its core it's about toon interactions with real people.
Quote: A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."
I'm sure you've heard "laughter is the best medicine." I think this is sort of a rework of that. This quote just makes me happy. It's interesting to think about laughter being a weapon when usually it has a positive connotation. The toon, Roger, has the job of trying to make everyone laugh. He tells this quote to Eddie, who begins the movie as an incredibly serious dude.
Through their interactions, Roger learns to become a little more serious and Eddie learns to laugh at things. It's a movie about not being so extremist and blocking yourself off to everything else.
I had an eighth-grade social studies teacher tell me that humor is the most important thing to have in school.
I thought that was pretty much the stupidest thing I'd ever heard.
But as I grew older (Some older person might be thinking that I'm literally only 5 years older from that experience, but also 5 years is 25% of my life so it's a big deal), I realized I actually needed to laugh. In my senior year of high school, I took 6 AP courses, applied to colleges, ran track in the spring, continued to be active in my clubs, and worked at a grocery store. It sounds again to me even writing it. But, my family laughed with me through it and my friends and I all laughed (and maybe cried a little) all through it.
So when Roger says a laugh is the only weapon we have, I think he means that a laugh is sometimes the only weapon we have against the sorrows or the pain we experience in life. It's not a weapon in the sense that you're hurting someone else with it.
There is a literary equivalent. Typically, I find the audio sources to be more inspiring than the literary equivalent. I'm not so sure this time. This quote comes from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and when I read this passage I had to put the book down and just laugh and cry:
"While McMurphy laughs. Rocking farther and farther backward against the cabin top, spreading his laugh out across the water - laughing at the girl, the guys, at George, at me sucking my bleeding thumb, at the captain back at the pier and the bicycle rider and the service station you guys in the 5000 houses and the Big Nurse all of it. Because he knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running plumb crazy. He knows there's a painful side; he knows my thumb smarts and his girl friend has a bruised breast and the doctor is losing his glasses, but he won't let the pain blot out the humor no more'n he'll let the humor blot out the pain."
Not knowing the context of the situation probably reduces the impact. So a brief overview: these men have all been placed in a psych ward where they are exposed to cruelty and stripped of autonomy. They have gone out for a day and are on a boat sailing and are, for the first time in a long time, actually living life.
It's pretty obvious that the messages between the two quotes are similar. You just have to laugh. The pain isn't going to go away, but laughing can be the best weapon to not give into all of it.
Also, laughing can be a good ab workout!
I'm sure you've heard "laughter is the best medicine." I think this is sort of a rework of that. This quote just makes me happy. It's interesting to think about laughter being a weapon when usually it has a positive connotation. The toon, Roger, has the job of trying to make everyone laugh. He tells this quote to Eddie, who begins the movie as an incredibly serious dude.
Through their interactions, Roger learns to become a little more serious and Eddie learns to laugh at things. It's a movie about not being so extremist and blocking yourself off to everything else.
I had an eighth-grade social studies teacher tell me that humor is the most important thing to have in school.
I thought that was pretty much the stupidest thing I'd ever heard.
But as I grew older (Some older person might be thinking that I'm literally only 5 years older from that experience, but also 5 years is 25% of my life so it's a big deal), I realized I actually needed to laugh. In my senior year of high school, I took 6 AP courses, applied to colleges, ran track in the spring, continued to be active in my clubs, and worked at a grocery store. It sounds again to me even writing it. But, my family laughed with me through it and my friends and I all laughed (and maybe cried a little) all through it.
So when Roger says a laugh is the only weapon we have, I think he means that a laugh is sometimes the only weapon we have against the sorrows or the pain we experience in life. It's not a weapon in the sense that you're hurting someone else with it.
There is a literary equivalent. Typically, I find the audio sources to be more inspiring than the literary equivalent. I'm not so sure this time. This quote comes from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and when I read this passage I had to put the book down and just laugh and cry:
"While McMurphy laughs. Rocking farther and farther backward against the cabin top, spreading his laugh out across the water - laughing at the girl, the guys, at George, at me sucking my bleeding thumb, at the captain back at the pier and the bicycle rider and the service station you guys in the 5000 houses and the Big Nurse all of it. Because he knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running plumb crazy. He knows there's a painful side; he knows my thumb smarts and his girl friend has a bruised breast and the doctor is losing his glasses, but he won't let the pain blot out the humor no more'n he'll let the humor blot out the pain."
Not knowing the context of the situation probably reduces the impact. So a brief overview: these men have all been placed in a psych ward where they are exposed to cruelty and stripped of autonomy. They have gone out for a day and are on a boat sailing and are, for the first time in a long time, actually living life.
It's pretty obvious that the messages between the two quotes are similar. You just have to laugh. The pain isn't going to go away, but laughing can be the best weapon to not give into all of it.
Also, laughing can be a good ab workout!
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