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comedy analysis BY sat-Hao ENGL 102 Comedy Analysis and Critique Sai Hao directed by Henry Koster, and starring James Stewart. I think that this is the best comedy I had never watched before. The story is about Elwood, a polite gentleman whose best friend is a 6-foot tall pooka named Harvey. He got a serious hallucination after his mom died and always believed the existence of Harvey. He did everything with Harvey, even though Harvey did not exist in the real world.
He would always talk with his former friend and introduce Harvey to them. But no one could recognize the existence of Harvey except Elwood. That seriously affected his familys social life, because no one wants to make friends with a group of eccentric people. His sister loves him so much, so she decided to send him to the sanitarium and make him go back to a normal person. But the psychiatrist mistook his sister for a patient. There are some funny things that happened in the process.
Elwood even made the director of the hospital become abnormal. At the end part of the story, the doctor found the cause of the disease and asked his sister if he needed an injection to cure. His sister agreed to the plan, but she changed her mind when she heard a taxi driver’s escription, that all the patients become unhappy and irritable after they are cured. At the end, Elwood and his invisible companion saunter off towards the bus stop. like the comedy, and said this is the best comedy in my opinion.
Not only the actors’ superb acting and behaviors, but it also focuses on our life and reminds people to not forget the beauty of life around us, and to love and praise our friends in this fast- changing world. Just like what that taxi driver said, the people only emphasize the speed of the current society, but ignored enjoying the scenery during their trip. The octor and nurse accused each other because of the details of working, but they neglected the love between themselves.
I searched the US history book, and found that the US economy took a high-speed development during 1950’s. That highly confirmed my deduction. Wanting the greatly satisfying material life, people mostly focus on the social life and the physical needs. They Just focus on the money and social status, but forget the importance of friendship and their original dream gradually. Through the description of Harvey, the director wants to tell people: sometimes it would be better to slow down our steps and find some meaningful and appy things in our life.
Just like Elwood, even though he is a little unusual, he does not annoy people and is happy with everyone at anytime. Compared with those people who were puzzled with his peculiarity, I prefer his lifestyle, because we can follow our heart and got a healthy perspective on life. Please cherish the people around us, no matter if they are weird or naive. They will make you feel the beauty of life. Ironically, society often promotes selfishness and arrogance instead of advocating a pure and happy life. I think that is the eternal theme of ‘Harvey.