Essay on Comedy to Seriousness: My Unexpected Reaction to a Friend's Joke

The feeling of it being a serious issue hit me when I got home from school and passed by a friend to take a rest, and have a chit-chat with him. My friend was watching it when I got there and I asked him to restart it so I could catch up. When it started, he told me it was comic and that I would enjoy watching it. As it continued my friend could keep his horses, he kept laughing and laughing. When I didn't laugh at the jokes, he felt weird and asked me why I wasn't. I explained to him that every comic story has an aspect of thematic concern it was addressing, and so instead of concentrating the comic part we decided to analyze the movie for thematic concerns. As the movie continued, we learned that the major part of the movie exclusively instructs against societal stereotyped expectations against the entertaining comic movie that it is.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

When we are growing up our parent develop expectations for us. The expectations even grower deeper, when we are introduced to school. Teachers mold us into people or are supposed to get a job when they grow up. The rule of life is that we are supposed to get a job, find a partner and make a home with our partner. After making a home we make the children grow and the cycle continues. What no one ever wants to tell us is how much of the things being said are not anywhere near the truth. Life is not a straight line like most of our parents or a different path like the parent, adults, and teachers usually put it. Life can be compared to doing Karate in a garage. Be trained for work and employment is torture in itself. On top of all these expectations it is expected that as an adult we use money that we have to buy things that satisfy us and prudently satisfy those that we share a life with.

From the vantage point of 12, adulthood is something that should be avoided. The world's rule should be re-written again. In the movie, "Step Brothers," Will Ferrell addresses these issues through disorienting the whole process of clearing school getting a job and making things happen in our life through marrying. The comedy movie through its main characters Brennan and Dale Doback uses comedy as a genre to ask parents and other adults to let the pressure off from their children. Below is proof that life is not going to school, getting a job and marrying as many teachers and adults put it. Life is taking time to do things that we enjoy the most.

Riggs (2017), argues that someone's maturity is tested when young adults start to independently fend for themselves. The author argues that those with a family, those can stand up to themselves be quite more mature in the society compared to those who don't have to share the family responsibility. The level of maturity is even quite high when they have a family, have a beautiful wife and a little wealthy. Those who stay in their parents are considered immature, irrational and have no purpose in their lives. So is the case of Brenan and Dale Doback who are treated with little respect since they are adults and still live at home with their divorced parents. Brennan lives with his divorced mother, Nancy. Dale lives with his widowed father. The two even despise themselves because of the pressure that the society around them is forcing them with maturity and adulthood. Brennan the younger brother to Derek is seen more a little mature than the two of them who leave with their parents. Derek is not shy of ridiculing his brothers for not having a vision to work hard. Dale who is depressed with the situation is forced to punch Derek in the face. Even as Dale stands up to Derek, Brenan is awed of his courage. With the existing societal pressure, it takes more than courage to confront a wealthier person ridiculing us for not being successful in life. Success, in this case, is defined by being a family man, having a job or being wealthy.

I would disagree with the theory of Riggs (2017), that maturity should be defined by success in being wealthy and having a family. Maturity is a mental state that everyone has in dealing with situations better and not defined by being successful. Dale doesn't have a family or a job and leaves with the dad parse, but he is mature enough to confront Derek for his immature comments. Such an act shows that immaturity is not measured by the rate at which we conform to societal norms. Maturity of Dale is also seen when he turns down an affair request from Alice the wife to Derek. If he weren't mature, like claimed by Riggs (2017), he would accept to engage in the sexual affair with someone who, they are now a family. By choosing to remain moral, Dale proofs a lot of maturity than Alice who is in a marriage relationship and has a wealthy husband.

According to psychologist Schleihauf, Graetz, Pauen & Hoehl, (2018), those with formal jobs know how to handle pressure than those with casual jobs or no jobs at all. In his text the author creates the argument that there is relationship between knowing how to handle oneself when we have pressure. Those with jobs are thought to have been better placed in coming up with solutions to problems than those without one. The society, just like proven by the psychologists sees those without jobs as dash-bags who cannot come with a solution to problems that face them.

The suggestion that those with formal jobs are better placed to handle societal pressure is not logical. As seen in the movie, Robert holds a formal job but, when things don't go according to his plans he totally loses it. He divorces with Nancy after losing his ship to fire. He proposes that they sell his house and sail around the world with his boat. However, before the plan hatches the boat catches fire. The decisions that follow made by Robert are proof that having a position in society is nothing to go by in handling pressure.

According to my belief handling pressure from society is personality strength and cannot be judged by our ability to not have a job (Nyborg et al., 2017). It is important to notice that people who deal with utmost pressure are those that go against social expectations. Those that go against societal expectations are the ones who society wants to fix them to behave in a certain way, but the rebel. Rebellion from societal pressure makes it difficult for one to be accepted. However, if someone has the ability to overcome such behavior they have displayed the strong personality needed to solve any pressure. It is such strength that is displayed by Brennan and Dale. The society expects that at the age of twenty, the two should move out of their parent's house and find a place for themselves. They, however, do not move out they decide to remain in their parent house until they find something to do. Anyone doubting their mental strength to handle pressure should be guided by how the handle rejection from all the interviews that they attend in trying to find a job. They fail a number of the interviews just because they have the courage but do not have the audacity to limit their inner behavior. They answer the interviewers that are perhaps too honest making the interviewers rather afraid to employ them. They way they handle the interviews to honestly are a show of how they fit to handle the pressure. After their rejection of interviews, their personal strength is seen when they create an investment idea. Even when Robert refuses to adopt their investment, they show a strong character by searching for places to work.

The psychologist has developed a term referring to people they think are not mature. When one's age is not in alignment with an accepted societal behavior, the psychologists believe he is undergoing a process called regression. The term regression was developed by Jean Piaget as he referred to individuals who display behavior of a stage they were supposed to undergo in the past. For instance, in the movie Dale and Brennan are suspected to be undergoing a stunted adolescent fray. A stunted adolescent fray is shown by behaviors like old school behaviors, wedding crashers and knocked up behaviors. Such behavior is displayed by Brennan and Dale when they blame themselves for the looming divorce between Robert and Nancy. The two fall out blaming each other for the burning of the boat that has made the family fall apart.

I partly disagree with the psychologist's analysis that stunted adolescent Fray of regression is displaying behavior that is related to a certain stage of growth. Displaying a behavior has nothing to do with the stages of development that an individual passes or doesn't pass. Behavior is only displayed depending on the type of situation that one has been confronted with. Brennan and Dale freak out and are afraid of losing both of their families. Despite being age 39 and 40, it is normal to freak out. It is normal to display child-like behavior when one is being faced with a decision that is difficult to make. In defense of claims that juvenile ways are a display of reversal, the movie introduces a solution to the divorce which is juvenile. To bring the family together from the shackles of divorce, Robert recounts his childhood habit of pretending to be a dinosaur. Brennan and Dale apologize to each other through partnering on drums and vocals performance of Bocelli's "Por Ti Volare." They both abandon their white-collar straight jackets. Brennan and Dale find a perfect solution with their performance. Derek, Dale, and Brennan forgive each other. Robert begins to love Nancy again and abandons the idea of divorce. At this point, Dale abandons his relationship with Alice. As the movie ends we are presented with a solution that stems from childlike behaviors. It disorients the whole idea of regression and solving solutions through adulthood behaviors.

Additionally, Zimmermann et al (2015), developed the theory that it is only through education that success comes. It is this theory that most parents have used to influence their children into studying professional courses to artistic courses. Parents prefer their children taking courses in college like medical, engineering and law courses. Parent has discouraged children from taking part in courses that endorse sports and arts.

Conclusion

With this idea, I disagree with most parents. Most of the educated youths are stuck in courses that they never wanted. A number of them are in those places because of their parents and because of societal pressure. The problem doesn't end at educational ventures only. More than 50% of the employed are in businesses or working environment that they would not like to be in. Most of them would wish to resign from their jobs, but they cannot. They are limited in their jobs because of the pay, but mental satisfaction is something that they cannot talk about anymore. The problem of trying to please the society at the expense of our happiness doesn't end at education ventures alone. Many marriages face divorce because the people in marital relationship did not get in the relationship for their happiness, but they do it to satisfy societal pressure and expectatio...