Review: Napoleon Dynamite, Spinning-Out Reality in Tragicomedy
Film is the result of a modern collaboration that combines literature and media. Film brings narrative elements to life through visualization, thus making it the most preferred literary alternative by most readers and/or viewers. Disparate from novels and poetry, film delivers a literary work concretely through audio-visual, not abstractly through symbols or words (Petrie & Boggs, 2012).
No exception, Napoleon Dynamite, a 2004 film that is directed by Jared Hess. This 1-hour 22-minute film exposes Napoleon’s life, an extraordinary teenager who tries to live a normal life. In his story, he also helps his friend, Pedro Sanchez, to win the presidency class while resolving his odd family. Varied forms of absurdity are demonstrated by Napoleon Dynamite through cinematic elements, also the emotion and dramaturgy conducted by the characters.
Hence, this writing aims to examine the absurdity in Napoleon Dynamite (2004) through a symbolic approach. According to Ionesco (in Esslin, 2004), Absurd is purposeless; a person is considered abnormal because the actions are mindless, ridiculous, and worthless. Then Petrie and Boggs (2012) define a symbol as a specific object that signifies or causes any complex ideas, stances, or manners and aims to reach its significance.
Source: Napoleon Dynamite (2004), min. 04:12
We can see that the eye-level angle sets the adult viewer’s POV watching Napoleon, even a high school teenager getting onto an elementary school bus. This absurd scene symbolizes Napoleon’s condition who is emotionally unlike a normal teenager. In a film, there is a term that refers to Napoleon, it is ‘quirky’. According to MacDowell (2012), the ‘quirky’ reflects an approach to comedy, a film design adjusted to classy ‘artificiality’, high curiosity about childhood and naivety, and most piercingly, a tone that stabilizes ironic objectivity with a genuine arrangement.
Lots of reviewers suspected Napoleon of having Asperger’s syndrome or other mental illnesses, but according to Levin and Schlozman (2006), Napoleon was just a different teenager. Napoleon may be seen as significantly unlike other normal teenagers, he has a lack of sociality, yet eventually, Napoleon and his friends are at peace with themselves. Thus, Napoleon’s ridiculous behavior from the data above, leads to the other absurdity in this film.
Napoleon, “Are you gonna eat your tots?”
Pedro, “No.”
Napoleon, “Can I have ‘em?”
(Pedro nods his head)
Napoleon, “Yes!” (He reaches over, grabs them all in one hand, and stuffs the tater-tots into his leg pocket)
Source: Napoleon Dynamite (2004), min. 19:05–19:29
Through zoom movement, the data above symbolizes that the ‘unusual’ activities done by Napoleon have an important meaning for him. Napoleon stuffs the tater-tots in his pocket just in case he gets hungry during the class. This indicates that symbols have a major task as a profound representation of an idea, both cultural and universal (Sudarisman, 2016).
Napoleon stuffs the tater-tots also symbolized a unique decision for someone who grabs some food from his hand yet he brings it into his pocket and zips it. This absurdity informs the viewer that teenagers’ creativity will always be beyond their minds. A student’s strategy so that his teacher doesn’t realize he brings food into the classroom. As Petrie and Boggs (2012) stated it should always be borne in mind that while deciphering cinematic symbols can lead to rich and deep insights, it can also lead to absurdity.
Source: Napoleon Dynamite (2004), min. 56:25–57:09
Another absurdity displayed in the data above is when Napoleon helped raise Pedro’s credibility for the election of the class presidency. The camera position was initially emphasized on Napoleon who suddenly drank cow milk by zooming in. To a low angle, the camera zooms out and highlights the name of a career and technical student organization that encourages and sustains agriculture, the National FFA Organization. Napoleon and Pedro believed that by passing the National FFA Organization qualification test, Pedro would win the election for the class presidency.
Indirectly, the data above also symbolizes a satire that to become a people’s representative is to legally have adequate qualifications. Tarantino and Caruso (2009) argue that the absurd is a favorite artistic modality in politically or socially oppressive realities. Moreover, it posits a mirroring strategy that reproduces the deforming effects of stress on the public milieu.
Source: Napoleon Dynamite (2004), min. 01:21:25
The last absurdity portrayed by Napoleon in the data above points to a more developed Napoleon's identity. The long shot framing above serves to highlight Napoleon, who played a crucial role in Pedro’s win for the election of class presidency. Socially, Napoleon is avoided and bullied by his high school friends, but the dance above changes his identity to a ‘cool’ teenager and wins Pedro for the class presidency.
The absurdity in this data symbolizes that Napoleon’s awkward, strange, and absurd state at the beginning of the film changes 180 degrees. As well as Gurung (2017) also stated that the human condition is presented as a barrier meant to be overcome by absurdity and to some extent bypassed. This change is the absurd culmination of Napoleon Dynamite (2004).
From the discussions above, it can be concluded that the absurdity in Napoleon Dynamite (2004) describes how reality is turned into a tragic comedy. The character development of Napoleon Dynamite in responding to the school environment, friends, and family are revealed in an absurd way but still with complete symbols of meaning and purpose. Regardless of the etymological definition above, absurd is an action without a purpose, but Napoleon Dynamite represents these absurdities as symbols are lots of deep meaning.
Specifically and coherently, the absurdity in this film can be outlined into four meaningful symbols. First, absurdity is a symbol of identity, as Napoleon was introduced as a teenager who was complicated in socializing. Second, absurdity is a symbol of creative action, although cunning, Napoleon uses his creative idea to secretly bring toter-tots into the classroom. Third, absurdity is a symbol of satire, not a few people’s representatives are only concerned with popularity without improving credibility. Fourth, absurdity is a symbol of development, and even, of change in identity. Positively, Napoleon’s actions towards the end of the story are a form of turning point at the beginning of the story. Therefore, the ending of Napoleon Dynamite (2004) film proves that being different does not mean having a mental illness.
Sources:
- Esslin, M. (2004). The Theatre of the Absurd (Third). Vintage Books.
- Gurung, R. (2017). Fatherhood, Narcissism, and Indulging in the Absurd in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 34(8), 746–764. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509208.2017.1330629
- Levin, H. W., & Schlozman, S. (2006). Napoleon dynamite: Asperger’s disorder or geek NOS? Academic Psychiatry, 30(5), 430–435. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ap.30.5.430
- MacDowell, J. (2012). Wes Anderson, tone and the quirky sensibility. New Review of Film and Television Studies, 10(1), 6–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/17400309.2012.628227
- Petrie, D. W., & Boggs, J. M. (2012). The Art of Watching Films (Eight). Christopher Freitag.
- Sudarisman, Y. (2016). Sastra Sebelah: Perlakukan Film Sebagai Film! Al-Tsaqafa: Jurnal Ilmiah Peradaban Islam, 13(2), 243–254. https://doi.org/10.15575/al-tsaqafa.v13i02.1975
- Tarantino, E., & Caruso, C. (2009). Nonsense and Other Senses: Regulated Absurdity in Literature (First). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
