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First a footnote to last week’s installment: the day after writing that incoherent rant about Remo Williams, it occurred to me that Remo, although an adult, was also an interracial adoptee. Chiun treats him as an adopted son, and the closest thing Remo has to a home is in Chiun’s Korean village. Where he never really feels like he belongs. So, there’s that, too.
OK, now, on with the show! Yes, this is the tenth episode of Troublesome Fictions, wherein grant dissects the stories that he once loved (and possibly still loves), but that make him feel weird now that he’s an adoptive parent.
This week, it’s back to the absurdist laughter of my misspent youth, when the funniest thing in the world was a wild and crazy guy in a white suit, playing the banjo with a fake arrow going through his head. Know who I mean? Well, excuuuuse me!
What is this? This is The Jerk, the first big movie starring Steve Martin, comic genius, in which he plays Navin R. Johnson, color-blind idiot.
Why is this troublesome? The laughs begin when the eponymous jerk begins his narration: “I was born the son of a poor black sharecropping family….” Because, of course, interracial families are inherently absurd. The story is a rags to riches to rags to riches tale (if I’m remembering correctly) which sees the unhappily rhythm-impaired Navin discover the wonder of muzak and go to seek his fortune in the white man’s world. This was Steve Martin’s breakthrough role, and some of the funniest work of his career. But, you know, now a little close to home, near the bone, etc. etc.
Does the trouble extend to other areas? Steve Martin was an icon of the 1980s. I mean, I’ve still got a couple of his standup LPs in my record collection (yes, I’m one of those people). He’s brilliant. And, the way our culture moves, I think his stuff is probably about due for a renaissance. Any day now, I expect the retro thing to seize on The Jerk and bring it back. Possibly as a musical.
