I Wanted to Write My Paper That Was Worth 25% of My Grade in a Course At USC Cinama School Because I LOVE DUMB AND DUMBER!!!

Rating: 10/10 (25 April 2006)

Postmodernism and Poop Jokes: Dumb and Dumber and the Collapse of "High" Art (abridged version)
Ninety years ago Marcel Duchamp printed his name on a white porcelain urinal. In the winter of 2004 that urinal was named the most influential work of modern art by five-hundred of London's top art experts beating out Matisse, Andy Warhol and Picasso for the top spot. Naturally many found the decision, "a bit of a shock" but some came to realize that Duchamp's urinal, "reflects the dynamic nature of art today and the idea that the creative process that goes into a work of art is the most important thing. The work itself can...take any form" (World's Best..., 1). In 1917 critics and audiences alike were appalled by Duchamp's urinal, but today our culture embraces this postmodern fusion of "high" art with "low" art. The Farrelly Brothers' Dumb and Dumber (1994) could be considered the "Duchamp urinal" of the 1990's. Once again critics had a hard time embracing the Farrelly Bros.' use of "low" culture. They still saw cinema as an art-form that should represent a sort of sophisticated entertainment. Although many critics abhorred the film, the box office success and widespread pop-cultural acclaim of Dumb and Dumber suggest that postmodern films should be judged by the postmodern audience rather than the critics.
In an interview with Mr. Daniels, Leon Harris asks, "Is this your kind of humor? Is this the kind of thing you'd watch when you want to go out and see something funny?" in an attempt to understand how such a qualified actor could sink so low (Daniels, 2). Daniels responds with, "I know that I am ready for...an hour and a half of nothing but laughs, and if movies like Dumb and Dumber can do that, then I think that has value." (Daniels, 2).
Daniels defends his decision to star in the film and also questions the role of comedy in the artistic world. He recognizes that the Academy Awards tend to favor serious dramatic films that evoke deep thoughts rather than lowbrow comedies that simply cause laughter. He essentially exposes this bias that exists within the critical world that favors sophistication over anti-intellectualism. Does the fact that Dumb and Dumber won the MTV Movie Award in 1995 but was never considered for an Oscar nomination mean that it was a complete failure? Who is to say one human being's opinion is more valid than another's? While some might have seen Harry the dog groomer as a step down for Daniels, his involvement with both "low" and "high" forms of entertainment demonstrate this flexibility that the postmodern era embraces.
Dumb and Dumber was released on December 16, 1994 and within a few days had become the second biggest December box office opening in Hollywood history (DeRosa, 1). Apparently though, there is quite a market for "incredibly dumb" comedies about two friends on a road trip to Aspen. The general audience had spoken and $127 million speaks louder than a handful of negative reviews.
Headlines for online user comments read, "Best Comedy Ever, Painfully Funny, Pure Laughter, Oh Admit it You Love This Movie, If You Don't Like This Movie You're an Insufferable Bore, etc." (User Ratings, 1). Though there are some negative comments strewn about, it is nothing like the critical reviews in magazines and newspapers. Out of over thirty-five thousand user comments, there are only seven-thousand people that graded Dumb and Dumber as average or below (a score of 5 and below on a scale from 1-10, 10 being the best). This means that eighty percent of the people that voted scored Dumb and Dumber above average. Also, about one-third of the voters scored the film with either a nine or a ten. This data illustrates a vast difference between general audience member opinions and critical reviews. After the release of Dumb and Dumber, Bobby Farrelly said, "We fully expect to get ripped apart by the critics, but we didn't make it for the critics" (Dermody, 1). Again the question arises of whether or not a handful of critics know what is best for postmodern audiences.
The human being is a complex organism that can enjoy an opera one moment and laugh at a fart joke the next. Recently the latter tendency has been capitalized upon, but the critic chooses to focus on the "finer" things in art and culture. Postmodernism attempts to blend these two spheres of the human mind into one while modernism denies its other half. If we follow the modernist assumption that science and technology will lead to a fuller understanding of life than we find ourselves in a bit of a bind. If we study Darwinism and the process of Evolution to find that we, the human species, the children of the Enlightenment are in reality children of apes, the idea that we should only respond to "high" culture and sophistication is absurd. Millions of years later we still have some of these animal instincts that tell us to laugh at Jim Carrey when he makes a funny face or attempts to wash his mouth out with ketchup and mustard. Some try to cover up these instincts and pretend that sophistication and intellectualism come naturally to humans. If this were the case babies would be born with calculators and paperback copies of Madame Bovary. This is not to say that we should all revert to living in caves and hunting with spears, but we should also remember that we are one chromosome away from being chimpanzees. If Dumb and Dumber does have a message, it is to never become so serious that you cannot laugh at yourself.