Rocamora Pascual Rocamora Red ID: 813431119 Dr.

Lauzen Genre: Comedy or Laughing in the Dark 530 10th Novemer 2009 Death Becomes Her The Female Black Comedy Synopsis

Madeline Ashton (played by Meryl Streep), a mediocre actress, and Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn) a less known writer, have hated each other for years. Madeline is married to Dr. Ernest Menville (Bruce Willis),a surgeon who becomes a death make-up designer after his marriage. Before that, Ernest was Helen's fiance. After Helen recovers from a mental breakdown, she vows revenge by stealing back Ernest and plotting to kill Madeline. Madeline, jealous and dumbfounded by Helens beauty after some years, drinks a miracle cure for aging, which makes her pretty and young again. Madeline accidentally discovers that Helen has also drunk the potion and they have become immortal. The problem is that they will need a great death make up designer for all eternity. Thats why Ernest has to drink the cure too. But Ernest does not want to spend all eternity alive so he refusses to drink the potion. Madeline and Helen try to convince him as he is hanging from a roof. After falling, Ernest survives and runs away from Madeline and Helen. They both will have to take care of each other for all the eternity, learning how to be friends. Audience and Critics Death Becomes Her was directed by the Academy Award winner Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump). This black comedy was one of the biggest succes in 1992.

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Acording to The International Movie Data Base, its budget was $55.000.000 and its gross revenue was $149.000.000. The audience was happy and pleased with the movie, but the critics were not so exicted. Steve Davis said in the Austin Chronicle that its a plot that never really takes off or as Janet Maslin says in the New York Times A lot of the problem arises from simple -- and inexplicable -- lapses in the screenplay. But Death Becomes Her can be a great example of a black comedy movie, and it can be one of the few black comedy movies where women have the lead roles. Omnipresence of Death in Death Becomes Her Acording to Gehring, one of the main characteristics in black comedy movies is the importance of the death. All the films are focused in the end of the story. There is no sense in life and there are no messages in black comedy because theres no message in life. This film is quite interesting in this point because its not focused in the end of something, but in the fact that theres no end. This point turns to be a kind of nightmare for the main characters, Madeline and Helen. The can not die, they are punished to spend all the eternity together even they hate each other. We can see this situation at the end of the movie when they both leave Ernests funeral. Helen is going to fall down stairs and Madeline doubts about helping her. Gehring explains that death has an omnipresence during black comedy films. In Death Becomes Her, death is another main character. In fact, the movie is called Death Becomes Her. Death is the final jocke of the furture life, but its also the way to escape of the life we have in order to find peace. We can see this situation in the character of Ernest Meanville. He can take the potion and live forever, but he refusses to drink it. He says: I don't want to live forever. I mean, it sounds good, but what am I gonna do? What if I get bored? And what if I get lonely? Who am I gonna hang around with,

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Madeleine and Helen?. He has a happy life after running away from Madeline and Helen. But death gets him and he finnaly finds peace. It would have been better for the story and the genre that Erenst died when he falls. The only way to escape from a miserable life is death acording to the genre. From the middle of the movie until the end, the two main characters, Helen and Madeline, are dead. For these two roles the eternal life is a kind of punishment. They are living life as dead people. As we can see at the end of the movie, both Helen and Madeline are horrible and have a creepy looking. Thats the way we can see life, their life in this movie. On the other hand we have a nice and happy old Ernest. Death has been nice with him. The character of Lisle von Rhoman (played by Isabella Rosellini) is quite interesting. If we talk about death, it could be pretty obvious that she is the antagonist of death. She provides the inmortality potion to Helen and Madeline. But she also curses the people who drink this potion. They can not die. Lisle becomes the antagonist of Ernest and death itself but she could be Madelines and Helens allie. From this point, Lisle becomes a curse for both main roles when both Madeline and Helen know that they will have to spend eternity together. Absurdity of the World in Death Becomes Her Another characteristic that Gehring explains in his book is the absurdity of the world. The movie takes place in Beverly Hills. The absurdity of this world can be reflected in the way people behave. They all are obssesed with their bodies and their faces. As Steve Davis says Death Becomes Her sets its Fountain of Youth scenario in Beverly Hills, a place in which beauty is just a collagen shot away.

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In one moment of the movie, Madeline asks for a treatment really dangerous for her body just to seem younger. The obssesion of being young, pretty and fabulous is why Madeline decides to drink the cure. The enviroment which surrounds the movie does not change. Ernest does not drink the potion. He does not want to live forever and he is the only one who finds death at the end. Madeline and Helen are damned for all eternity because they drank the cure. A lot of things happend but the world in Beverly Hills does not change and it will not ever do it. At this point, both heroes, Madeline and Helen, are trapped in this absurde world. They do not try to change it or they do not learn anything about their experience. In fact, they submit to this world. Thats why they drink the potion and want Ernest to drink it too. Gehring explains that the hero does not participate in the story, he only is a viewer. This characteristic could not be true for this movie. We have this world. It does not change. But the main story does not start until Madeline sees a sexy and young Helen. From that moment we forget about the outside world. We know abou it, but we are not longer viewers of that world but Madelines and Helens story: they find out theyre both inmortal, they fight, they have to learn how to live together and so on. They both build the story. Thats why there are not many supporting characters when in black comedy movies there are a lot of supporting roles. The highest point of this absurde world is the party at the end of the movie. There are a lot of famous characters, such as Marilyn Monroe or Elvis Presley. They can represent really well this world of beauty obsession. We suppose that they all drank the potion, so now they will live and be pretty forever. Thats what everyone wants in Beverly Hills and Hollywood.

Rocamora Men as beast. Madeline Ashton and Gelen Sharp as black comedy female lead roles

Acording to Gehring, in white comedy we usually have good characters. They have goodness and the audience identify itself with them. But in black comedy it does not happend. Black comedy undercuts the notion of men as noble. The characters are obsessed with something. Men are usually obssesed with sex, for example. Black comedy also shows mens basic instints. Death Becomes Her is quite different in this point because it has two female lead roles. Both of them, Madeline and Helen, are not noble. What they do it is only for their own behalf. Helen is obsessed with Madeline. We can see this situation when she is watching a movie in which Madeline star. In this movie Madeline dies. Helen is really obssesed watching this scene. Even when the police go to her apartment, she is watching the scene. The only reason for her to drink the potion is just to make Madeline feel miserable, steal Ernest from her and kill her. Madeline just wants to be young and pretty. She does not care about her husband or her health. What makes her feel better with herself its that Helen is uglier and fatter than she is. When Madeline sees Helen at her books presentation party, she becomes really jelous. Thats why she drinks the potion, just to feel better and prove to people that she is much better than Helen. Both reasons are not noble. What drives the story is just selfish feelings and be better that the other one. This situation could have been better developed in the movie, but a weak screenplay just makes them fight. The only purpose is to show special effects. Men usually concern about sex in black comedies, but in this one we have women. What they concern about is just be better than the other one and be beauty.

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Those two reasons are the ones which make them do the things they do, such as drink the potion, start a fight or try to kill the other one. Madeline wants more to be pretty and young than to destroy Helen, but Helen wants more to kill Madeline and get Ernest back than to be beautiful and thin again. They show their basic instints when they start the fight with the shovels. At this moment of the movie, they just want to destroy each other. Another weak point of the screenplay is that it does not go on with this situation of this basic instint. It becomes to another one: survival. They need Ernest to survive and they both become allies. This transition is not well shown in the movie. Audience can not identify itself with these characters because the way they are and the goals they want to reach. Black Comedy acording to John Turby According to screenwriter John Turby when black comedy is used as a basis for a story's plotline, it involves a society in an unhealthy state and a main character wanting something that will not be beneficial to himself or society [...]. The main character rarely, if ever, learns a lesson or undergoes any significant change from the ordeal, but sometimes a relatively sane course of action is offered to them. In this movie, both Helen and Madeline try to get something that can be good for them at first, but it will become really harmful for both. At the end of the movie they both are at Ernests funeral. They look really creepy and horrible and they both know that Ernest has been really happy without them. Madeline and Helen both know they are cursed but they do not learn anything. And they do not regret of what they did. Thats is a strong point of the screenplay. There is no sense at the end of the movie. Film Reviews

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Most of critics did not like this movie at all. But there are some of them who found this movie quite interesting. Fran Doucedame, from The Alberta Report talks about the movie as little masterpiece of black humour. With a plot line as odd as its title, it provides plenty of laughsand a thought-provoking perspective on the pursuit of eternal youth. . Another critics as Janet Maslin says that the main problem of the movie is a really weak screenplay. All the performances and the direction are really good, but not the script. Andy Pawelczak is more severe. He says that Somewhere along the line, somebody miscalculated. Death Becomes Her is not only seriously unfunny, it's downright unpleasant.[...]. It doesn't matter that the movie isn't really about anything . Steve Davis comments that the perpetual catfight between Streep and Hawn's characters, as well as their twisted obsessions with youth, has prompted some critics to characterize Death Becomes Her as misogynistic, but that adjective is too harsh. Conclusion Death Becomes Her can be a great example of a black comedy. The movie has all the main characteristics of the genre and not many black comedies have a woman as a lead character. Even if the screenplay is really weak, the idea is quite original and the artistics aspects are really good. Curiosities The film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1993 Meryl Streep accidentally scarred Goldie Hawn's cheek with a shovel during the fight scene. Bruce Willis replaced Kevin Kline as Ernest. The three main character's names are a play on words. Madeline, Ernest and Helen can be shortened to Mad, Ern, Hel, or "Madder 'n Hell."

Rocamora Works Cited Davis, Steve: Death Becomes Her Film Listings AustinChronicle.com, 1992, The Austin Chronicle:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Calendar/Film?Film=oid%3A138725 Death Becomes Her Main details, memorable quotes, box office, awards, external reviwes, trivia. The International Movie Data Base: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104070/maindetails Doucedame, Fran: A grotesque pursuit of perpetual youth generates hearty (black) laughs The Alberta Report. 1993. Database: Academic Search Premier. Gehring, Wes D. Handbook of American Film Genres. New York: Greenwood Press. 1988. Maslin, Janet: Death Becomes Her. Squeezing the Humor Out of Death The New York Times Web Journal, 1992, The New York Times: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E0CE2DE163DF932A05754C0 A964958260 Pawelczak, Andy: Death Becomes Her. Films in Review. 1992. Database: Academic Search Premier. Truby, John: The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storytelle. London: Farber & Farber. 2008