This topic has been alluded to several times in our comedy class "How is this old German play like The Hangover?" Well, I am going to make an attempt to answer this question, and do my best to avoid straight summaries and The Hangover spoilers.
Both stories share with the audience a tale of people hold respected positions in society. The people who are in these positions are expected to act in a manner that would not be considered disputable. In The Broken Jug you have the main character as a local judge. The Hangover's characters are a teacher, a dentist (not a doctor), and... umm... Alan.
Both narratives begin with a lot of confusion. The Broken Jug depicts a judge waking up in the morning, obviously hungover(!), with cuts and bruises on his head and knee, and no recollection of the previous evening. Later we learn that he was also missing his wig. What happened? How did he get these injuries? Where was his wig? How did he lose his wig?
The Hangover opens in a similar fashion with the main cast in the desert and one of them is missing. After a brief flashback for context, we get to experience the real confusion with the characters as they wake up in their trashed hotel room from a night of heavy partying in Vegas. Stu, the dentist, is beat up and missing a tooth. Phil, the teacher, has a bracelet from the hospital, and Alan finds a baby in the closet. Oh yeah, and everyone forgets about the tiger!
The questions of "how?" and "why?" are not revealed to the audience through flashbacks while the characters wander around clueless in their stupor trying to figure it all out. The audience is left out of the loop and is forced to experience the same feelings of confusion, dread, awkwardness, and revelation as the characters do.
The characters from both of these accounts always learn of the "how?" and "why?" through third parties. They are told of the events by other people and it is the character's (and audience's) responsibility to connect the dots in order to get the full picture.
What other similarities are there? What did you notice that I didn't? Let me know in the comments.
I like your comparison. I do think it is interesting how both stories use suspense to help keep the audience's attention in the story. That suspense also helps build anticipation to the oncoming laughter, and makes it funnier when it does happen.
ReplyDeleteA similarity between the two comedies is the light-hearted endings they both come to. In The Hangover, the gang of misfits finds Doug and everyone makes it to his wedding in more or less one piece. In "The Broken Jug" Eve and Ruprecht end up together, Licht replaces Adam's post as judge, and Frau Martha moves onto Utrecht for justice for her jug.
ReplyDeleteI did not care for The Hangover or this play. While reading the play, I was quickly able to come to the conclusion that Adam broke the jug making most of the play unenjoyable because I just wanted it to hurry up and end so that the characters could finally say, "hey Judge Adam broke the jug". The Hangover was not predictable like the play, however, I did find myself wishing that the movie would just end so I could find out where Doug is. Kathryn can call the ending of the play and The Hangover light-hearted while I will call them simple-minded.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a really fun comparison, even if it didn't exactly work. (Although it would have applied more if the judge had named his wig Doug or something.) I think the Hangover was more light-hearted than the play because the broken jug from the name of the play represented Eve's innocence, if not her virginity. In the Hangover, nobody really ended up suffering at the end. In the play even if everybody says they are all happy when everything ends, Eve is still going to have suffered at the hands of Adam.
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