There’s a new article up at MSN Movies entitled Welcome To ApatowLand. Population: Men that should be required reading for, well, just about everyone. It’s written by Jim Emerson, who I know next to nothing about, besides the little bio blurb at the bottom of the piece. Apparently he’s a film and web writer and based on his reflections on filmmaker Judd Apatow and his impact on the current movie landscape, Emerson’s a dude I’m going to be following a little more closely from here on out.
At any rate, I love what Emerson has to say about Apatow because it echoes so much of what I appreciate about him and his work. The appeal of Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, 40 Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Superbad (shoot, even Heavyweights…anyone remember that gem?) is the way in which he and his team weave the utter insanity of relationships and life together with the desire to somehow make sense of it all. It’s awkward, it’s hilarious, it’s dirty, it’s crude, it’s sweet, it’s touching…on and on. There’s a realism to these works that transcends the typical Hollywood veneer. (And yes, I know he’s getting more and more famous and that at some point there will be the inevitable backlash where the indie hipster fans of film will lament the point at which Apatow “sold out.” To those people I merely say, “Screw you.”)
Freaks and Geeks hits home (even though I didn’t go to high school until a full 12-13 years after the timeframe of the show) because I remember having those unnerving thoughts as a dorky teenager. Will a girl ever like me if I’m such an unabashed sci-fi nut? Why does school have to be such a weird place? Apatow and Paul Feig did such an amazing job zeroing in on how out of place each of us can feel in any given situation…especially and perhaps most significantly in our own skin.
As overly crude as they are, 40 Year-Old Virgin and Superbad have a bizarre beauty going on beneath the surface. I went to school with guys like Steve Carell’s friends in Virgin. And in some way, I was that virgin character. I was that guy in college who hadn’t had sex, but I was surrounded by people who were getting it on in so many different ways on a regular basis. Granted, I was trying to wait until marriage before taking that jump, rather than just giving up on it after a certain age…but the basic feelings of being the weird but normal one of the group remain the same. And Superbad? What a great portrayal of guy friendships. What guy hasn’t been friends with the dude that’s a total ass and you want to punch him in the face, but for some reason you put up with his crap and you guys hang out constantly? Oh you didn’t have a buddy like that? Well, I did…and still do.
And this is the aspect that Emerson particularly focuses on in his piece: the interactions between guys and their friends and guys and their women. Relationships are weird beasts. They’re work. They’re commitments. They’re choices. And they’re often not the ridiculous skewed presentations that we see in the media. They’re blood, sweat, tears, pain and joy. And Apatow’s work represents that. It’s almost like he’s some sort of cultural saboteur who’s gained access to the inner sanctum and is now showing things as they are: broken, funny, malfunctioning and completely worth fighting for.
I especially love Knocked Up for these reasons. The one nuclear family is a messed up one, but they’re not beyond hope. The husband and wife fight and bicker, but they are committed to each other and their kids. It’s not a perfect picture, but it’s a resilient one. The same is true of the Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl characters. They’re still learning and growing, but they’re willing to take the risk to love and sacrifice for another individual. Seth is the guy who is up for the ride, but with no full understanding of what marriage and having a kid actually means for him and his life. But he changes and matures, in hilarious ways, in order to be able to properly care for the mother of his child and that new baby girl.
I guess what I’m getting at is this: these films and shows are, at heart, redemptive. They’re chock-full of messed up and broken people who are thrown together by the circumstances of life. And rather than throwing in the towel, they fight on, wrestling through issues and joys and conflicts together. My theology may be way off on this, but it reminds me a lot of the community (oh look! A new article on BillyGraham.org) that we are called to as followers of Jesus. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this because of what we’re learning and experiencing at Renovatus and I think there’s true beauty here in the midst of all the shit. Because that’s what a lot of life is. And with apologies to Frederic Buechner, the joy of a life lived in faith with a community of believers is that something miraculous can grow and flourish out of that shit. The beauty is that our God is one of redemption. We can all be rescued and we can all learn to love with a sacrificial love that trumps the selfishness of our normal inclinations.
So thanks Judd. And thanks Jonathan (Martin). Thanks for reminding me of a deeper way. A way that leads to life and freedom and hilarity.
