Lead Blog (Baywatch)

The 2017 version of Baywatch has become one of my favorite movies ever. It incorporates an element of each theory into many of the scenes throughout the movie. However, I would argue that benign violation is definitely the most prominent element used to develop humor throughout this movie. Baywatch is best known for its use of inappropriate humor and its sexualization of the men and women who star as characters in the movie. In my opinion, the actors and actresses that played in the new version of Baywatch did an excellent job of recognizing the sexual tone of the movie and finding ways to make fun of it. I think this movie did an excellent job of using incongruity theory and being ridiculous and nonsensical while still maintaining an interesting plot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnL9uQ6rgmE

            This video has two of my absolute favorite scenes from the entire movie. In each of these scenes benign violation is definitely the most applicable explanation of the humor in both scenes. Both of these scenes in the movie include inappropriate humor that people would not find funny unless they are comfortable with it. Additionally, in these scenes there is an element of relief theory that is connected to the inappropriate humor. For example, there is a build up of tension and worry in the first scene where Ronnie begins to choke on something he ate. In order to release the tension of the scene, CJ, who is the character that Ronnie has a crush on, comes to give him the heimlich maneuver, which somehow turns him on. Ronnie’s friend, Dave, points down to Ronnie’s situation and Ronnie being so embarrassed jumps onto a wooden beach chair to hid himself. When Ronnie does this he rather unfortunately gets all of his man parts stuck in the beach chair. While this does seem very concerning, it ends up being one of the funniest parts of the scene. CJ has to call Mitch Buchannon, played by Dwayne Johnson, over to come help her get Ronnie unstuck from the chair. This entire scene is so embarrassing and inappropriate that the audience can’t help but laugh at Ronnie’s misfortune.

                  In another scene Mitch Buchannon tells Matt Brody, played by Zac Efron, to lift a dead person’s scrotum to check for “anything unusual.” Of course he doesn’t find anything and he realizes that Mitch was just trying to make him look dumb. This scene uses many of the theories in a way that makes them interdependent on each other to create the level of humor that they were able to. Benign violation is arguably the most important theory that is used in this scene because of the level of inappropriateness of what Mitch asked Matt to do. This humor is also used as relief theory because during this scene Mitch, Matt, and Summer are breaking into a morgue to recover information about a man’s death that they suspect to be murder. Incongruity theory applies to the absurdity and ridiculousness of the request from Mitch asking Matt to check a man’s scrotum for anything that might look strange. The absurdity of the question is what allows the audience to feel relief from the stress of the operation that the three of them are attempting to complete. Lastly, superiority theory is also a component that is used in this scene because of how Mitch is able to trick Matt into doing something that is completely ridiculous and nonsensical. Ultimately, the web of theories that this scene uses to develop humor shows how well thought out every action was and explains why this movie, and this scene in particular, was able to become so successful.