Theme From Schindlers List Funny Girl
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The movie Schindler's List (1993), set during World War II and the Holocaust, is emphatically not a Comedy. Nevertheless, it surprisingly contains a great deal of humor of many varieties.
*** SPOILER ALERT ***
*** NO REALLY SEE THE MOVIE BEFORE READING MORE ***
What follows is a highly summarized analysis of examples from the film from various perspectives (filmmaker, character, audience) using Clash Theory's conception of humor. The content of Clash Theory is detailed on the main whyfunnyisfunny.com website and much more completely in the book Why Funny Is Funny. Clash Theory differentiates between what humor is (included in Humor) and what humor is used for (not included in Humor). The parts below labeled Beyond Humor speak to dramatic/cinematic/story-telling purposes beyond Humor proper.
Event 01 – (00:07:30)
Oskar Schindler at a club: "You'd leave a woman alone at the table in a place like this?"
Humor: An admonition that isn't. Positive sarcasm, intended to be recognized as the teasing (not meant) form of ridicule.
Beyond Humor: Schindler shmoozes SS officers he doesn't know with teasing typically used only between close friends.
Event 02 – (00:09:58)
Many drinks later. Posing for a picture, the SS officer pushes in front of his date (middle) to get closer to Schindler.
Humor: Normal posing doesn't involve pushing, this one humorously does. Funny for audience. Characters are smiling but not laughing.
Beyond Humor: Intentional humor for speedy exposition: the shmoozing is working.
Event 03 – (00:15:20)
Inside a Christian church, the camera slowly pans to Jews conducting business.
Humor: Business is a detectably nonsensical difference (ATYPICAL) from normal church activity.
Beyond Humor: Funny for audience, not for characters. Intentional humor for exposition: what they are doing is dangerous.
Event 04 – (00:15:37)
Shoe polish, not in metal containers but glass jars. Pfefferberg complains to Chilowicz, who laughs.
Humor: Chilowicz, undistracted, detects a humorous deviation from expectation. The distracted Pfefferberg does not. Audience may also see humor in their contrasting reactions.
Beyond Humor: First humor note in a conversation with many.
Event 05 – (00:16:02)
Observing, Goldberg mockingly chides. Chilowicz says it's not his problem.
Humor: Audience members may see comic intent in Goldberg's slightly exaggerated mockery, and also in Chilowicz's evasion as a humorous deviation from expected response.
Beyond Humor: Later scenes reveal more of these characters.
Event 06 – (00:16:07)
Goldberg repeats the statement. Pfefferberg repeats it as a question.
Humor: Goldberg continues to interject, humorously repeating what does not need repeating. Pfefferberg's embarrassed repetition and inferred internal anger are also detectably funny.
Beyond Humor: Pffeferberg continues: "The German Army wants to find out where they came from", and the newly-distracted Chilowicz's smile fades.
Event 07 – (00:16:15)
"I am going to make sure they find out."
Humor: Chilowicz's rapid change of fortune is humorous by itself and is extended by Goldberg's mocking change of opinion. This second is the best humor note in the scene (highest quality).
Beyond Humor: Chilowicz is suddenly motivated to make things right.
Event 08 – (00:20:54)
Goldberg becomes a Jewish ghetto police officer. Mila Pfefferberg mocks his hat and outfit: "You look like a clown, you know?"
Humor: Mockery is the meant form of ridicule.
Beyond Humor: Different responses to ongoing trauma is just one of a great many causes for in-groups and out-groups. Mockery helps establish these.
Events 09 and 10 – (00:24:23) and (00:29:11)
At the request for "ten healthy women", a boy responds "I am healthy" and the crowd laughs. Humor: Intentional gender role non-conformance. Beyond Humor: Schindler is hiring factory workers.
Schindler interviews secretaries in a quick montage. Humor: A sensible factory manager is interested in skills. A foolish one is interested in other things. Beyond Humor: Schindler is revealed as a foolish manager.
Event 11 – (00:38:45)
Schindler's wife is mistaken for a girlfriend during a visit. She will stay on one condition. Cut to: "Good-bye, darling." Humor: Filmmakers intend and audiences detect humor arising from subverted expectations. Not humorous for characters. Beyond Humor: Schindler is a womanizer.
Event 12 – (00:39:28)
Schindler doesn't read his accountant's reports. He asks "Any reason to think next month will be worse?" Stern responds quietly, "The war could end."
Humor: If not 'no', then a normal answer is some kind of bad news. Stern's deadpan response: the bad news is good news, and humor arises from the clashing evaluations. Either sarcasm or irony depending on how audience members interpret Stern's intent.
Beyond Humor: Uncomfortable but true: the war is very good for Schindler's business.
Event 13 – (00:41:14)
Schindler complains to Stern for hiring a one-armed machinist as an essential worker.
Humor: Stern's words "Did he." indicate surprise, but the deadpan delivery turns the question into a statement and humorously contradicts. Humorous for filmmakers and audience but not for characters.
Beyond Humor: Stern is keeping many truths hidden. An unhappy necessity.
Event 14 – (00:44:52)
Stern forgets his work card and is sent to a train. Schindler seeks his rescue but the guards oppose. Schindler skillfully threatens them.
Humor: The final reveal of the guards' change of heart humorously contradicts the expectation created by the setup.
Beyond Humor: Schindler's con-man abilities come in handy. Stern briefly glances at the train. He is the only one rescued.
Event 15 – (00:49:38)
Jewish ghetto. Mr. Nussbaum dreams he is broke and living with twelve people he doesn't know. Awakening, he finds he is broke and living with twelve people he doesn't know.
Humor: Irony. Nightmare should not match reality and it does.
Beyond Humor: Gallows humor (humor in the presence of mortal danger) can be an attempt to maintain sanity when contemplating the insane. Clash Theory considers the purpose(s) for which humor is used to be beyond the scope of Humor as a standalone discipline.
Event 16 – (01:17:37)
Schindler comes to a lunch meeting with Nazi labor camp leaders. Upon asking "Did I miss anything good?", they reply with news and plans, and Schindler adds, "I meant the food."
Humor: Paraprosdokian re-interpretation of words already stated generates a humorous meaning clash.
Beyond Humor: Schindler needs to remain in Nazi good graces to maintain access to Jewish slave labor. This especially includes camp commandant Goeth.
Event 17 – (01:18:28)
Goeth compliments Schindler's suit. He replies with a dangerous joke.
Humor: Two distinct notes for the surface joke: The reason is ATYPICAL, and also it's FOOLISH to seek a suit from a dead tailor.
Beyond Humor: By making a joke of this type, Schindler subtly communicates that he knows Nazis are killing and does not object.
Event 18 – (01:20:00)
Commandant Goeth brings up something he's heard: Schindler expresses gratitude (pays bribes) more diligently than most.
Humor: What Goeth mentions fairly explicitly is usually left to implication. Breaking rules and convention can be seen as humorous; Goeth finds his own statement funny in this way. Not funny for audience.
Beyond Humor: Dangerous ground for both. Humor provides a bit of cover.
Event 19 – (01:20:49)
Goeth accuses Schindler of wanting to run his own sub-camp [true] and recites a long list of hassles. As he continues, Schindler chuckles.
Humor: Goeth subtly claims wanting to be a commandant is FOOLISH. Schindler accepts this as funny. Not funny for most audience members.
Beyond Humor: Schindler still shmoozes. Shared humor brings people together. Audience members likely differ on whether his laugh is genuine, but in either case it's effective.
Event 20 – (02:06:42)
Some time later. Jews are packed in train cars. Schindler requests fire hoses be used to cool the cars. Goeth tells Hujar "bring the fire hoses" and he responds "where is the fire?"
Humor: Hujar FOOLISHLY does not know (or pretends not to) that the water is for Jews.
Beyond Humor: According to Nazis, helping Jews is less important than putting out fires.
Event 21 – (02:09:01)
The hose doesn't reach the last cars. Schindler says he has 200m of hoses at his factory. Another comments, "I have 20m at home in my garden."
Humor: FOOLISH pretending not to understand what the hoses are for, done to generate humor.
Beyond Humor: Funny for Nazis only (see Stern in back). That they joke in this manner is evidence of evil. Not funny for filmmakers or audience.
Event 22 – (02:16:11) (02:33 side B)
Stern: "I'm to put myself on the last train." Schindler: "You'll receive special treatment." Stern: "The directives coming in from Berlin mention 'special treatment' more and more often. I'd like to think that's not what you mean." Schindler: "Preferential treatment then. Do we have to invent a whole new language?" Stern: "I think so."
Humor: Gallows and/or sardonic humor. Audience members will differ on whether this is humorous, and if so whether the character intended it. The need to invent a new language is pretty strongly ATYPICAL.
Beyond Humor: How are people supposed to converse under these circumstances?
Event 23 – (02:16:11) (02:33 side B)
Schindler: "I was going to say we'll have a drink then [after the war]." Stern (tears, smiling): "I'd better have it now."
Humor: Again, gallows and/or sardonic humor with differences in audience humor response. "I'd better have it now" is normally light and conversational, here it is ATYPICALLY existential.
Beyond Humor: Payoff from earlier scenes in which Stern first ignored and then declined Schindler's drink offers.
Event 24 – (02:22:59) (09:19 side B)
Part of a montage of compiling The List. Stern: "How many cigarettes have you smoked tonight?" "Too many." "For every one you smoke, I smoke half."
Humor: Light hyperbole from Stern.
Beyond Humor: The list-building is an emotional crescendo. Humor is used for pacing.
Event 25 – (02:47:12) (33:34 side B)
A new shell factory in Schindler's Czechoslovakian hometown [he is German], manned by workers saved by the list. "Stern, if this factory actually produces a shell that can actually be fired, I'll be very unhappy."
Humor: Schindler's new management goals are FOOLISH on the surface.
Beyond Humor: Subtext: Schindler has now chosen a different side.
Event 26 – (02:58:36) (44:58 side B)
The war over, Schindler must go into hiding. Facing Stern and all the Jews he helped, he berates himself for not doing more, at one point with self-mockery: "I threw away so much money."
Humor: Schindler recognizes his wastefulness was FOOLISH.
Beyond Humor: He regrets this enormously. Humorous self-deprecation adds some emotional separation, but it cannot be sustained. He is laughing and crying, both together.
Epilogue: Schindler's List is not Comedy, not at all. And yet, it is filled with humor of many, many different kinds. The list above (a Schindler's List List?) is far from complete. Many other events of the movie (large and small) are detectably humorous in different ways by audience members, including some events that the filmmakers may not have intended as humor.
Look at all of the things humor can be.
– Chris Land
Source: https://whyfunnyisfunny.com/humor-in-schindlers-list/
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