Parody
is defined as “an
imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with
deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.” 1
Mel Brooks does many movies that are parodies of things both on film
and in real life. This particular film was one that mocked many
movies and real life experiences all at once. I thought it was a
funny way of making fun of things. As a good friend of mine says,
“It's so bad, it's good.” 2
In The 39 Steps Annabelle walks
into Richard's apartment paranoid about someone following her. She
also comments about how they will find her if the room is not
completely sealed off from everyone who can see. Thorndyke
experiences this when Victoria Brisbane comes running into his hotel
room and demands that he close the blinds and lock the door. She is
afraid that Dr. Wentworth and Nurse Deisel will find her and stop her
from finding out the truth about what they were doing to her father
when he was a completely rational and practical man. This was funny
because she acted the same as if she was on a soap opera, overly
dramatic and afraid.
Psycho has its iconic scene where
Marion is showering a figure comes out from the shadows with a knife
and brutally stabs her with blood dripping down at the end of it. In
High Anxiety, Thorndyke was showering and the busboy brings
the newspaper and hits him with it with the ink dripping down, just
like Marion's blood did. This is a rather humorous parody of the
rather tragic scene from where it originated. I find it funny because
of two things. One, I loved both of these films; and two, the busboy
went overboard with how upset he got about having to go out of his
way for the newspaper. Then, the fact that the ink fell in the same
way as the blood from Psycho was just too much.
The Birds has its many, many
scenes where various characters are brutally attacked by these
vicious birds. Thorndyke experienced this with pigeons in the park.
First, it was just one or two that were following him. Then as more
gathered, the more frightened he became. When they finally attacked,
he became their own personal latrine instead of being maimed by them.
It was such a funny twist on the horrific scenes from which this came in The Birds.
Vertigo
has many moments where Scottie Ferguson is feeling out of sorts,
dizzy, or just not himself, as are symptoms that come with
acrophobia.
Thorndyke
feels
like this at many times in High
Anxiety,
especially in situations that consist of extreme heights, much like
Ferguson. For example when Thorndyke was near the balcony of his
office at
the Psychoneurotic
Institute for the Very, VERY Nervous, he looks down and gets very
anxious, nervous, and dizzy. He experiences vertigo with his
acrophobia that Dr. Montague diagnoses as “high anxiety.” There
was also the occurrence in the climax of the film when Dr. Wentworth
is about to throw the real Mr. Brisbane off of the north tower
rooftop to keep his mistress, Nurse Deisel, happy. During this scene,
Thorndyke is essentially forced into fighting his “high anxiety”
to save the life of his lover's father. He finds out why he's so
afraid of heights, because of his parents arguments about him. This
is where Dr. Montague explains that Thorndyke is not really afraid of
heights, but parents. It all seems so simple to Thorndyke at this
point. This was a hilarious way to make fun of every psychiatrist and
soap opera in America. They always blame the parents in these
situations, and so, Dr. Montague had it as the explanation, not the
problem. This was my favorite part of this movie for this reason.
Now to get to that something deeper I
spoke of earlier. It is obvious that High Anxiety is a parody
of these Alfred Hitchcock films, explained above, but it is also a
parody on Mel Brooks' life. Mel Brooks was not “all there
[him]self” when making this film. 3
He explains how his life is very stressful and gives him anxiety, but
not from hard work. He expresses it simply by saying that “stress
is caused by not knowing what......is going on.”4
Since he was the starring role in this film, it is very easy to see
in what ways his life could cause him stress right from the beginning
in the airport scene. This is where he is walking towards the exit of
the terminal and a man takes him aside and tells him, “this will
only take a minute.” Thinking that he is in trouble of some kind,
he follows. Then, the man takes him into the bathroom and flashes
him. Thorndyke runs out of the bathroom. I could understand how this
kind of thing could cause stress and anxiety. “There are just some
things you just can't unsee.” 5
This entire film has bits and pieces that show us what Mel Brooks'
life can be like. Pushy people like Dr. Montague, creepy people like
Nurse Diesel, secrets that no one wants to know about like the
relationship between Wentworth and Disel, etc. I could go on forever
on examples, but the main idea is that Mel Brooks lived a stressful
enough life during the making of this movie that he was able to find
something funny about it. He was able to make a phenomenal parody of
his own life, while using scenes and techniques from iconic and
classic Alfred Hitchcock films.
In conclusion, Mel Brooks uses High
Anxiety to both show off and mock the filming techniques and
plots of many Alfred Hitchcock movies, while simultaneously mocking
himself and his constant stress and high level of anxiety. While
making the film rather funny from a parody stand point, it would not
be a funny film without the context of these other films. It would be
more of a corny, thrilling melodrama for someone who had never seen
or heard of these other films. Sure, there would be funny moments
still with it being Mel Brooks created, but some moments just would
not make sense to a newcomer. I, however, have seen all of these at
some point in my life and loved this film. I thought it was a
hilarious way to take me away from the stresses of real life by
showing how silly one is to get so worked up over little things,
while also making fun of these other films that were originally
thrillers, suspenses, and horrors.
1.)
Mel
Brooks on his stressful life.
http://melbrookssa.wordpress.com/tag/stress/
2.)
Unnamed, per request.
3.)
Edited quote by the Cheshire Cat from Disney's Alice in Wonderland
(1951): "I'm not all there myself."
4.)
Definition
of Parody: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/parody
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