The King of Comedy Analysis

 The King of Comedy

Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

This film is another character study, just like Scorsese's and De Niro's earlier collaborations like Raging Bull & Taxi Driver. Rupert Pupkin, is an aspiring stand up comedian and he's looking for gigs - but he imagines himself to be a celebrity and he thinks of himself as The King of Comedy. There is one brilliant psychological trait that is used to portray Rupert Pupkin - it's tough to articulate, but I'll try. There are two types of people: Type 1 - People who will ask for 10 mins if they need 5 mins to do something, just because they don't want to give the other person a chance of blaming them for not keeping their word - the other type, they ask for 2 mins, if they need 5 mins and they just assume that the other person will give them leverage. Rupert Pupkin would ask for 2 seconds. At every scene, he presumes that the other person will give him some leverage or be extra nice to him - it's just similar as starting to walk towards the stage before even your name is announced as the award winner. The way he goes to Jerry's office saying that Jerry is expecting him, the way he goes to his house, the way he gets into Jerry's car, and many more instances.

I was reminded of Fan, during some scenes. The celebrity worship culture, is to another level in India - which even Anurag Kashyap says that you cannot shoot with a star on the roads here, there'll be outright havoc. It comes out of lack of a strong sense of identity and mob mentality. In this film when Jerry is walking on the road, a fan says that she loves him and when she asks him to tell her friend hello on a call and when Jerry refuses saying that he has to go, the next second her love becomes 'I wish you get cancer'. It talks about how we have a facade on, all the time and as soon as someone is brutally honest to us, we get caught off guard. The film also talks about rejection, and our responses to rejection. Rupert Pupkin - the unpredictability of his actions make him seem dangerous - because you don't even know if you should be careful or let loose of yourself.