During the holidays we all have specific experienced certain situations that would only happen in such a hectic time. As the holidays pass, we look back and laugh at how ridiculous those times can be. David Sedaris shows this from his perspective when he applied to be an elf and Macys one holiday season and showed us what society looked like from inside an elf costume. Elf, although not a real story, is a movie about a human who thinks he is an elf who meets his dad and experiences extreme culture shock as he goes to New York for the first time. In this essay, I will be comparing these similarities between these two stories and what types of comedy are found in each.
The first scene from Elf that was similar to Santa Land Diaries was the scene when Buddy the Elf first arrives in New York City, specifically the part where he was continuously taking pamphlets until the people would get angry. Sedaris, early in his story explains an instance where he would take pamphlets because he felt bad, he says, “I tend to not only accept the leaflet, but to accept it graciously, saying, “Thank you so much,” and thinking, you poor, pathetic son of a bitch” (Sedaris 4). In Elf, instead of the guys handing out of the leaflets looking pathetic, Buddy is the one who looks ridiculous. He is a grown man dressed as an in elf in yellow tights and he is taking leaflets from two guys who are standing five feet from each other until they both get angry and chase him off. The outside characters in these stories play different roles, as we notice from this scene. The outside characters in Elf are more involved because Buddy brings them into the story with his actions. On the other hand, Sedaris is just explaining the other characters and they act more of...
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... Buddy the Elf brings them into his fantasy world as a real elf. In the book, we were able to see how people acted in real life situations during the holidays and how Sedaris used those situations to create his jokes. I felt more compassion or pity for Sedaris then for Buddy based on the reality factor. I would not want to work as an elf based on Sedaris’ experiences described in his writings and it is very difficult to try to relate to Buddy as the entire movie would never realistically happen. Both are humorous but as I described, both took different approaches of the same type of situation.
Works Cited
Elf. Dir. Jon Favreau. New Line Home Entertainment, 2004.
Morreall, John. Comic relief: a comprehensive philosophy of humor. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.
Sedaris, David. Holidays on ice. 2nd ed. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2008. Print.
The Web. The Web. 13 May 2014. McCormick, Annie. A. “Brian’s Winter.”
Works Cited Doctorow, E. L. Welcome to Hard Times. New York: Penguin, 1998. Grey, Zane. Riders of the Purple Sage. New York: Penguin, 1990.
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Some traditional stories are so influential, they are born again in modern-day books. Such as, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Ebenezer Scrooge lives in London in the 1800’s. He is selfish and greedy. His ex-partner comes to visit him as a ghost. He warns him that he will be visited by three spirits: The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Present, and The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Just like A Christmas Carol, How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss, The Grinch is mean. He tries to steal the Who’s, from the imaginary town of Whoville, Christmas spirit and happiness. Cindy Lou Who helps The Grinch become a better person. And of course, The Grinch’s dog, Max, tags along.
An Anthology For Readers and Writers. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. 1283-1296. Print.
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