Week 30: Napoleon Dynamite

Dear Avid Reader,

Spring is kinda cool. I don't know why.

I just like it.

Since When, Kip? You Have The Worst Reflexes Of All Time.

Back in the early part of the 2000's, Netflix wanted to improve their recommendation algorithm. That's the program that tries to guess if someone will like Movie A based on how well they liked Movie B. Netflix even offered a million dollars to the programmer who could do it. But eventually they all ran into the same problem.

The Napoleon Dynamite Problem.

Do The Chickens Have Large Talons?

The Napoleon Dynamite Problem is the inability for software to predict if someone will like certain movies. Fahrenheit 9/11, Lost In Translation, and I Heart Huckabees are other flicks that also have the same problem. All these movies illicit a strong response, either love it or hate it, and no amount of data gathered can determine which side of the fence a viewer will fall.

It's fascinating to me that there are movies like this. With this knowledge of the NDP, I have a better understanding of why I argue with friends over the merits of some movies. But I do not understand one thing. Why wouldn't anyone like Napoleon Dynamite?

I've talked with friends and I have encountered a few common complaints. So as we go through this essay, know that I am not inventing straw men here. These are actual arguments that I have had with people. Quit being so cynical.

Pedro Offers You His Protection

First, there is a perception that there is no plot to Napoleon Dynamite. I find this to be laughable. It is a classic coming of age story where a boy tires to make friends in the hostile environs of high school. It also has a "boy gets girl" arc between Deb and Napoleon. There is just as much story here as there is in any romantic comedy. You could call it a less raunchy Revenge of the Nerds that doesn't suck like Revenge of the Nerds III did.

There are plenty of things going on in the film in addition to Napoleon's quest for acceptance. There is Kip and Uncle Rico scheming along the edges of the main story. Kip's romance with Lafawnda and Pedro's presidential campaign are also occurring in the background. So don't tell me there is no plot. There is plenty of plot. But I think folks are actually referring to the pace of the movie when bitching about the plot. And that brings us to number two...

You Ever Take It Off Any Sweet Jumps?

Some of my friends seem to think that the movie is too slow. Now, I understand that the film doesn't have a fast pace and that bores some folks, but I find it tragic that the film is blamed and not the viewer. What is perceived as an accidental sluggishness, I feel, is an intentional directorial move.

In Lawrence of Arabia there are lots of sections where little happens on screen, but this is to emphasize the vastness of the desert and the scope of Lawrence's vision. The same kind of technique is employed here. The pauses, to me, are fascinating, revealing the loneliness of the main characters. The slow pace gives us a glimpse as to how time feels to the ostracized. Get out of your comfort zone people. Not every movie needs to be loaded with explosions. I mean didn't anyone else like Rushmore?

Too Bad, She Said She Doesn't Want You Here When She Gets Back Because You've Been Ruining Everybody's Lives And Eating All Our Steak

Finally, and probably the most frequent critique, is that the viewer doesn't "get it" or they find the movie totally unfunny. While this is the most difficult complaint to respond to, I also think it is the most valid. It also hints at the essence of the Napoleon Dynamite Problem. See, I cannot argue taste or humor. A person either fundamentally has taste or they don't. They are either funny or they are not. There is no escape.

I would like to use a scenario as an example here. There is a person telling a joke to an audience. After the punchline, a few of the audience members laugh out loud, amused fully in the hilarity of the joke. A few audience members are confused by the joke's premise and ask for further explanation. The bedraggled comedian humors them and the rest of the audience groans as the comedian begins, clearly frustrated at the confused audience members. After the explanation, the confused members give a sigh of understanding and then immediately declare the joke to be unfunny, blaming the comedian's delivery or writing. The rest of the evening is spent in awkward suspicion.

That Suit, It's...It's Incredible

The explanation of humor has never, and will never end well. You either get a joke or you don't. Teh same is true here. For whatever reason, some folks get this movie. I think it is a person that has experience at some point in their life a level of being a true outcast. Being socially isolated changes a person. Time moves as slowly as the pauses in Napoleon Dynamite. And a nerd doesn't know how to interact with anyone, so the relationships they do have are wonky and off-balance. Just like Napoleon's. And his gropes to find equilibrium are so close to reality that it at times feel like it's a documentary.

To have to walk around in this world may seem strange to those who are unfamiliar. It must feel like the gravity has been changed, or that the ground shifts as they walk around. But for those who have lived in the world of the shunned, it's like riding a bike. Long gone is the nausea, replaced with a sense of comfort, of familiarity, of home.

Welcome home my fellow geeks. Welcome home.

Until Next I Blog,

James