I am going thru the collection right now, and even though I remembered a bunch of weird and dark instances it was the end of Laughing Gravy that really inspired the thread.
As I said I remembered the boys generally being presented as living 'toons' as if made of rubber, Ollie's neck stretches to unnatural proportions in Go West; Stan's ear does the same in Swiss Miss; they get skinned alive so that all you see are skeletons with only their heads remaining; Stan drinks a tub of water and distends his stomach; Ollie breathes strenously and distends his own chest; A blood transfusion (after a particularily nasty blow to the head) end with disastrous results for the boys, etc. Many shorts do this kind of thing... However in Gravy the movie ends with the landlord commiting suicide!
I guess we generally forget this dark side and we apparently use these films as prime example of family oriented humor, and yet we deal with suicide, murder, blackmail, torture, domestic violence, etc. we have some instances of scatological humor (a bird apparently poops into their begging cup in Below Zero, as a source of humor.)
As some have pointed out, most of these movies have horrible or sad endings.
The role of the boys in the Universe seems quite unknowable, they can't seem to hold on to marital relationships (they always get wonderfully awful shrewish wives) or jobs or even material possessions. If they go into a building they are bould to demolish it, if they get a job, they are bound to botch it. If they own a car they will destroy it. Often they end up homeless, jobless and living in the streets. If it wasn't for one another they'd probably die, not that remaining together helps them to thrive. There is one particularily memorable speech that Ollie says (a mean one, if truthful) about Stan becoming an absolute nothing without Ollie.
I guess the Greeks had it right all along, Tragedy and Comedy need one another.
As I said I remembered the boys generally being presented as living 'toons' as if made of rubber, Ollie's neck stretches to unnatural proportions in Go West; Stan's ear does the same in Swiss Miss; they get skinned alive so that all you see are skeletons with only their heads remaining; Stan drinks a tub of water and distends his stomach; Ollie breathes strenously and distends his own chest; A blood transfusion (after a particularily nasty blow to the head) end with disastrous results for the boys, etc. Many shorts do this kind of thing... However in Gravy the movie ends with the landlord commiting suicide!
I guess we generally forget this dark side and we apparently use these films as prime example of family oriented humor, and yet we deal with suicide, murder, blackmail, torture, domestic violence, etc. we have some instances of scatological humor (a bird apparently poops into their begging cup in Below Zero, as a source of humor.)
As some have pointed out, most of these movies have horrible or sad endings.
The role of the boys in the Universe seems quite unknowable, they can't seem to hold on to marital relationships (they always get wonderfully awful shrewish wives) or jobs or even material possessions. If they go into a building they are bould to demolish it, if they get a job, they are bound to botch it. If they own a car they will destroy it. Often they end up homeless, jobless and living in the streets. If it wasn't for one another they'd probably die, not that remaining together helps them to thrive. There is one particularily memorable speech that Ollie says (a mean one, if truthful) about Stan becoming an absolute nothing without Ollie.
I guess the Greeks had it right all along, Tragedy and Comedy need one another.
