{"id":253636,"date":"2021-05-19T19:16:41","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T16:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/beauty-and-absurdity-in-harmony-korines-the-beach-bum\/"},"modified":"2021-05-19T19:16:41","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T16:16:41","slug":"beauty-and-absurdity-in-harmony-korines-the-beach-bum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/beauty-and-absurdity-in-harmony-korines-the-beach-bum\/","title":{"rendered":"#Beauty and Absurdity in Harmony Korine&#8217;s The Beach Bum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Beauty and Absurdity in Harmony Korine&#8217;s The Beach Bum<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\">\n                <\/aside>\n<p><!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 3.7.9--><em>In our monthly column\u00a0<strong>Laughed to Death<\/strong>, Brianna Zigler looks at the marriage between comedy and existentialism. For this installment, she unpacks the idyllic, inane <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roach to nihilism, mortality, and the absurdity of existence in Harmony Korine\u2019s The Beach Bum.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>\u201cI could tell you that I\u2019ve been trying to cover the abyss beneath my illusory connection with the world. I could tell you that it\u2019s all written in the stars. I could tell you that I\u2019m a reverse paranoiac; I\u2019m quite certain that the world is conspiring to make me happy. All three of which are true, but it\u2019s a little simpler than that. I like to have fun, man. Fun\u2019s the fuckin\u2019 gun, man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When we first meet Moondog, \u201cthe most prolific poet in Key West, Florida,\u201d in <strong>Harmony Korine<\/strong>\u2018s\u00a0<em><strong>The Beach Bum<\/strong><\/em>, he\u2019s floating down the darkened, damp road of a night that has only just begun. Suddenly, through his eternally drugged-out haze, he notices a kitten, a pure white, little mewling thing that manages to catch his eye instantly. When no one comes to claim it at that moment, the aimless boozer takes over custody of the abandoned misfit, bringing the animal along with him to a dank, dirty dive bar that welcomes his presence with the enthusiasm of the local legend that he is. Kitten in one hand, notebook in the other, he proceeds to recite a poem for the fawning crowd about finding beauty in his penis that had twice been inside someone he loves that day.<\/p>\n<p>He recites this same poem while wearing a beautiful women\u2019s ballgown as he accepts his Pulitzer Prize at the end of the film. Just preceding this concluding moment, he is bathed in a pool of indigo light and donning a floral women\u2019s swimsuit top, smiling serenely to himself as he tries to answer an interviewer asking the simple question \u201cHow\u2019d you pull it off?\u201d. Yes, how did this once-revered, has-been poet who pisses away his money on drugs, booze, women, and all forms of utmost pleasure and filth-encrusted decadence come back from the financial and artistic brink and craft another seminal work of art? His aforementioned explanation is one that, on the surface, seems to sum up the entire anchor of this existentialist, stoner comedy<em>. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Korine, the notoriously provocative director of <em>Gummo<\/em>,\u00a0<em>Trash Humpers<\/em>, and <em>Springs Breakers<\/em>, returns to the humid, hedonistic haven of Florida and centers his seventh film on the exploits of the man known only to us as Moondog (<strong>Matthew McConaughey <\/strong>in what feels like the laid-back, dirtbag role he was always born to play). Sometimes, the character can be found schmoozing in grimy bars and fucking patrons in the kitchen; sometimes he\u2019s hanging out on a boat called the <em>Well Hung<\/em>, surrounded by scantily clad women, guzzling alcohol, playing bongo drums, and draped in a live boa constrictor. He\u2019s a beloved, native eccentric who is happiest surrounded by scum and sex, as opposed to the expansive, Miami villa housing his devoted wife Minnie (<strong>Isla Fischer<\/strong>), strait-laced adult daughter Heather (<strong>Stefania LaVie Owen<\/strong>), and their vast, inherited fortune. Moondog is a celebrated writer long past his prime, marked by his long, greasy hair, sun-kissed skin, clip-on shades, and perennially shirtless body, who thrives as a bottom-feeder in the Florida Keys. But Moondog isn\u2019t burned out \u2014 he\u2019s only ever burning.<\/p>\n<p>With its candy-coated cinematography drenching the world in shades of seafoam green, bubblegum pink, fuchsia, cerulean, and violet, <em>The Beach Bum<\/em> is saturated in color like a Lisa Frank-inspired neon fever dream. The film carries you along its effervescent atmosphere guided by the pleasure-seeking Moondog, who seems to want us to have as good a time as he\u2019s having. Moondog can never have a bad time, even in the wake of Minnie\u2019s tragic, premature death, and the loss of his financial stability, and the alienation from his daughter and her \u201climp dick\u201d husband; and even being sentenced to a year in rehab after trashing \u2014 with the help of a parade of homeless people \u2014 his former mansion home, which he\u2019d been barred from.<\/p>\n<p>Moondog has to, in his own words, \u201cgo low to get high,\u201d so, in his darkest circumstances, he is only ever reaching for the next glimmers of light. You see, just as Moondog loves to soak himself in the muck and the mud, among the salt of the earth and the saltwater expanse that lays ever before him, so too,<em>\u00a0<\/em>is <em>The Beach Bum<\/em> permeated by cynicism just as it is by carefree, bohemian warmth. Part of Moondog\u2019s monologue to the interviewer isn\u2019t even his \u2014 it\u2019s a quote from author J.D. Salinger \u2014 but that\u2019s not the first time he has plagiarized someone else\u2019s work on his mostly undaunted path to success. <em>The Beach Bum<\/em> exhibits an irreverent, nihilistic behavior that matches that of its protagonist.<\/p>\n<p>On the night of his daughter\u2019s wedding, Moondog discovers \u2014 though he had had his suspicions \u2014 that Minnie has been cheating on him with their family friend, Lingerie (<strong>Snoop Dogg<\/strong>). Moondog proceeds to get appropriately fucked up after seeing the two of them share a passionate kiss, and he vacates the afterparty. But the equally trashed Minnie, knowing and loving her husband more intimately than any embrace she\u2019s shared with Lingerie, leaves to meet Moondog at a bar somewhere nearby.<\/p>\n<p>Buoyed by her delicate voice, Peggy Lee\u2019s \u201cIs That All There Is?\u201d carries the two intoxicated lovers to Minnie\u2019s accidental demise by drunk driving. From there, we learn that Minnie had been holding tightly onto an uncanny suspicion that she would die before her reckless husband, as foretold to her by a psychic, and without Moondog\u2019s knowledge, Minnie had it planned out in her will to keep her vast family fortune from him until he pulls up his bootstraps and writes the next great American novel that he\u2019s been slowly chipping away at in fits and spurts between his various acts of debauchery.<\/p>\n<p>This throws a wrench into Moondog\u2019s life, which despite his own literary success has mostly been kept afloat by his wife\u2019s money. This has allowed him, up to this point, to indulge in the vices he allegedly requires for artistic inspiration. So, without them, he lashes out \u2014 when asked by his daughter why he destroyed his own home after being cut off from Minnie\u2019s money and their mansion, as he awaits the bus to take him to his court-sanctioned rehab stint, he replies, \u201cI dunno\u2026boredom?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He continues on his path of disillusioned destruction by breaking out of rehab alongside the pyromaniac paint-sniffer Flicker (<strong>Zac Efron<\/strong>), a vape-smoking delinquent marked by a Bluetooth headset ever in his ear, tiger-s<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a>ed facial hair, and the widest-leg jeans possible. Sometime after they\u2019ve escaped, they attack a disabled man on a motor scooter and steal his money. When Moondog exhibits guilt over their unwarranted cruelty, Flicker gets him back on track by explaining, in the only way a character like Flicker can, that \u201cChrist was even a sinner, so we clean man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Herein lies the paradox of Moondog: death, pain, destruction, and suffering follow him wherever he goes, even if he\u2019s not always intentionally inflicting it. He is constantly surrounded by morbidity \u2014 Minnie\u2019s accident, his friend Captain Wack (<strong>Martin Lawrence<\/strong>) losing his leg in a shark attack, the random acts of violence he knowingly or unknowingly commits against strangers \u2014 and all the while he can\u2019t help but feel his age as his young self clings to the periphery of his life like a ghost.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the ironic consequence of Moondog\u2019s carefree mindset, which hinges less on hippie love than negligence and distinctly bourgeois lack of empathy for other people. He knocks bystanders off boardwalks and laughs when they plunge into the water. He assaults \u201cLimp Dick\u201d at Heather\u2019s wedding by grabbing his genitals to check his penis size.<\/p>\n<p>And despite the focus on fun and living in the moment that he appears to preach, Moondog is constantly preoccupied with his mortality, looking back on old videos of himself reciting poetry and reflecting on his younger years marked by consistent success. \u201cAin\u2019t that far down if we don\u2019t look, right?\u201d he asks Flicker at one point, a serene outlook on his path towards death that still bears a distinct notion of fear.<\/p>\n<p>As if acting only as a glittering fa\u00e7ade, the funny, blissed-out, ebullient film harbors a sickness underneath, just like its perpetually tranquil protagonist. Moondog\u2019s fun-loving mantra cannot be separated from his own misanthropic malice \u2014 self-centeredness, carelessness, narcissism, and his deep distaste for his fellow man. \u201cYou know what I liked the most about being rich?\u201d Moondog\u2019s previously beleaguered agent Lewis (<strong>Jonah Hill<\/strong>) asks him after Moondog has finally sprung back into the arms of success: \u201cYou can just be horrible to people and they just have to take it.\u201d Moondog laughs in agreement.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, <em>The Beach Bum<\/em> <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nowtoronto.com\/movies\/reviews\/the-beach-bum\">has been pegged<\/a> as \u201cnihilism masquerading as a stoner comedy;\u201d a kooky, doped-up testament to our cruel, meaningless world wherein men like Moondog can skate past consequences and fail upwards on account of their perceived genius. But that read of the film feels far too obvious, and there\u2019s even a scene in which Heather says this as directly to her dad as if she\u2019s saying it to the camera when explaining to him that his genius \u2014 not just love \u2014 made Minnie stay by his side: \u201cThat\u2019s why you\u2019ve always been able to get away with everything, Dad.\u201d Nihilism is a school of thought that negates aspects of life <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a>ly held to be true, such as knowledge and existence, and holds the grim belief that life has no meaning and people have no purpose. Which isn\u2019t really what <em>The Beach Bum\u00a0<\/em>encapsulates.<\/p>\n<p>The film flirts with nihilism but is more aligned with \u201cthe Absurd.\u201d In philosophy, the Absurd refers to the clash between human beings\u2019 inherent desire to find meaning in life and our inability to do so with true certainty. Possibly the most prominent quote from famous absurdist philosopher Albert Camus is this: \u201cMan stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Watching <em>The Beach Bum<\/em> feels like a manifestation of this confrontation with the irrational, as we preoccupy and even frustrate ourselves with searching for the reason why Moondog can evade serious repercussion and thrive off his mediocre poetry, which he\u2019s twice admitted to plagiarizing. And it\u2019s not just the viewers; characters in the film are searching for this answer as well. \u201cHow\u2019d you pull it off?\u201d now feels like a question desperately posed from the audience and from every other person in Moondog\u2019s world as much as it does this one journalist. Yet all the while, Moondog is having the time of his life, and life only ever goes on.<\/p>\n<p>How can our world be so cruel, so absurd, yet conspire to make a man like Moondog happy? Why can a guy like Moondog get everything he wants and get away with everything else while so much of the planet suffers? But from the absurd is born lucidity, and in the film, it is the understanding that there is meaning <em style=\"font-size: 1.14285rem;\">in<\/em> meaninglessness. The ironic beauty \u2014 and absurdity \u2014 of <em style=\"font-size: 1.14285rem;\">The Beach Bum<\/em> is that happiness can coexist alongside death, that optimism and nihilism are not mutually exclusive, that joy can be found amidst meaninglessness, cruelty, and cosmic unfairness.<\/p>\n<p>There is no real \u201carc\u201d for Moondog. He never has any sort of revelatory moment when we witness him repent on his past behavior. Moondog stays exactly the same. He enters the film a carefree vagrant, and he leaves it in a similar fashion, this time wearing women\u2019s clothes and carrying a prestigious Pulitzer Prize. Not only does he not experience any internal emotional shift, but he doesn\u2019t suffer any retribution for his actions either. He is never truly punished for who he is and what he does; he\u2019s only ever rewarded for it. He is a black hole of consumption and greed, and yet he evokes joy from those lucky enough to know him.<\/p>\n<p>Moondog does finally put his nose to the grindstone and finishes his book; he does subsequently regain control over Minnie\u2019s inheritance. And then he sets it all aflame and burns it in the most bombastic fashion a guy like Moondog could: atop a brand new boat accompanied by fireworks shooting off in a deafening, colorful display behind him. Between Moondog\u2019s commitment to finishing his memoir of poetry (titled, of course, \u201cThe Beach Bum\u201d) and the burning of his inheritance, it might feel as if he truly has had a change of heart. But this is an intentionally misleading sequence. Moondog\u2019s decision to rid himself of the wealth he once leaned on as a crutch is less an anti-capitalist act or disavowal of his upper-class roots than another display of total carelessness. Scorched cash rains down upon adoring onlookers who are only too eager to catch some of this ruined fortune, now robbed of any value to them.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, at the eye of Moondog\u2019s storm of insanity and self-indulgence, of contradictions, indifference, and recklessness, there can be found calm. Everyone who knows Moondog is happy to have known him and to have been a part of his world, even if only fleetingly. Rich, poor, and everyone in between celebrate when Moondog reveals his sweaty face and greasy hair from out of the shadows that he dwells in. Amidst the chaos and decadence and apathy and cruelty can be found beauty and meaning. Moondog is only one man, but he encapsulates the absurdity of the human condition. The magnificent paradox of being alive. \u201cBeing a part of what you did,\u201d Lewis tells Moondog soberly, \u201cmaybe that means something now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe realization that life is absurd cannot be an end, but only a beginning,\u201d said Camus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, what a fucking blast,\u201d says Moondog, as he floats off into the ocean.\n<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/the-beach-bum\/#utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-beach-bum\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Beauty and Absurdity in Harmony Korine&#8217;s The Beach Bum&#8221; In our monthly column\u00a0Laughed to Death, Brianna Zigler looks at the marriage between comedy and existentialism. For this installment, she unpacks the idyllic, inane approach to nihilism, mortality, and the absurdity of existence in Harmony Korine\u2019s The Beach Bum. \u201cI could tell you that I\u2019ve been&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":253637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/the-beach-bum-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[73508,71064,106481],"class_list":["post-253636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-harmony-korine","tag-matthew-mcconaughey","tag-the-beach-bum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}