MovieChat Forums > Grand Canyon (1992) Discussion > Steve Martin incorrectly interpreted Sul...

Steve Martin incorrectly interpreted Sullivan's Travels

posted 12 years ago by ccorraliza
3 replies | jump to latest

Saw STs recently and notice what made people happy was laughter. They did not wish to feel miserable or see the condition of the wretched onscreen. They wanted to be happy.

Steve Martin's character produced violent action films. He interpreted the modern action film as providing the same release as comedy provided to Depression-era audiences.

I would say that the feelings generated by humor and violence are not the same. He could have made feel good movies where people do unselfish or humorous acts or both. He elected to focus on the violence and raciness.

[–] IceboxMovies 11 years ago

I recall that in Sullivan's Travels, Sullivan started out as a maker of action movies on trains; he then believed himself to be a hack and tried to make a movie with a "message", only to realize that laughter (i.e. genre entertainment) was more pleasing to audiences, and in some ways more beneficial.

Martin's character in Grand Canyon accuses Kline's character of being nobler than he really is, that he should do what he was put on Earth to do. Martin's films may not have the power to make people laugh, like Sullivan's did, but he knows at least that his violent films entertain people (though his suggestion that his films represent "reality" is pretty ham-fisted; that sequence with the terrorists on the bus is too ridiculous for words).

Grand Canyon is, like Sullivan's Travels, an anti-Message Picture. Which, of course, makes it a Message Picture anyway.

[–] Percivalx 10 years ago

Good explanation.

Let us be crooked, but never common.

[–] rayincumbria 8 years ago

Correct, I believe it was deliberate script writing to show the Steve Martin character was not the most understanding (of people, of cinema,) person out there ..

few visible scars