The Zen Master joke, now it can be told.
The Zen Master joke, now it can be told.
Something not done in the movie, along with not telling the story written by Philip K. Dick.
There are multiple threads here concerning the Zen Master joke and whether it is a good joke or a bad joke. I think it is a good joke. The problem is that it was not told in the movie only badly referenced. This re-post is to answer all comers at once on this point.
The problem is that they both messed up the wording and mutilated the joke itself.
The critical phrase is "make me one with everything" which has dual meaning.
"I'll take one with everything" only has one meaning, it does not work for the joke. The other problem is that the line was not the punchline it was the set up for a better punchline:
The aspiring student goes to the zen master's pizza place, apparently seeking both nutrition and enlightenment, and says:
"Make me one with everything" (critical ambiguity here)
He gets his pizza and pays for it with a large bill but gets no change.
When he asks for his change the master says
"Change must come from within" (again, ambiguity in the meaning of "change")
Aside from the use of double meaning that creates the element of surprise that is critical to the joke, the joke also references the cunning, dare we say hypocritical?, way "unworldly" spiritual and religious authorities shrewdly look after their own worldly well-being at the expense of their gullible and submissive followers, the nugget of truth that gives it what power it has.
There is also the banana peel element. The student, possibly now a bit chagrined, has been had, having slipped on the banana peel of this situation. Mel Brooks noted that if he gets a hangnail that's tragedy, if you fall into a manhole and die, that's comedy. The student just went down the manhole, the hearer who didn't gets to laugh.
There is also a possible element of self-recognition that would contribute an additional bite.
CB
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