The King Of Comedy Theme

Sick on my duck

Critical Analysis of Scorsese's "The King of Comedy"

To be king for a day is the central theme in "The King of Comedy" by Martin Scorsese, a black comedy that features Robert De Niro as Rupert Pupkin, an eccentric wannabe stand-up comic hell bent on achieving stardom. Pupkin idolizes talk show host Jerry Langford (played by Jerry Lewis) the proclaimed "King of Late Night." Pupkin's goal in life is to replace Langford becoming "The King of Comedy" hence the title. He believes himself to be a great comedian telling Langford (Lewis) in an early scene "I wouldn't take up even one minute of your time if I wasn't absolutely convinced of my talent. I'm really good, Jerry, believe me, I'm dynamite." However, this is a fallacy; Pupkin is actually a 31 year old natural-born loser and
a hack, who resides in his mother's basement, where he hosts talk shows with cardboard cutouts of Liza Minelli and Jerry Langford and has absolutely no experience as a comedian outside of it.
Combining elements such as characterization, mise-en-scene and finally dialogue, Scorsese creates his theme perfectly. The overwhelming theme in "The King of Comedy" is directly stated by Rupert Pupkin in the dialogue, he says "Better to be king for a night than Schmuck for a lifetime." That theme is the driving force behind this film; mainly elements such as characterization and style and dialogue are driven to make this theme apparent. To begin to explain the theme first you must look at the characterization in the film. Single handedly it's the driving force behind presenting Pupkin's character. Characterization paves the way for other elements such as mise-en-scene in presenting the theme.
Physically speaking, Pupkin has a slimy look about himself. His hair is reminiscent of the "dippity do'ed" pompadours of the 1950's. Pupkin also sports a "use car salesman" style mustache, which only adds to his sleazy look. These elements create Pupkin and set him apart from everyone else making him the "lifetime schmuck." However here's where the genius comes in, Pupkin's wardrobe consists of mostly polyester leisure suits ranging in color from Easter blue to plaid, and to finally bright crimson. This is very important in creating the theme, and Scorsese creates the perfect image of a total loser by combining this sleazy look and hideous wardrobe. Sometimes in film a character's dress doesn't set him apart from other characters in the movie. However, in The King of Comedy" the other characters in the film are dressed in drab earth tones, and soft boring grays. This is very noticeable and visually sets Rupert apart from everyone as either a schmuck or "The King" my choice is the first one. This wardrobe choice helps to make the theme apparent on a basic level by setting Rupert apart and giving us the image of a loser. The characterization of Rupert fits in perfectly with the mise-en-scene of almost every shot in the film. Here you have Rupert Pupkin, decked out in outlandish outfits, in a world full of dull grays which create a depressing world. Scenes take place in boring "dive" bars, filled with lackluster patterns, and lame patrons, to others including Langford's bland office, filled with its monotone and boring secretaries. Even effects such as lighting and camera angles help to create this. The camera seems to always focus on the brightly dressed Pupkin and he always seems to be in a brighter light then everyone else. It's like watching a black and white film with one character in bright red. This is a great stylistic choice by Scorsese, and further pushes the theme on the basic level completing the image of the lifetime schmuck.
When talking about the dialogue in relation to the theme, it is important to look at an example of part of his monologue "You should have seen my mother. She was wonderful-- blonde, beautiful, intelligent, alcoholic. We used to drink milk together after school. Mine was homogenized. Hers was loaded". He then continues with "Once she was picked up for speeding. They clocked her doing fifty-- in our garage. When they tested her they found that her alcohol was two percent blood. They took away her license and she died shortly afterwards." In this example it is apparent that the bulk of the jokes are self deprecating and pathetic. However this is important because Scorsese is using dialogue to explicitly prove Pupkin is a schmuck. These belittling jokes set us up for the most important line in the entire dialogue of the film and that is what Pupkin finishes his monologue with "Better to be king for a night than Schmuck for a lifetime." This line is the most external proof of the overall theme of "The King of Comedy." Dialogue is probably the most important element in relation the theme because it's the only thing which overtly states it. Taking elements starting with characterization with Pupkin's look and wardrobe and moving to the mise-en-scene of the film and finally finishing with dialogue filled with self disparaging jokes, the main theme is revealed in "The King of Comedy." Scorsese uses these elements in the dark film genre to generate this theme about being king for a day.