Adam Kotsko creates subcategories for awkwardness: “everyday awkwardness”, “cultural awkwardness” and “radical awkwardness”. For the purposes of my analysis, I shall be focusing on “everyday” and “radical awkwardness”.
He explains that “everyday awkwardness” occurs when a “person does something that is inappropriate for a given context.” This idea of what is appropriate is not outlines by any sort of written rules but rather it is the “mostly unspoken norms of a community.” In the clip I have included from Bridesmaids, Annie reacts badly to a gift that Helen has gifted Lillian at her bridal shower. This breaks the social norm of being (of at least pretending to be) happy for the person who is receiving gifts which creates a moment that is clearly very awkward as Lillian and the other guests do not know how to react to this stray away from the norm.
The fact that Annie has chosen to confront Lillian and Helen about the, what she deems as inappropriate, gift in front of everyone adds another layer of “everyday awkwardness” to the situation. This is because it breaks the unwritten rule that if you take issue with something, you should say it in a more private setting and not drag everyone else into the argument by forcing them to spectate.
The awkwardness in the scene then becomes “radical”, as Annie escalates the argument and charges outside to the garden with the intention of destroying the different food items that are out there. Annie is clearly trying to make a scene and bring chaos to this otherwise sophisticated event. Annie’s actions here make her look as though she is on the brink of insanity and her failed attempts to attack the desert items (i.e. when she tries to destroy the giant cookie but it ends up being too heavy for her to carry and she collapses backwards with the cookie on top of her) go so far outside the boundaries of social norms that the awkwardness in the scene can not be described as anything but “radical”.
Kotsko goes on to say that “if you are observing awkwardness as awkwardness, then you are drawn into the awkward situation yourself”. This helps us to understand the awkwardness in the scene some more, as everyone at the party is drawn into the awkward situation of the public fight. It also helps explain why viewers similarly find the scene so “painful to watch”. However, I do think that Kotsko could have developed the idea of why and how it is so painful to watch, rather than simply saying that people also feel awkward if they are watching an awkward situation.
I particularly liked how you showed how the situation moved from everyday awkwardness to radical awkwardness, and I think that bridesmaids is a very good way to show the social nature of awkwardness. The audience can relate to those in the film watching the fight, showing how awkwardness spreads even more.
I like your example of radical awkwardness in Bridesmaids. It also reminded me of the scene in the airplane when Annie acts in a similarly awkward, socially unacceptable way and ends up causing the chaos on board. Interestingly, when in the end of the scene on the plane, everyone starts acting crazy, Annie’s behaviour does not appear so awkward anymore.