“It came from the fact that the living body became rigid, like a machine.” (Bergson, 49) The 2016 film Swiss Army Man takes Bergson’s proposition of ‘something mechanical encrusted upon the living’ (37) to the extreme. Something once living, an apparent corpse, becomes a tool for the living character. The title makes this example a tad on the nose. A man turned machine in death for comedic, often gross effect. The film sees a man become machine in an almost lateral way. He performs the tasks needed of him, he is rigid, he does not have control over his own autonomy, he becomes a Swiss Army Knife. A machine to serve whatever purpose the plot of the film places in the characters way. The heart of the film follows a man, Hank, finding a corpse washed up on a beach as he is trying to hang himself. The corpse played by Daniel Radcliffe, ironically called Manny, serves to juxtapose the fear of life Hank has. The film doesn’t exist in modernity as such but rather places its characters in a situation that forces them to confront their need to get back to society and all its modern amenities.
The comedy is largely derived from the absurdity of the situation. Manny is fantastical in the mechanisms he completes. They go beyond human nature while using human features. Farting will always be funny; I don’thave any scientific evidence for this, but it becomes funnier when it goes beyond what is humanly possible. Thus, becoming mechanical? Manny’s flatulence harnesses such power to gain the ability to propel himself and Hank across water. This sequence happens repeatedly, as it is the main propelling device of plot in the film, and resembles what North suggests “Instead, the new humourists favor gags and stunts, nonsensical routines that amuse because of their inconsequence, and repetitive, stereotyped bits of shtick that spark a laugh of recognition, as well as surprise.” (9) It gets to such an extreme, that it is expected Manny will solve a problem with his farts, eliciting not only a laugh response to the fart itself but a laugh of recognition.
This section from Bergson, “And we shall experience it most strongly when we are shown the soul tantalised by the needs of the body: on the one hand, the moral personality with its intelligently varied energy, and, on the other, the stupidly monotonous body, perpetually obstructing everything with its machine-like obstinacy.” (50) Swiss Army Man explores these in a quite literal sense. Through explaining life to the lifeless, Hank explores his own soul. Manny body does not have any needs, especially at the beginning of the film before he rediscovers his hu-Manny-ity, instead he is a puppet, though not of society but of Hank’s human condition.
Just to drop one last quote “We laugh every time a person gives us the impression of being a thing.” (58) Manny completes actions, he is a thing, he becomes what is needed of him, as a Swiss Army Knife, he goes beyond the human.
I like your connection to laughs of recognition and North. Bergson’s laughter comes off as very heavy (being social repression and all), which definitely doesn’t match the delight/enjoyment of Swiss Army Man, the comedy of Manny’s utility being stretched further, and the laughter the audience gets from understanding that this corpse will keep succeeding.