In ‘The Zany Science’, Sianne Ngai considers the emergence of the ‘zany’ as an aesthetic category that reflects anxieties surrounding the increasingly blurred distinction between work and play in Post-Fordist, neoliberal economies. For Ngai, the ‘zany’ is an aesthetic of ‘incessant doing’ characteristic of individuals who are able to constantly adapt to situations and play a multitude of ‘temporary’ roles. The character of Tobias Funke arguably embodies this flexibility and adaptability, as his relentlessly deluded pursuit of an acting career frequently leads him to play a wide variety of outlandish characters, in order to both find work and prove his capabilities of performance to his family.
These characters often represent the ‘ambiguous interaction between… playing and labouring’ that characterises zaniness. Indeed, one such character is ‘Mrs Featherbottom’ an absurd hybrid of Mrs Doubtfire and Mary Poppins, a role which could be read a form of ‘play’, as Tobias is able to explore his acting capabilities, whilst simultaneously involving genuine ‘labour’ as he undertakes a variety of domestic tasks for his family.
However, in comparison to Mrs Doubtfire, another ‘zany’, Tobias disguise is absurdly unconvincing — his wig is obviously fake and his prosthetics keep falling off, likening him to other ‘zanies’ such as Lucy Ricardo who play their roles ‘badly’ yet with an undeniably ‘passionate commitment’. This tension renders his desperate attempt to perform the requisite ‘affective labour’ in order to reconnect with daughter, even more zany and uncomfortable for those around him.
However, despite its absurdity, the situation does not necessarily become awkward for Tobias’s family—rather, they appear to have adapted to his antics, developing a shared ‘social script’ with which to interpret his outlandish behaviour and coordinate their conduct accordingly. Indeed, his family collectively refuse to acknowledge the obvious fact that it is Tobias masquerading as Mrs Featherbottom, instead opting to take advantage of his desperation and the genuinely effective domestic labour that he provides.
Tobias’s overzealous attempts to connect with daughter as Mrs Featherbottom embodies the ‘stressed-out…desperate quality’ of zanies as noted by Ngai. This ultimately manifests in an ‘aesthetic of action’ that pushes him to ‘strenuous…even precarious extremes’, risking bodily harm in order to prove himself to his daughter. For example, in an effort to recreate an iconic scene from Marry Poppins, he jumps off a staircase holding an umbrella, only to inevitably crash into the table below. Through such absurd and ‘nonstop’ activity—such as renting a car with a conspicuously large union jack on the roof—Mrs Featherbottom embodies the ‘desperation and playfulness’ of the zany, resultant of Tobias ‘wanting too much and trying to hard’ to prove himself to his family and earn their respect.