Everyman. It's a buzzword that rings from Medill lecture halls to the pages of Assistant Professor Michele Weldon's latest book, "Everyman News," the index of which I helped write. In short, this phenomenon embodies a shift in the mass media from hard news to features and narrative storytelling - letting the little guy, the everyman, tell the big story.
But this movement is not limited to the realm of journalism. The world of comedy is now also being ruled by the everyday, normal guy.
The little man leading the everyman surge in Hollywood is writer/director/producer Judd Apatow. Apatow, a smallish, goofy guy from New York, has created a comedic empire by telling the heartfelt, if not pathetic, stories of the Average Joe.
Apatow's first breakthrough hit, "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," told the hilarious but lovable story of an awkward adult dealing with the pressures of virginity. In the summer blockbusters "Knocked Up" and "Superbad," Apatow's everymen had to deal with an unexpected pregnancy and trying to score booze for a high school party. Though chock full of adolescent hilarity and at times shocking vulgarity, Apatow's comedies tell realistic stories and strike important chords of true love and friendship.
This year, with movies about high school bullying in "Drillbit Taylor," stoner hijinks in "Pineapple Express," and breaking up in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," Apatow will again let the little guys tell the bigger stories and secure his comedic brand as the new standard for the genre.
And now, in the age of YouTube, Apatow is inspiring a generation of amateur filmmakers to share their funny stories with the world. Partnering with Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, he is involved with the comedy video Web site funnyordie.com. On Funny or Die, users can post their videos on the same pages where industry professionals put their own clips. Anybody registered on the site can rate a video as either "Funny" or "Die." The beauty of the site is that nobody's work can avoid scrutiny - an Apatow video may very well receive a lower score than something your roommate just posted. The site's audience of everymen and everywomen get the final say.
In this way, Funny or Die translates the appeal of Apatow's films to its Web site, engaging regular people with Hollywood big shots. It gives industry professionals the opportunity to interact more intimately with their fans and receive feedback on their unfiltered work, while at the same time offering Average Joes the chance to share their work with the pros. It is a video forum where the line between Hollywood professional and amateur filmmaker is blurred every time a new clip is posted.
Thanks to Apatow, comedy has become less about whizzes, bangs, and punch lines and more about creatively weaving comedy and reality in the stories of the everyman. And through new media, now anyone has the opportunity to share the comedy of their lives with the world. Apatow is an everyman of comedy, and you can be too.
Medill sophomore Nick Weldon can be reached at n-weldon@northwestern.edu.
Be the first to comment on this article!