Meaningful Comedy in the Royal Tenenbaums

I defend the idea of an Aristotelian comedy as a meaningful art form.

In order to further elaborate on this statement, I will use the movie "The Royal Tenenbaums" by Wes Anderson as an example of a long-term comedic work. The Royal Tenenbaums is an absolutely fabulous movie from 2001, and is a comedy/drama film. The film revolves around an eccentric family, including most notably three uniquely gifted children, and their weird father. The film follows these children through their disappointing and at most times absurd failures and trials in life and how they navigate their complex and messy family life.

This comedic work is a great example of why comedy is so important as an art form. Although this movie uses mostly ironic and absurdist humor, its message is ultimately one to be taken seriously. The movie endeavours to show the reader that our lives will never be as perfect or as successful as we envision them, and our perfect fairytale endings that we may want are not always what is right for us in the end. The movie also dwells on the fact that it is important to not take things so seriously. For instance in the movie, the father Royal Tenenbaum is clinging on to the idea that his estranged wife might still want him back. Eventually through a series of absurdly funny tragedies, Royal realizes that he needs to let his wife go. One of the younger Tenanbaums ends up marrying his adoptive sister, which while comedic and absurd, shows that we need to step out of the box sometimes in life to get the ending or the happiness we desire. The film also urges us to confront our failures in life with humor and the ability to move on in many instances. For example, one of the daughters, Margot hides her past and her smoking from her neurologist husband which she views as faults, but this changes in the end when Margot ultimately decides to pursue her adopted brother for true love. In a more dramatic example, Royal never really connects and gets the family he so desperately wanted at the beginning of the movie but like most things in the movie, he moves on by divorcing his wife and accepting his fate.

Although comedy may convey life lessons or important messages in silly ways, the message is no less important.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in Wes Anderson films in general or absurd or ironic humor,