Happy Gilmore Does More Than Make You Happy (Satire Post)

Arguably the best movie Adam Sandler has ever been apart of (this is not hard for him) is Happy Gilmore. An American classic which features an unsuccessful golf player who turns out to have a knack for the sport of golf. He is a natural talent and ends up doing very well in a big tournament against some very good golfers. What makes this movie funny is the attitude and culture that Happy brings to the golf course every time he plays. While this comedy is a fun to watch movie that follows a quirky but somehow entertaining guy smack a golf ball around, it also has a meaningful underlying message: Everyone has their own niche, it does not matter where you come from or who you are, you just need to get out there and find it.

Happy's golf play itself is a hyperbole of the transition of hockey players to the golf course. Many hockey players are in fact talented golfers because of the similar strokes in the respective sports. Many of the golfers that Happy ends up competing against are very rude, and use a lot of irony in their speech to bicker at Happy. There is one line where a golfer says something along the lines of "its about time", and then Happy overhears it and goes and knocks the guy out. This altercation is especially funny, but it is also the clashing of two separate sport cultures and how they handle their competitiveness. The movie does this through the ironic statement and the hyperbolic reaction of a hockey player.

A sort of hidden structure within the movie is the class lines that exist between Happy and the golfers around him. He is coming from a culture of (and may I add exaggerated) violence and toughness, to one of higher class, where people are more proper and are a bit mean with their words. Happy seems to ignore these unwritten rules of the golf community and brings his aggressive, violent, smack-talking attitude to the field. In the end not only does he win, but he also defeats the culture of the game. Despite his unusual ways, Happy was able to find something he was really good. He was able to compete without letting the ridicule of those around him break his hope and spirit.