Wet Hot American Summer came out in 2001 but the titular hot summer occurs in 1981. It’s the last day of camp and hijinks ensue among the teenage camp counselors. The film is rated R for adult humor, language, and sexual content. It was a commercial flop and did not receive favorable reviews. Most notably, film critic Roger Ebert gave the film one star. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 31% based on 65 reviews and Metacritic gives the film a rating of 42% based on 24 reviews from critics.

However, this film did receive a significant cult following after its release and served as a stepping stone for the then mostly unknown cast to become big name stars in comedy and other film genres. Some of these stars include, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Bradley Cooper, and Amy Poehler. This film breaks through the typical bubble of financial failure and finds success in its own way through the appeal of nostalgia and sketch comedy, and the power of word-of-mouth. It is hilarious. It’s one of those films that you’re not sure why it’s funny, but it is.

WHAS was directed by David Wain who co-wrote and co-produced it with Michael Showalter. This original screenplay was based off of the experiences Wain had while attending a Jewish summer camp in Maine, and Showalter had while attending a summer camp in Massachusetts. The film is also a spoof of, and homage to other films in the 70s and 80s summer camp genre such as Meatballs and Little Darlings, as well as John Hughes movies like Sixteen Candles, and big ensemble films like Animal House.

The film takes place over 1 day in Waterville, Maine, but the shooting lasted for 28 days in Wayne County, Pennsylvania. They had an indie budget of $1.8 million, so the camp facilities had to be used as set pieces as well as accommodations for the cast and crew. Many of the cast members agreed that the entire experience really felt like being at a summer camp with the main difference being that they were adults and indulged in adult behaviors. There was a lot of smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. Wain had a lot of work to do to keep everyone happy, but his biggest issue during production was the heavy rain.

It rained for 25 out of the 28 shooting days. The rain and low temperatures become a logistical nightmare for Wain and crew. Luckily rain doesn’t show up on camera unless the crew specifically lights for it, so they had no choice but to shoot in the rain. In the film it looks sunny and warm but it was actually cold, and the cast had to wear many layers of clothing unless they were on screen. If they were in a shot then they had to be wearing summer clothes, like shorts or bikinis. Some scenes were changed entirely because it was just raining too hard.

When reality hit that it would be raining every day, the shot list was cut down. They added even more absurdist humor to an already absurd film so when things happened that didn’t make sense, it looked purposeful. Examples of this include making one cast member walk off the edge of a pier because they needed him to disappear before the next scene. In another scene, a character hands a trophy he is holding off camera and it just disappears. There was a complete disregard for trying to figure out logical solutions because the crew was just trying to get their film made. In one scene, some of the characters go into town, but the filmmakers didn’t have permits or crowd control. Wain just told everyone they had to run around to different places and get the shots as quickly as possible before they were kicked out.

The kids in Wet Hot American Summer are a mix of professional child actors, Camp Towanda attendees, and local extras. The number of local kids started to dwindle after their parents realized how filthy the film was. It could be argued that the cast and crew for this film were just a bunch of kids themselves. Despite the rain, mud, bugs, and freezing temperatures, everyone took advantage of the camp-like experience and just had fun with their friends. The extreme bonding and inside jokes that formed gave the cast and crew hope that audiences would love watching their film as much as they loved making it.

The film had little to no promotion, having premiered at Sundance only days after completion. The film was promoted with a budget of $5 million in order to attract more distributers. The film was panned by critics for its loose, almost non-existent structure, its curious obsession with a specific sub-genre of comedies, and for just not being funny.

When the film was released on DVD on January 15 2002, things started looking up for WHAS despite its box office and critical failure. Wain mentions on his own website that midnight screenings began in New York and other cities in August 2003 with more increasing every summer. Focus Features’ DVD and movie right revenues were boosted as WHAS gained a significant cult following.

Looking back at WHAS’ fight against money, rain, and time, it could be deemed successful just for getting finished. Success could be also argued for the cast and crew who achieved their goal of sticking with their vision. They made the movie that they wanted to make. They wrote what they found funny and didn’t try to cater to an audience demanding a certain type of comedy. As for the loose structure of the film, it is revealed to the viewer from the very beginning, thus clueing the viewer in on how they should be watching the film. A lack of narrative structure is a post-modern idea and it is used in literature all the time and helps readers understand how they should be reading the language. When a unique narrative structure is used in film, in this case WHAS, it lets the audience know that it’s purposeful and adds to the comedic effect. Unfortunately, originality isn’t always welcomed in the film industry.

Wet Hot American Summer is proof that a film can jump through all the hoops of the industry that try to keep it from getting made or distributed, and still be successful in the eyes of the people who fought to make it and the people who love to watch it.

In his film Perfumed Nightmare, Kidlat Tahimik carefully stitched together a winding series of thought provoking images and turned them into a vehicle for his onscreen alter ego, who embodies the desire to witness the “progress” of the developing world. Tahimik’s direction is both poignant and surreal, speaking to the audience through metaphors that make us laugh as well as makes us think about how they relate to our own lives. Tahimik’s sense of humor and the bits of his personality he chose to showcase really made this film unique. His thoughtfulness paid off. I could sense how much care went into making this film for the right reasons, not to make money but to say something important about what radical imagination can teach us.

The film and its form is a story of morality and transformation, the way we harness our available resources towards certain change. The jeepney, a wartime vehicle introduced by the United States army, ended up being the most democratic mode of public transportation in the postwar Philippines. For Tahimik the jeepney is a metaphor that works on many levels as it travels with him from his home village to the streets of Paris. The jeepney represents cultural resourcefulness, a country’s ability to adapt and reuse. This idea of taking something from a darker period of history and turning it into something celebratory really resonated with me and made this one of my favorite films that we’ve watched so far.

The jeepney looks like junk. It is outdated and looks like it could break down at any moment, yet it represents the unique spirit of Tahimik’s community, and a culture’s capability to thrive. With Perfumed Nightmare, Tahimik pays tribute to the kitsch and thus balances his sharp critiques with an exuberance that tells us it is okay to laugh, to find the redeeming qualities in something that looks like junk, is fraying on the edges, but gets you from one place to another.

Although, Tahimik was disillusioned when he finally saw the developed world and how it sacrificed certain values, like traditional commerce being taken over by the supermarket, he made a film that floods this sacrifice with the rivers of possibility. He does resign as president of the Werner von Braun club, but maintains that he will continue to find his own way in life, to choose his own vehicle.

At the end of the film, he imagines the industrial chimney as a rocket ship, his own “bridge to the stars.” The last image is a stamp of him sitting on the detachable chimney flying towards the moon. We saw his frustration with the incinerators, but just like the jeepney, every scrap can generate value, can become a vehicle that crosses whatever bridge lies ahead.

Molly Gunther

Singing in the Rain is one of my favorite musical films. I am a sucker for anything with elaborate tap dancing numbers, and while Gene Kelly is no Fred Astaire, he holds his own in this film along with Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds.One of my favorite things about Singing in the Rain is the elaborate mise-en-scene, which contributes to the film within a film or world within a world theme that we are focusing on in this class.

The film takes place in the twenties but was filmed in the fifties, so the costumes are a mixture of styles and bold colors from both time periods.The costumes contribute to the narrative by distinguishing the characters from one another. In this post I will focus on three of the major female characters. Kathy wears simple and modest dresses that match her sweet, girl-next-door character. In the “Good Morning” sequence, her loose dress helps her keep up with Don and Cosmo during the dance number, yet gives her shape so she never sacrifices her femininity. In contrast to Kathy, Lina’s wardrobe throughout the film is glitzy and glamorous. Her white coat lined with fur is the epitome of Hollywood wealth and glamour in the 20’s. Lina’s costumes contribute to her interest in fame and outward appearances. Towards the end of the film we meet Cyd Charisse’s nameless character in the “Broadway Melody” sequence. Her flapper costumes are dripping with sex appeal. She exudes power as she dances around and seduces Don’s character, distracting him from his original dream of dancing.

Another example of Singing in the Rain’s complex mise-en-scene is the set design and representation of space. Just before Cosmo begins to sing “Make em Laugh” Don and Cosmo are walking by a variety of sets, including a train car in front of a moving screen. These sets are examples of mise-en-scene within the world of Singing in the Rain, and are all constructed to show the audience everything that went into the making of a film during this time. An example of the construction of mise-en-scene within the film is the scene in which Don confesses his love for Kathy. He takes her to an empty sound stage in order to have the right setting in which to tell her how he feels.This scene shows the audience precisely how mise-en-scene is achieved. Don pieces together the mise-en-scene of a film that would have a romantic theme. He tells her to stand on a ladder in front of the painted backdrop of a sunset. Don puts together all the elements, the moonlight (a purple spotlight), the stardust (more lights), and the summer breeze (a giant fan).

The most impressive instance of the film’s mise-en-scene is the “Broadway Melody’ song and dance sequence. The scene takes place within Don’s imagination and is purposefully filled with over-the-top lighting and costumes. When Don sees Cyd Charisse’s character for the second time, his imagination wanders to an ideal non-space, which resembles the space he created with Kathy. Here they share a romantic dance number. Now we are three layers deep in the mise-en-scene. Once again the main components that stand out here to me are the costumes. Charisse is wearing a beautiful white dress with a long piece that flows as she dances, and Kelly is dressed in all black.The contrast between the colors shows the divide between them, and visually, looks incredible.

Every time I watch this film, I am amazed by it’s construction and costumes. I am also filled with regret that I never learned to tap dance.