Happy vs. Whitman

Happy vs. Whitman  

The literary talents that Walt Whitman possessed made him one of the most unique and notable poets of his time.  His poetry stunned many; people considered it to be grotesque or overly  sensual and vulgar.  Emily Dickinson once said in a letter to Thomas Higginson, “You speak of Mr. Whitman.  I never read his Book-but was told it was disgraceful.” (http://goo.gl/hp6sMp)  People had a negative perception of Whitman’s poetry, but now people see its literary value.  Still, people have unique experiences when reading his poetry.  A kindergarten witnessing his first PG-13 movie such as Happy Gilmore, ironically has a similar experience.

When a kindergartener first gazes at the movie Happy Gilmore, his mind explodes with new ideas, understandings and confusions.  The child’s astonishment is similar to the astonishment of a person new to Walt Whitman poetry.  When a person in the late 1800s read a line from one of Whitman’s poems, he or she may come across a line such as this one, “The suicide sprawls on the bloody floor of the bedroom, I witness the corpse with its dabbled hair, I note where the pistol has fallen,” (Song of Myself, Canto 8) the person is taken aback.  They do not know what to think; they stop reading because they are still hung up on the brashness of the last line they read.  Similarly, when a kindergartener hears the line, “Where were you on that one dip shit,” (Happy Gilmore) he is understandably shocked.  The child’s mind becomes fixated on the words “dip shit” because the child has never heard such vulgar profanity used so casually.  In both cases, the audience stops and thinks after comprehending the grotesque words.  Certain lines in Whitman’s poems have the same effect as various lines in Happy Gilmore.  The poetry and the movie display shocking word choice that stuns their respective audiences.

Walt Whitman was discredited for writing poetry sensual poetry that was too explicit and too graphic.  Whitman was also openly gay during a time when homosexuality was not fully accepted making his sensual poetry more questionable to people.  In Canto 11 of Song of Myself, Whitman writes, “An unseen hand also pass’d over their bodies, It descended tremblingly from their temples and ribs.” (Song of Myself, Canto 11)  In the late 1800s this style of writing was unheard of.  People did not know what to think when they read such vulgar words.  In Happy Gilmore, Happy learns how to visualize his “happy place” when he visualizes this the viewer gets a glimpse of Julie Bowen in lingerie carrying two beers.  To a male kindergartener this scene is perplexing. A kindergartener would have to question why this would be someone's happy place.  Then when the boy understands why, after watching the movie again, he is dumbfounded why the director would include a scene so graphic and sexual.

While Canto 11 is a sensual, peaceful Canto,  Canto 12 starts with a butcher hanging up his slaughtering cloths and beginning to sharpen his knives: “The butcher-boy puts off his killing-clothes, or sharpens his knife at the stall in the market.” (Song of Myself, Canto 12)  The reader becomes tense because of the quick change in moods between the two cantos.  Happy also experiences intense mood changes.  He grows irate speedily when provoked by miniscule things.  In one scene Happy goes mini golfing to work on his putt and gets stuck at hole because a clown face blocks his ball and then laughs moronically.  About 30 seconds later Happy breaks of the clown’s nose with one swing of his golf club and promptly begins yelling at the inanimate clown head.  The transition between the two cantos and Happy’s mood swings have similar effects on the viewers.

When the kindergartener first sees Happy Gilmore his mind is put in a state of perplexion in curiosity.  He thinks that he has seen either the greatest movie of all time or has seen the worst; therefore, he does the only logical thing and watches the movie after every school day to better understand the movie.  People reading Whitman’s poems are put through a similar process.  They have to read the poem again and again because their mind has just been taken to a place it has never been before.  The experience a young mind has after witnessing Happy Gilmore (never seeing another PG-13 movie before) is similar to the experience an educated person has after reading Walt Whitman’s poetry.