the comedy of disguise

8/2/2019 The Comedy of Disguise

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6 ScriptWriter March 2004

G E N R E

If ever there were a film genre that couldbe pitched succinctly, it is surely the

Comedy sub-genre included in this round

of the Film Council’s ‘25 Words or Less’initiative: the Comedy of Disguise. The

central concepts of films such as Mrs Doubtfire (1993; dir. Chris Colombus, writers

Randi Mayem Singer, Leslie Dixon), Dave (1993; dir. Ivan Reitman, writer Gary Ross)

and even Le Placard (The Closet ) (2001; dir.

and writer Francis Veber) can be summarisedin just one phrase: divorced father

impersonates female child minder so he cansee his children; presidential impersonator

takes on the real role of President; straight

man poses as homosexual in order to avoidlosing job.

More striking is that this sub-genreperfectly illustrates many aspects of wider

comedy theory and offers a clear dramaticstructure for the writer. This type of comedyalso has a very long tradition. Disguise

features heavily in Shakespeare where itdrives comedy and pathos in plays as diverse

as King Lear, Measure for Measure andTwelfth Night . But the assumption of disguise

and impersonation of those in authority has

also featured in carnivals around the worldand was present at the beginnings of drama

itself, when certain monastery holy dayswould be celebrated by the youngest

choirboy dressing up as the bishop. The

intention was never to undermine the status

quo . It was an opportunity to let off steam,have fun and parody the status quo in order

to conform happily for the rest of the year.In 1956 Henri Bergson proposed that the

basis of all comedy was the conflict between

the rigid and mechanical, and the flexible andorganic. To this extent our protagonists, the

people assuming the disguise, are the flexible,organic elements, trying to serve the rigid and

mechanical roles required by the world for

their disguise to work. As the protagonistexamines the world around them in order to

adapt their behaviour and fit in, the audienceshare their new perspective be it on politics,

family life or gender.The protagonist’s attempt to assimilatetheir new role enables the audience to

perceive the ridiculous that is inherent inhuman life. By laughing, the audience

acknowledge and accept the nature of theworld. Just as in the monasteries of old, this

acceptance is vital to the genre because at

the end of the day it is the protagonist – andsometimes those around them – who change

as a result of the disguise. The world itself isnever under threat. The status quo might be

ridiculous, but it is always preserved.

In the contemporary Comedy of Disguise,

the protagonist does not take on the role oftheir polar opposite but assumes a disguise

which has elements fundamentally opposedto their real-life persona : the freewheeling

male father becomes the strict old lady; the

man on the street becomes the mostpowerful person in the USA. It is not merely a

surface or visual disguise nor is it a completerole reversal. If the protagonist were trying to

be someone entirely alien to his or her

personality, they would never succeed and,perhaps more importantly, the audience

would not have a consistent central charac-ter with whom to identify.

Instead, this is the reversal of a particularaspect of a person such as reversal of genderor reversal of status. Their basic characteristics

– what makes that person who they are – remain constant. Dave (Kevin Kline) is still

essentially the same man whether he'smanaging his employment agency or manag-

ing the entire country. This is exemplified by

his pledge of a job for everyone when he fullyassumes his presidential role. The

protagonists are certainly flawed, but they aretrying to do better for themselves and

because of this they gain the audience's

TheComedyof Disguise

The Comedy of Disguise, one of the UK Film Counci l’s 25 Word Or Less genres, is asub- genre that perfectl y demonstrates how the conventions of a particular t ype of filmcan be analysed to enable greater understanding of what audiences expect. Simon Kentexplains.

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7ScriptWriterMarch 2004

sympathy. They are, if nothing else,

consistently self-aware.

The ‘snowball effect’ is also central to this

comic genre. A structure usually associatedwith farce, the snowball effect refers to theway in which humorous events grow in

number and size as the action progresses and

complications develop. Think of pushing asmall snowball off the top of a steep, snowy

mountain and you’ll get the picture. Whereasdisguise is sometimes used as a means to an

end or a contributory plot point –

Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) for example – a true film of

this genre has disguise at its centre and thisis the single event from which all other

complications grow (the disguise is the small

snowball with which you start at the top ofthe hill). Once the protagonist has assumed

their disguise, humorous consequences occuras a direct result and as the film progresses,

those consequences become more frequentand greater in their significance and

implications.

Finally, the Comedy of Disguise is all aboutaudience anticipation. Not one film of this

genre has made a secret of the disguise at itsheart. Trailers, publicity material, interviews,

feature articles and even film posters make

sure the audience turn up specifically to seethe leading actor play a character who plays

someone else. (Compare this with the secrecyaround 1992’s The Crying Game .) The

audience know what is going to happen andmust be convinced the transition will be

funny before they buy their ticket.

Even the simple summary phrases at thestart of this article should whet the appetite;

the imagination should already be working onthe comic potential of each scenario. Writers

must meet those expectations – and

sometimes meet them precisely and to theletter – but they must also exceed those

expectations and take the audience bysurprise. In Tootsie (1982; dir. Sydney Pollack,

writers Larry Gelbart, Don McGuire et al .) forexample, it is an expected gag that MichaelDorsey (Dustin Hoffman) will be loved and

pursued by men, but the writers top this byhaving him deal not only with such advances,

but with Sandy his girlfriend who thinks he(as a man) is being unfaithful to her, and with

Julie (Jessica Lange) – the girl he’s in love with

– who thinks he (as a woman) is a lesbian.Audience expectation is crucial for a

second reason. The audience must be madeready to laugh at the deception rather than

find it disturbing or something to worry

about. Disguise can be very dangerous and

frightening. In Osama (2003) a girl is

disguised as a boy in order to make money for

her family in the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.Detection could result in her death. The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) is a murderous

impersonator while Frank Abagnale

(Leonardo Di Caprio) in Catch Me If You Can (2002) is still a criminal even if treated with

an amount of sympathy and bravado by thewriters. In the Comedy of Disguise, the

audience expect the film to be funny and the

protagonist to come out of the experience inone piece. This doesn't mean comedies of

disguise are not without real danger and hurt:Christy (Whoopi Goldberg) in Sister Act (1992,

dir. Emile Ardolino, writer Joseph Howard) is

very nearly assassinated while MirandaHillard (Sally Field) is devastated when she

discovers Mrs Doubtfire’s true identity.The reason why these darker aspects can

exist within the comedy is because they are

part of the protagonist's learning experiencegained through the disguise. So while

Michael Dorsey's deception hurts Julie, it’sacceptable because he’s learned that he can

be a better man for her. Similarly, the

audience feel sympathy towards First LadyEllen Mitchell (Sigourney Weaver) when she

discovers what really happened to herhusband, but it does not damage our

perception of Dave since he didn't instigatethe deception and, having gone through thispain, Ellen and Dave team up to do good for

the country.Given such a strong central conceit, it is

easy to identify common structural elementsin these films. Each begins by establishing the

protagonist in their current world. This status

quo can either be a difficult situation:Michael Dorsey can’t find any work, Daniel

Hillard (Robin Williams) is faced with divorceproceedings; or it may be a relatively normal

life: Dave Kovic is a run-of-the-mill

businessman wit h a side-line in impersonating

the President.

There needs to be a strong reason for the

protagonist to undertake the disguise and aclear incentive to make the disguise work. Inthe case of Tootsie and Mrs Doubtfire , the

reason for the disguise is embedded in the set

up: Dorsey wants to prove he can find work;Hillard wants to be with his children. For Dave

Kovic, a specific event precipitates hisdisguise: he is asked to stand in while the

President meets his lover. When the President

succumbs to a massive stroke during thisliaison, the common man's impersonation

skills are required for a little while longer.In Sister Act , Christy, a seedy lounge singer

from Las Vegas, sees her boyfriend Vince

(Havrey Keitel) kill someone and isconsequently put on the witness protection

programme. There’s been a history ofwitnesses being tracked down and killed, so in

order to offer Christy maximum protection,she is given an extremely unlikely identity. In

Some Like It Hot (1959; dir. Billy Wilder,

writers Billy Wilder and I A L Diamond) Joe(Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) have

two reasons for assuming the identity offemale band players: like Michael in Tootsie ,

the only work available requires they swap

gender, and like Christy, they witness a crime – t he St Valentine’s Day Massacre – and so

they too need to ensure they are never foundby the gangsters.

Careful attention should be given as tohow the protagonist’s new identity is revealed

to the audience. In Tootsie , we cut directly

from Dorsey telling his agent he will workagain to seeing his new female persona

walking through the crowded streets of NewYork. In Mrs Doubtfire , there is an extended

sequence when Daniel's brother and partner

work on Doubtfire's prosthetics which givesus an insight into the lengths to which Daniel

will go to see his kids. This is followed by areveal when Miranda opens the front door to

the new nanny. In Dave, no physicaltransformation is required but since bothKovic and the President are played by the

same actor, there is still fun to be had whenthey meet each other.

Having embarked on their new identity,there follows a period of adjustment when

the protagonist gets to grips with their new

role. This is a prime opportunity for quick andeasy humour. Michael Dorsey is embarrassed

by sharing a room with a woman andmanages to avoid being kissed by the

lecherous, old soap opera star. Mrs Doubtfire

In the contemporary Comedy of

Disguise, the protagonist does

not take on the role of their

polar opposite but assumes a

disguise which has elements

fundamentally opposed to theirreal-life persona .

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8 ScriptWriter March 2004

G E N R E

sets herself alight while trying to cook, whileJoe and Jerry have difficulty suppressing their

male instincts given the confined space of a

railway carriage, an entirely female band and

Marilyn Monroe's Sugar Kane.This is an important part of the learning

process and once completed, the protagonist

can play their role faultlessly. But then they

take the disguise one stage further and findthey actually do a much better job than they,

or anyone else, expected. While the realPresident followed his Chief of Staff (Frank

Langella) and made expenditure cuts which

would result in the closure of shelters for thehomeless, Dave calls in his mate who’s a

high-street accountant and together theysucceed in saving enough money to keep the

shelters open. Christy discovers her Las Vegas

persona can be used to good effect in teachingthe nuns about life outside the order (and

teaching them to be better singers). Onceestablished as a regular character on her soap

opera, Dorothy Michael's inf luence permeatesthe studio. On the one hand her forthright,

no-nonsense approach and abilit y to

improvise changes the path of plotlines of thetelevision show, while on t he other, she strikes

up a close friendship with fellow actress Julie,which results in Julie gaining confidence in

her performance and herself.

A second learning process occurs when theprotagonist, in disguise, asks direct questions

of their unsuspecting peers relating to theirprevious identity. These are moments of irony

if not laugh-out-loud comedy. Thus MrsDoubtfire probes

Miranda for her real

feelings about herhusband and in Some

Like It Hot , Joe hears ofSugar Kane’s experience

of men during a girl-to-

girl chat and uses that information togetherwith another disguise – this time a wealthy

yacht owner called Junior – in order to winher affections for himself.

Another important element to thedisguise screenplay is the control of whoknows about the deceit and their attitude

towards that misrepresentation. While this isto some extent a matter of practicality –

Michael Dorsey's agent and Daniel Hillard'sbrother both know what's happening because

they helped or are helping the act continue –

having someone outside the disguise who isable to comment on or affect the direction of

that disguise helps push the plot along andcan clarify the overall theme of the film. In Le

Placard , for example, Francios Pignon's

neighbour Belone provides the inspiration forPignon's assumption of a homosexual

identity. It later emerges that Belone himself

was the subject of victimisation at work

when his sexuality became known. Thisprovides a sobering comparison to thepresent day when Pignon's actions have not

only made him more popular among his

co-workers, but have led his macho workcolleague, Felix Santini to entirely rethink his

life.Joe and Jerry are partners in crime with

their impersonation of female band members,

but it is interesting to see that when Joe takeson another persona as Junior, Jerry

immediately tries to blow Joe's cover withSugar Kane by dashing back to tell Josephine

before Joe has the chance to switch outfits.

While Jerry's actions are driven by jealousy ofthe new relationship between Joe and Sugar

Kane, there is the suggestion that the reasonsbehind this latest disguise are somewhat less

than honourable.In Dave it is clear the people who are

closest to the President know he is an

impersonator. This is not a problem, however,because the real President was essentially

controlled by Chief of Staff Bob Alexander.The one person who could reveal the truth is

the President's wife and at the start of the

film her relationship with Mitchell hasseverely broken down so she might never

realise the switch has occurred. BobAlexander's plan therefore is to maintain the

subterfuge, work his way into the Vice-Presidency, 'kill off' the

fake President and

then take the numberone post for himself.

Dave succeeds inreversing this power

relationship, creating his

own political agenda and finally sackingAlexander. This causes two important events:

it turns Alexander into Dave's number oneenemy and it secures the First Lady's approval

of Dave's presidency in spite of her knowingthe true fate of her husband. It is importantto note here that Alan Reed (Kevin Dunn) –

the White House's Communications Director – also sides wit h Dave. Having started the

film as Alexander's right-hand man andsupportive of his plotting, it appears Dave has

convinced him that a normal and honest man

as President is really something to treasure.Dave does not end with an all-

encompassing reveal to the American peoplethat they have been hoodwinked, but instead

Alexander's strategy of 'killing off' Dave and

allowing the Vice-President to take over isused to deliver poetic justice to the corrupt

Chief of Staff. Dave still fakes the President'sdeath, enabling the real Mitchell to be rushed

to hospital and the truth of his medicalcondition to be known, but rather than this

signalling the end of both the President and

Vice-President, it ends the corruption of theMitchell presidency, trashes Alexander's

career and paves the way for a good man – Vice President Gary Nance (Ben Kingsley) – to

assume power. Thus, Dave has been a better

man than President Mitchell ever was andhas removed corruption and dishonesty from

the White House, thereby preserving thestatus quo .

It is clear that Dave gains more controlover his disguise and greater confidence inwhat to do with it as the film proceeds.

However, it is more often the case that as thecomedy snowball of disguise picks up

momentum, the protagonists are placed inincreasing peril. Michael Dorsey's soap

contract is renewed bringing with it the

prospect of having to be in drag for years tocome. Family life with Mrs Doubtfire is a

dream for Miranda but it also enables her tostrike up a relationship with a new man, a

move which could destroy Daniel's chances of

Pirates have more fun

The Comedy of Disguise is all

about audience antic ipation.

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9ScriptWriterMarch 2004

being with his children ever again.The final crisis – and high point comedy

wise – is reached when the protagonist’sdisguise is pushed to breaking point. Daniel's

identity is finally revealed at the end of anevening in a restaurant when he is trying to

be Mrs Doubtfire with his family at one table,

and be himself with a television producer atanother. Christy is determined to attend a

special religious service and fulfi l her role as asinging nun, but this leads directly to the

gangsters kidnapping her. Joe and Jerry

suddenly find the hotel where the band isplaying is also hosting a gangsters‘

conference. At this point the best thing forthe protagonists would be to run away but

they are now trapped in their disguise andhave to see it through. The crucial reason whythey stay is that they have made personal

commitments as that identity which they donot want to break because to do so would be

to let down and hurt the people they careabout. This is essentially what they have

learned: other people are important.

Audience expectations may have beenhigh when the protagonist first assumed their

disguise, but they are even greater when theprotagonist reveals their true identity. These

moments must be engineered to have the

greatest impact for all on-screen characterswhile tying in with the overall theme of the

screenplay. When running from the gangsters,Joe sees how upset Sugar Kane is by his own

actions (carried out under the disguise ofJunior). With the knowledge of what he has

done as a man and the effect on Sugar Kane,

he kisses Sugar mid-song and tells her noman is worth getting that upset over. The

gesture blows his cover with the band, drawsthe gangster’s attention and demonstrates

what he has learned: that he should treat

women with more respect. Michael Dorseyreveals his true identity during a live

broadcast of the soap opera thus telling Julie(the girl he loves) who he really is, and getting

out of the long-term contract while stillconforming to the strictures of the soapopera.

Having made this reveal, all that remainsfor the writer is to provide a satisfying

conclusion explaining what has been learnedby this adventure. The only change that has

occurred is within the protagonist and those

characters closest to the protagonist. Dorseyreturns to being an actor with big dreams;

Hillard's next court appearance ends with himhaving less contact with his kids than before,

while Dave returns to his agency work. But

then we see the difference: Dorsey hascaptured Julie's heart, Miranda allows Daniel

to see the kids on a daily basis, and Dave isnow campaigning for a real political position

with the support and love of the formerPresident's wife.

The Comedy of Disguise does make for

some very sentimental films. Whether basedaround family, relationships or politics, the

over-arching theme is that we can achievemore; we can be better people and

sometimes we are our own worst enemy and

prevent ourselves from achieving our truepotential. The protagonist’s world has not

been altered by their disguise but theirattitude to the world has, and perhaps they

now have the determination and inspirationto do better. The audience should feelsimilarly uplifted and ready to do the same

within their own lives because as OsgoodFielding III tells Daphne/Jerry when he learns

his bride to be is a man: ‘Well, nobody’s perfect.’

Simon Kent is a freelance journalist,scriptwriter and director. He had asitcom showcased at TAPS last year andhis short film, The Orange Tree, wasscreened at the Leicester Film Festivaland TAPS 2003.simon.kent@ blueyonder.co.uk

P i r a t e s O f T h e C a r i b b e a n : D i s n e y E n t e r p r i s e s

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