The Value of Laughter
The lesson that the director of fluffy Hollywood comedies named Sullivan learns at the end of his travels is that making people laugh is important. Especially during times when there is very little that seems funny. The director starts out wanting to make a serious movie about the state of the Everyman during the Great Depression, but he comes to learn that the one thing every man (and woman) has in common is the need to laugh.
The Social Dimension of Income Equality
The rich director’s makes a couple of attempts at going undercover to learn what life is like for the average Joe and each attempt is thwarted by his the effects of his own alienation from the reality of what life is like for those not rich and famous. The film satirizes the director’s foolish assumption that he can have any idea what life among the poor and downtrodden is like merely by living among them while secure in the knowledge that just one phone call can save him from a disastrous situation. In doing so, this comedy reveals that the income gap between the rich and poor is about far more than the amount of money in the bank.
Know Thyself
Identity is also a central theme at stake in the travels undertaken by Sullivan. Sullivan views his plan to mix incognito among the downtrodden as a journey toward understanding others, but it is really a journey away from understanding himself. Sullivan has become discontented with his view of himself as a man who gets rich making movies of no consequence. The aim of his travels is to prove himself a man of consequence by gaining a better understanding of his fellow man in order to make a movie that others takes seriously. Only by trying to get away from who he is really is does Sullivan ultimately come to understand that he makes the movies he makes for a reason: because that who he is. And he only comes to realization after realizing that the movie he makes do have real consequence in people’s lives.
