Napoleon Dynamite

Summary Plot:

Napoleon Dynamite is a comedy about an unusual high school student who lives in Preston, Idaho. He's been teased and picked on all of his life. He lives with his Grandma and his thirty-year-old unemployed brother Kip, who spends most of his time looking for love in Internet chat rooms. When Grandma crashed her four-wheeler vacationing at the sand dunes, Napoleon's Uncle Rico came to live with them while Grandma recovered in the hospital. Uncle Rico decides to start selling goods door-to-door when he's not otherwise ruining Napoleon's life. At school, Napoleon meets Pedro Sanchez, a new student from Mexico. They become best friends and protect each other from the popular snobs, Summer Wheaton and her boyfriend Daryl. Napoleon also meets Deb, an unpopular girl who subtly becomes his love interest. When she's not working at Glamour Shots, she helps Pedro with his campaign against Summer for student body president. In the end, Pedro wins after Napoleon's freestyle dance at the school assembly that gained the respect of every one and saved the day (Napoleon Dynamite website). Analysis:

The movie has several different systems of privilege and inequality. Going through some of the main characters, I will analyze their traits and discuss how moments that occurred signify larger social issues.

Local actor Jon Heder plays the title role in the movie. His character is a perfect example of looksism, which is discrimination based upon body size and looks (Shaw and Lee, 60). To give a picture of what he looks like, he's got a red curly afro, a tall lanky body, and wears big thick glasses. He tucks his shirts into his high-waisted pants and is famous for his moon boots. His voice is low and haggard. He often talks about mythical creatures, such as the loch ness monster or wolverine hunting in Alaska. It is obvious that no one respects Napoleon. Aside from the ridicule he receives because of his name, several times during the movie it shows Napoleon getting bullied by the popular Daryl, pushed up against the lockers, struggling in a headlock, or getting punched in the stomach. He undergoes these hateful ordeals just because he's different, which makes him a target. I don't think it's fair that anyone should have to suffer like Napoleon, but acts like these have always been a very real problem. Just about anyone who's gone to school will admit that the nerds are picked on by the jocks, but this movie reveals it from an uncommon perspective.

One thing that a lot of movie-goers admire about Napoleon is that despite all of his differences, he remains unaware of them and displays remarkable confidence, as demonstrated by his dance at the assembly. For example, he sees no reason why Trisha, Summer's best friend, wouldn't go to the dance with him, so he asks her and she accepts. He doesn't know that Trisha's mother felt bad for him so she was forced to go, but it proved to him that he could be just as cool as every one else. On the other hand, why should we feel sorry towards those who are different than us? The behavior of Trisha's mother was a result of ableism, discrimination based on physical and mental ability (Shaw and Lee, 60). Napoleon isn't handicapped; he's just unique and unaware that those who are nice to him are so due to pity. There is one character in the movie who to treats Napoleon as an equal, another remarkably confident person, Napoleon's new best friend, Pedro Sanchez.

Efren Ramirez plays Pedro Sanchez, a character who moved to town from Juarez, Mexico. On his first day of school, he suffered discrimination by the principal because of his poor English. This system of inequality is known as racism, which is based upon membership to a racial or ethnic group (Shaw and Lee 60). Throughout the movie, Pedro undergoes a different type of torment than Napoleon since his family, recently arrived immigrants, are the only minorities in Preston, Idaho. There are many borderline racist jokes made about Pedro. For instance, he's the only person in school who can grow a mustache, and he has two "thug" cousins who drive a hydraulic low-rider convertible. His cousins played an integral role during Pedro's campaign for student body president, offering protection to those who supported Pedro and thus winning the votes of many geeks, nerds, and weaklings constantly picked on.

I really enjoyed the perspective this movie had, but in reality it would be more likely that Pedro would not have stood a chance against Summer. I also wonder that while some of the jokes were used only to add humorous content to the film, was it fair to do so at the expense of offending the Hispanic community? I personally do not believe that Pedro's role was an accurate portrayal of a Hispanic high school male in an all white community, but he made a good best friend to Napoleon. Pedro always gave advice and support to Napoleon about girls, boosting his confidence and encouraging him to just make his move. Pedro also exuded the same, almost naVve, confidence as Napoleon especially when he first tried to woo over Summer by baking her a cake only to be harshly rejected.

Haylie Duff plays Summer Wheaton who embodies all that is known about privilege. Privilege is defined as "special advantages people have by virtue of their status or position in society" (Shaw and Lee, 60). Summer is white with blond hair. She's beautiful, popular, perky, and a cheerleader. She seems to be from an affluent family and wears trendy clothes. Every one loves her so it's no doubt that she would run for student body president. Throughout the movie she is nothing but rude and snobby, but when her campaign is on the line, she's suddenly the sweetest person in the world. Her fake personality is as stereotypical as any "popular girl." Her blond hair is made to represent her intelligence as she provides a great deal of the racist humor in the movie. During her campaign speech at the school assembly, she openly ridiculed Pedro's heritage and claimed that the students here don't want to eat "chiminey changas" every day. Her assumptions are due to her ignorance, which I think is common among non-diverse communities. I think it was a good sign that Pedro won student body president because maybe his role in the school would further help to teach other ignorant people about his culture.

What I found rather interesting was that Summer not only produced systems of inequality, but she also received it. It was understated in the movie, but in one scene Pedro made a piZata that resembled Summer in which his supporters beat with sticks. The frustrations of many ridiculed "geeks" resulted in a classic example of violence against women. Violence against women is a very serious problem all over the world, and it is reported that a woman is battered every 15 seconds (Shaw and Lee, 424). Pedro was sent to the principal's office who disciplined him by making him remove all of his campaign fliers. For Pedro it was an awkward situation to be in because he saw no harm in making a piZata of his opponent. He said it was a common thing to do back in Juarez, done in good spirits by both opponents. He apparently wasn't aware of the cultural and social aspects that can consider this as a threat towards Summer's physical harm.

Pedro's ignorance resulted in punishment, whereas Summer's ignorance resulted in laughter. It's tough to say how this double standard was created, but it is no doubt supported by those who are privileged like Summer and her boyfriend Daryl. Those in the minority, like Pedro and Napoleon, are made to be thought of as weird and different; cast aside and okay to ridicule. Napoleon Dynamite highlights the underdog and is quickly becoming a cult favorite. I thought it was interesting to see all of the systems of privilege and inequality. Whether the writers of the movie knew it or not, they made a very good film that could easily be used to support a women's studies course.

References Cited

Textbook:

Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. Womeon's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.

Newspaper:

Cowan, Ron. "Dynamite Debut." Statesman Journal 4 Jul. 2004: D1, D3.

Internet:

Napoleon Dynamite. 2004 <http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/napoleondynamite/epk/index.php>