Look on their works, ye mighty, and despair

In 2000 the American Film Institute released its list of the 100 best American film comedies of the twentieth century, and Roger Ebert immediately and rightly questioned the Institute's failure to include any of the work of the Three Stooges. The reason the Stooges were left off the list, of course, is that their work is a telling critique of the values of the far less talented stooges who make up the film industry.

The film industry is a stronghold of the religion of success, which at the moment is the central myth of North American society. The religion of success replaced the Puritan ethic, which required people to believe in a God who would reward them for their hard work. As belief in God withered away, belief in the divine power of the successful took its place.

Just inside the door of every one of the schools we go to as children is a shrine to success – the trophy case. We are taught that if we just want something intensely enough we will achieve it – we are, supposedly, gods in ourselves, who can make the world do our bidding! As adults many of us pay good money to attend seminars where motivational speakers tell us exactly the same thing. The rest of us end up surrounded by success junkies.

The Stooges, of course, are classic success junkies. They really believe that they can succeed at whatever occupation they take up – physician, scientist, policeman, soldier, boxer, golfer, salesman, and on and on. They try really hard to succeed, even running considerable risk of injury.

And they fail. They fail spectacularly. By the end of the movie usually they're either in flight or engaged in combat with their social betters using baked goods as weapons. They relentlessly expose the sham that is the myth of success.

If you know nothing about plumbing, for example, it doesn't matter how hard you try to fix the plumbing at the mansion you've been summoned to – you're not going to end up fixing the plumbing. Ending up in a food fight with a lot of toffs in evening dress is logically a much more likely outcome in those circumstances.

Among the sane, the Stooges are admired for their exposure of the myth of success. The belief that desire can compensate for lack of skill is hilarious, and the Stooges make that blissfully obvious. The film industry types who make up the American Film Institute, though, worship success. After all, who could be proud of having a success with a giant steaming load of crap like the average Hollywood movie if they did not believe that success was meritorious in itself?

So the Stooges didn't make the list. If the people had chosen the list, though, the Stooges would have been at the top. And, in their way, the successful have contrived their own tribute to the Stooges. Having fought their way to the corridors of power, they have contrived a society which is indistinguishable from the lads' own creation. Larry, Moe, Shemp, Curly, Joe, and Curly Joe – we all salute you.

Look on Their Works Ye Mighty, and Despair © John FitzGerald, 2000, 2003
For Earth Day reading we recommend the piece we published for Earth Hour.