End-Times Emotions In Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

    Lorene Scafaria’s Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (Scafaria, 2012) combines two disparate genres; the disaster film and the romantic comedy. The psychological processes which bring out emotional responses from viewers are all at play here. The film uses music and color in particular to take viewers through the complete range of human feelings. It blends its two genres into an enjoyable experience but suffers from faults such as characterization problems and oversentimentality.
    Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is a romantic comedy whose plot is set in motion when a comet named Matilda begins to hurtle towards Earth. Most of the film’s characters react by having as much fun and getting as drunk as possible before the collision. Steve Carrell’s character is a depressed, listless man named Dodge whose wife recently ran out on him. He is having an even harder time than usual finding any sort of meaning in life until he meets Keira Knightley’s character, the vibrant and hopeful Penny. She is heartbroken at the idea of not seeing her family in England anymore and, when a dangerous riot breaks out the next morning, Dodge promises to take her to them. Thus begins a road trip of emotional growth and increasing romantic connection.    
    Seeking a Friend for the End of the World manages to express practically the entire range of human emotions in its hour and 41 minute runtime, from pity for Elsa the maid to romance to ecstatic mania at the crazy Friendly’s restaurant. How can a movie, which is nothing but projections on a screen combined with sound waves, create such emotion in a viewer? It is partially a result of psychological processes in the human brain. For instance, the mirror rule states that one should mimic visual input they see (i.e. smile if a character on screen is smiling, cry if they are crying, etc.), and the success rule says that it is a good idea to do something that was successful in the past (i.e. flinch if something on screen is thrown in your direction) (Pawloski, 2014).    
    How does Seeking a Friend for the End of the World specifically show emotion? Firstly, it uses well-chosen music. The happy or “major key” and sad or “minor key” moments one experiences in real life can be made even more emotional when expressed on a screen with the proper music (Pawloski, 2014). Seeking a Friend for the End of the World chooses its tunes well, makes music a central part of Penny’s character, and reuses songs to create sound associations in viewers. Secondly, it is almost a film split into two halves, and these are distinguished emotionally using color. The first half lasts from when the comet is announced and Dodge feels alone to right before his trip with Penny begins. The second half is the remainder of the film. In the first half, the colors are much more muted and grey, with a melancholy feel. The rest of the film has a brighter, sunnier color scheme to express the light she is bringing into his life. Two scenes that create an example of this split are the grey and hollow “party scene” from the first half and the bright, yellow beach scene from the second. The only exceptions to this general rule come at a few necessary moments, such as when Dodge almost gives Penny up.    
    Despite its powerful expressions of emotion, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World does fail in some areas. One weakness is Penny’s characterization as a manic pixie dream girl, or a “kooky, artsy... girl who exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures” (Handy, 2015). This makes sense, as she is meant to bring life and happiness into Dodge’s dwindling life. Still, it detracts from her character and makes it harder for the audience to feel for the couple. The other weakness comes from a scathing review of the film. It may be correct in saying it has “more sap than black comedy,” which is odd in a disaster film (Handy, 2015). The first half is as black as its color scheme, but as soon as Dodge gets in the car with Penny, the film seems to be trying to remind viewers that this is indeed a romantic comedy. Sappy love stories are why audiences go to see entries in this genre, but a deeper, more nuanced development of Penny and Dodge’s connection would have helped the film and added to its emotional impact.
    Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is a unique attempt that tries but does not completely succeed at blending two genres and adding something new to the repetitive world of romantic comedies. Its strong point is its ability to make viewers feel a full range of emotions, even for characters that could have been further developed. It does so through effective use of music and colors. It also seems to know what the requirements of each genre are but only provides one in each of its halves (disaster movie first half, romantic comedy second half). Still, this is a worthwhile watch for fans of either genre.
                                                                             Works Cited
1. Handy, Bruce. "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World: The Worst Movie of Its Generation." Vanity Fair. Vanity Fair, 29 Jan. 2015. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.
2. Pawlowski, A. "Your Brain on Movies: Why Films Make Us Cry, Flinch and Cheer." TODAY.com. TODAY, 02 Nov. 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.
3. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. Dir. Lorene Scafaria. Netflix. N.p., n.d. Web. Mar. 2017.