Arthur
The movie ‘Arthur’ is a comedy classic.
To understand why this film, written and directed by Steve Gordon, remains as enjoyable today as it did during its theatrical release in 1981, I’m going to analyze the film’s story according to Steve Kaplan’s ‘The Comic Hero’s Journey’.
‘Arthur’ features the English comedian Dudley Moore playing the role of the film’s lead, Arthur Bach. It’s Moore’s charming delivery that carries the film as he delights the screen with his hilarious performance of an aristocratic playboy who’s gifted with biting wit as well as an unquenchable thirst for alcohol-fueled mischief.
Although the movie centers around Moore as a falldown-drunkard, this character trait isn’t the true focus of the story. This is a particularly important distinction to recognize upfront before analyzing the film. The story of Arthur is not the story of an alcoholic. If it were we’d be watching an entirely different film. One where Arthur dodges AA meetings, stumbles his way through field sobriety tests, gets locked up for public intoxication, finds a higher power only to spend his remaining years drinking copious amounts of coffee and going bird-watching. You know, the 12-step people.
Instead, the characteristic of Arthur worth your consideration is that of infinite adolescence. He’s a grown-up manchild. He drinks a lot, yes, but he also plays with toy trains, takes bubble baths, and can’t understand why people are unhappy in the workplace. He’s an emotionally stunted middle-aged man who‘d inherited millions of dollars upon birth and has never been forced into circumstances that shape adults out of the majority of us.
A similar comic flaw can be seen in Steve Carroll’s character in ‘The 40–Year Old Virgin’. In that film Carroll plays the character ‘Andy’ who lives in arrested development due to having never been in a physical relationship with a woman. Although the Andy and Arthur characters exhibit two dissimilar surface worlds (shy introvert vs. millionaire womanizer) it’s their shared reality as perpetual juveniles which make them perfect candidates to take the Comic Hero’s Journey.
Normal World
The Normal World of the Comic Hero is where we find our protagonist living in a tragically flawed state. The main difference between the character and the audience (you and I who happen to be watching the film) is that we’re the only ones who seem to be aware of this.
When we first meet Arthur he’s comfortably cruising through the streets of New York City in the backseat of a luxury vehicle driven by his chauffeur, Bitterman. Having already drowned himself in alcohol for the evening he instructs Bitterman to pull over the limousine in order to chat up a pair of prostitutes.
Arthur then badgers the working girls with a series of caustic, witty remarks.
PROSTITUTE
What’d you have in mind?
ARTHUR
VD. I’m really into
penicillin.
Although we’re not fully introduced to Arthur quite yet we’re able to witness him engaging in flawed relationships. His goals are short-sighted and headed toward a future of loneliness and remorse. Anyone who’s spent an evening out picking up hookers can attest to that. And even those of us who haven’t can still clearly see that Arthur is someone who’s in dire need of a life-altering course correction. Its only Arthur who can’t. To him, life is going wonderfully.
Although Arthur is content with spending his evenings paying for sex and drinking himself into a stupor, there’s one specific piece of dialogue that lets us peek behind the curtain and see just how he feels deep down. In what Kaplan refers to as the ‘Mask to Mensch’ moment we’re allowed a brief, momentary glimpse of the Comic Hero showing his truest feelings.
While peppering the girls with one W.C. Field’s-like insult after another, we get a sneak peek at the man hiding behind the childlike veneer:
ARTHUR
Actually, what I had in
mind was spending the
evening with a stranger
who loves me.
Later in the Normal World we learn more about Arthur. We discover that he’s infamous around New York for being a playboy, constantly showing up in the gossip pages for his recklessness. We also learn that he’s inherited his fortune from his ultra-elite aristocratic family, who wish for him to marry a girl named Susan who comes from an equally wealthy family.
WTF
In the WTF moment, the Comic Hero is invited to go somewhere or do something that eventually leads them onto their Journey.
Normal World Arthur has no intention to marry Susan. Although he’s dated her on occasion he feels no compulsion to settle down and become a model husband. It’s only when his Father threatens to cut him off from the family’s abundant money supply that Arthur backtracks and agrees to go ahead with the arranged marriage.
While shopping for clothes in preparation for the wedding, Arthur meets Linda. She’s a struggling actress from Queens who works part-time as a waitress. They make a date for the following evening, go to dinner, and play videogames at the arcade. Everything seems to be going well for the playboy except there’s just one problem: he begins to fall in love with her.
This is the WTF moment where the Comic Hero is confronted with an impossible or highly improbable moment. For Arthur, the question isn’t “how do I woo this girl with my money” but rather “how does one manage the feeling of being in love?” It’s a question that requires more soul-searching than our perma-youth protagonist has ever had to deal with, and that’s the question Arthur has to answer even though he lacks many, if not all of, the skills required to do so.
Not to mention there’s the fact that he stands to lose $750 million if he doesn’t go forward with marrying Susan!
Reactions
So now our Comic Hero is in quite a bind. On one hand, Arthur has never been in love and now that he is he’s not sure what to do. On the other hand, he’s never worked a day in his life and has no idea how to live without money.
If this were a Drama we‘d believe it if our Hero were to forego his financial worries and go boldly chase after the girl of his dreams, knocking down each and every obstacle preventing him from capturing true love. But that sounds more like the story of Jack Dawson in the movie Titanic, not our bumbling drunkard.
Arthur is someone who behaves just like us, as a flawed human being…
…and Titanic is a terrible damned lie.
In Reactions, our Comic Hero does what most of us do when we’re thrust out from our comfort zone: we attempt to immediately race back into it. The first thing Arthur does is to seek out his Grandmother’s council hoping that she’ll provide him with some sort of way out. So what is her advice for helplessly our lost lover?
MARTHA
Marry Susan and cheat with
the nobody from Queens.
Not the most Grandmotherly piece of wisdom ever but for Arthur this seems to be the most logical thing for him to do in his desperate attempt to return to the Normal World. In the next scene he calls Linda to inform her that he’s engaged to Susan and that he plans on going through with the marriage.
Another thing that happens in Reactions is when our Comic Hero develops new skills in an effort to deal with their new reality. Case in point, Arthur has a chat with his sharp-tongued Butler, Hobson, who has a few unkind words to say about Linda.
Arthur’s response? He defends her honor.
ARTHUR
Listen old man, don’t ever
talk about her that way
again. She’s the best
person I know. Goddamnit,
why are you such a snob?!
He then apologizes for being rude.
Hobson’s reply?
HOBSON
That’s quite alright. You
know you may be growing up.
And I’m sorry for what I
said about Linda.
Although Arthur is engaging in full retreat toward the Normal World he’s begun to find himself behaving in new, unfamiliar ways. It seems as though the playboy has finally found the one girl who motivates him to become a mature adult.
It also just so happens to be a different woman than the one he plans to marry.
Connections
Still intent on moving ahead with the arranged marriage, Arthur has a man-to-man talk with Susan’s Father, Burt.
BURT
Do you know what I consider
to be my most precious
possession? My daughter. She
is my gold. She is my
treasure. And I protect
what’s mine, and I do it in
an ugly way.
In Connections, people begin to speak to each other truthfully for the first time. The flawed and empty relationships of the Normal World slowly begin to take root in something more tangible. Take for instance the character of Susan who we meet for the first time as she pours her heart out to Arthur over dinner.
SUSAN
I know how alone you are.
I hate how alone you are.
I’ve cried because you’re
so alone. Don’t be afraid,
Arthur. You’re never going
to be alone again.
As Susan waits idly, hoping for her affection to be reciprocated, Arthur can’t seem to do anything but pour copious amounts of alcohol down his gullet. She responds to his emotional absence by confronting him about his alcoholism.
SUSAN
A real woman could stop
you from drinking.
ARTHUR
It’d have to be a real
big woman.
The dinner date winds down with Arthur doing everything he can think of to delay his proposal to Susan. First he calls her an asshole and then asks if she’d be opposed to naming their daughter Vladimir. When none of this deters Susan he presents her with an engagement ring.
ARTHUR
Will you marry me Susan?
Take the weekend if you
want.
SUSAN
Yes!
ARTHUR
Congratulations.
Connections are made when the conventions of the Normal World are stripped away and transformation begins. Now we start to notice a house divided between those who demand things of Arthur which only benefit their own selfish needs and those who act according to Arthur’s true benefit.
For instance, Linda receives an unexpected visit from Hobson. The astute Butler, recognizing that Arthur’s true happiness lies in a future with Linda, presents her with an invite to Arthur’s engagement party.
LINDA
You really look out for
him, don’t you?
HOBSON
Yes, and it is a job
that I recommend highly.
Elsewhere in Connections, Arthur and Linda sneak away from the engagement party and into a horse stable so they can speak candidly to one another. There’s a moment where Arthur acts upon his Grandmother’s advice and explores the idea of putting Linda up in an apartment. But on second thought he waves off the whole idea. Things between him and Linda aren’t meant to be and they both know it.
LINDA
I wish we would’ve made
love.
ARTHUR
Yeah.
LINDA
I’d give anything to see
you in the morning.
New Directions
Just before the wedding, Hobson is hospitalized with a terminal illness. When Arthur learns that his faithful Butler has little time to live he postpones his wedding in order to spend night and day to provide Hobson with bedside manner. He reads Shakespeare to him, serves him meals, and reminisces about playing hide-and-seek together when Arthur was a small child.
This is more than just a simple role-reversal. Arthur isn’t merely Butlering his Butler, he’s finally taking practical steps toward maturity, putting aside his immediate self-satisfaction to show that he’s capable of taking care of someone else.
The infinite adolescent is becoming an adult.
Disconnections
The worst possible situation unfolds before our Comic Hero just as he’s within striking distance of becoming a true Mensch. Hobson passes away.
The death of Hobson signals the loss of the only true friend that Arthur has ever had. He discovers true loneliness. To grieve, he sits in Hobson’s former bedroom for quiet contemplation and then plays a one-sided game of chess. Then, in true Arthur Bach fashion, it’s off to the bar for drinks!
Arthur continues to soothe his woes by yakking it up with a barfly much like himself. There’s a bit of small talk, a few lies are told, the usual circumstances between two drunks. Somewhere in the midst of the discussion a heavily inebriated Arthur begins to spin his lies into truths. The concoction of liquid courage and a dose of Hobson’s memory stimulates a moment of clarity for our Comic Hero. He decides that he cannot marry a woman he doesn't love. He won’t marry Susan.
He wants to marry Linda and he’s ready to risk it all for love.
Race To The Finish
The wedding day is finally here! But before his arrival at the Church, Arthur makes a pit-stop into a Queens diner to see Linda.
ARTHUR
Hobson died.
LINDA
I know, he loved you very
much, you know that?
ARTHUR
Yeah, I think I’ll grow up.
I wanna marry you, although
I’m supposed to marry Susan
in twenty minutes.
A second marriage proposal is made over the deli counter. Linda says yes. Then the two lovers rush off to the Church to tell everyone the good news.
The Comic Hero’s Journey comes to its conclusion as self-actualized Arthur tells Susan that he’s in love with Linda. He attempts to apologize but winds up receiving a beating from Susan’s Father instead. Consider it a small price to pay for finding true happiness.
After taking his lumps, Arthur takes to the altar to alert the rest of the wedding party that the wedding is off. Then he promptly collapses on the stage from his injuries.
Restorations & Celebrations
Having achieved his true goal of finding someone to love, Arthur wakes up to an empty church with Linda seated beside him on the altar. She applies iodine to his wounds causing Arthur to wince. Although there’s no wedding to be had (on this day at least) the two already seem to behave much like an old married couple.
LINDA
Look as long as we’re here
do you promise to love me,
and obey me, and be a good
boy?
ARTHUR
I do. And do you promise
to never put that stuff
on my face again?
LINDA
I do.
ARTHUR
Oh god, we’re gonna be
great.
The two exit the Church planning to live out the rest of their days as a poor, working-class couple who’ll need to scrape and save every dime just to make end’s meet.
However, Arthur’s Grandmother has had a change of heart and decides to let Arthur keep his money. Arthur accepts, doubles Bitterman’s salary, and takes another joyride ride through the streets of New York.
Only this time it’s with the love of his life by his side.
