Many have tweeted somewhere on that hellsite about how “[Insert famous person here] could have written Hamlet, but Shakespeare couldn’t have written __”, and while this is mostly ironic, I tried to give the prompt more consideration. What could Shakespeare have written, and could this person also write his work? What I’m saying is that I’ve found him, the Bard’s modern counterpart– Adam Sandler.
In August, I embarked on a mission with my boyfriend to watch every single Adam Sandler film in existence. We’re at about 25 right now, watching consistently 3-4 films a week, in no particular order. When you watch so many of these films you start to realise a lot of things about them; similarities, through lines, persistent fart jokes. Sandler has a very distinctive comedic style that’s evolved throughout his career to become more of a conversational dry-sarcasm beyond just situational absurdity. Several of his most popular films have very similar structure, plot beats, and encouraging themes about being open-minded, family-oriented, and humble. There’s an archetype to each of his films – beyond just the comedies, which always end in a wedding or Sandler getting with an insanely hot woman (a common trope for Shakespeare’s comedies as well), Sandler has considerable capabilities when it comes to dramas – see Punch Drunk Love.
Both Sandler and Shakespeare serve a similar role of being national cultural icons, delivering comfortable, regular, formulaic stories to the public to be enjoyed by audiences of every age and demographic, prolifically producing works and gaining international acclaim and notoriety for their craft. Their work is known for consistently being money-makers, both emerging as prolific stars from young adulthood. Moreover, they all (typically) have a somewhat exciting, unique setting – Sandler loves taking his friends on all-inclusive holidays by writing them into a vacation plot.
I felt validated by others agreeing with me, but I still think it’s not enough. Apparently this take is still “controversial.” More attention needs to be put into this, I really think we’ve got something remarkable here.
“Adam Sandler at Berlinale 2024” by Elena Ternovaja is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.