Why it’s embarrassing:
He’s the wacky, smart-alecky comic relief.
He makes his entrance in a dilapidated, windowless rustbucket, smoking from a giant bong, spends half the movie too high to tell a wolf from a moose, thinking about food, ranting about society’s failings, and then he gets himself attacked by the zombies while he’s outside the cabin taking a leak. Cabin in the Woods is an exploration of the horror movie genre, and in its analysis of the character archetypes, the other two men are labeled “The Athlete” and “The Scholar.”
Marty’s “The Fool.”
He’s the goofy friend, the fifth wheel to the couple and soon-to-be couple, short, unkempt, unimposing, the supposed romantic and sexual nonentity. Oh, yeah, and…
****Spoiler alert****
He ends the world.
****End Spoilers****
Why I can’t help myself:
He’s the wacky, smart-alecky comic relief.
By the way, here's a picture of the incomparably awesome nonfictional man I love pretending to be a T Rex:
He’s the wacky, smart-alecky comic relief.
He makes his entrance in a dilapidated, windowless rustbucket, smoking from a giant bong, spends half the movie too high to tell a wolf from a moose, thinking about food, ranting about society’s failings, and then he gets himself attacked by the zombies while he’s outside the cabin taking a leak. Cabin in the Woods is an exploration of the horror movie genre, and in its analysis of the character archetypes, the other two men are labeled “The Athlete” and “The Scholar.”
Marty’s “The Fool.”
He’s the goofy friend, the fifth wheel to the couple and soon-to-be couple, short, unkempt, unimposing, the supposed romantic and sexual nonentity. Oh, yeah, and…
****Spoiler alert****
He ends the world.
****End Spoilers****
Why I can’t help myself:
He’s the wacky, smart-alecky comic relief.
By the way, here's a picture of the incomparably awesome nonfictional man I love pretending to be a T Rex:
I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again. I’m a sucker for the funny guy. Sue me.
Okay, maybe embarrassment isn’t the right word for my huge Marty crush, since I’ll stand by my age-old class clown love to the bitter end, but it is something I routinely find myself having to defend and explain, how a character like Marty can completely steal the show for me, even when that show also includes the obviously delicious Chris Hemsworth.
Okay, maybe embarrassment isn’t the right word for my huge Marty crush, since I’ll stand by my age-old class clown love to the bitter end, but it is something I routinely find myself having to defend and explain, how a character like Marty can completely steal the show for me, even when that show also includes the obviously delicious Chris Hemsworth.
First of all, Marty is a true funny guy. He’s not just butt-of-the-joke funny; he’s a walking one-liner. He’s the guy you walk away from the movie quoting, the one you remember. He’s the guy who can sum things up perfectly, cleverly, succinctly, and has the guts to do it no matter who’s listening.
Unlike so many comic relief characters in similar movies, it’s easy to see why the other characters invited him along on their adventure, for his wit, but for more than that too. Yes, he communicates mostly through jokes, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about the other characters or take what’s happening to them seriously.
There’s a scene on the way up to the cabin when the friends stop for gas and are harassed by the creepy, belligerent gas station attendant. True to form, Marty makes a (very funny) joke about the attendant’s age, to break the tension and make the others laugh, and the attendant calls him out on it. Where a simpler, shallower funny guy character would either continue to make fun of him or slink away scared, Marty defends his comment with a dead straight face,
Unlike so many comic relief characters in similar movies, it’s easy to see why the other characters invited him along on their adventure, for his wit, but for more than that too. Yes, he communicates mostly through jokes, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about the other characters or take what’s happening to them seriously.
There’s a scene on the way up to the cabin when the friends stop for gas and are harassed by the creepy, belligerent gas station attendant. True to form, Marty makes a (very funny) joke about the attendant’s age, to break the tension and make the others laugh, and the attendant calls him out on it. Where a simpler, shallower funny guy character would either continue to make fun of him or slink away scared, Marty defends his comment with a dead straight face,
"You were rude to my friend."
Those aren’t the words of an amusing fair-weather acquaintance. That’s friendship. That’s love, courage, and nobility. A sense of humor does not preclude those things.
He’s also intelligent, beyond his way with words. In fact, all the characters of Cabin in the Woods are refreshingly intelligent, but because the plot involves some mind-altering effects, Marty happens to be the one who gets to show it off best, the one who comes closest to completely unraveling and defeating the cabin’s mystery. Without giving too much away, I can say that even though the cabin’s evil catches him stoned and literally with his pants down, the harder it comes down on him, the more it brings out of that principled courage and intelligence, without ever completely snuffing out the laughs.
But now, I’m afraid, I really have to go into another one of these:
****Spoiler Alert****
This is Marty, in a nutshell, right here:
He’s also intelligent, beyond his way with words. In fact, all the characters of Cabin in the Woods are refreshingly intelligent, but because the plot involves some mind-altering effects, Marty happens to be the one who gets to show it off best, the one who comes closest to completely unraveling and defeating the cabin’s mystery. Without giving too much away, I can say that even though the cabin’s evil catches him stoned and literally with his pants down, the harder it comes down on him, the more it brings out of that principled courage and intelligence, without ever completely snuffing out the laughs.
But now, I’m afraid, I really have to go into another one of these:
****Spoiler Alert****
This is Marty, in a nutshell, right here:
Good-hearted, brave, and still funny, coming to rescue a friend from a bear-trap-wielding undead hillbilly giant, armed only with his novelty collapsing bong.
He never loses who he is. To the end of the world, he keeps demonstrating the finest points of the art of sarcasm, but that doesn’t stop him from rising to the challenge when a hero is needed to defend the value of friendship he believes in.
He never loses who he is. To the end of the world, he keeps demonstrating the finest points of the art of sarcasm, but that doesn’t stop him from rising to the challenge when a hero is needed to defend the value of friendship he believes in.
Tell me this isn't a man you'd want watching your back when the gates of hell open.
Now, if you’re one of the people shouting for him to jump off the altar to save the world at the end, I’m with you. I think the world’s worth saving too. But if you’re one of the ones calling him a coward for not doing it, I’ll have to disagree. He isn’t. He knows he’s not going to be able to save himself either way. It’s not about him. There’s a Rorschach-esque, naïve, uncompromising morality to what he does. He refuses to participate in something evil for any reason, even to serve a greater good.
****End Spoilers****
****End Spoilers****
