The act of tussling with a broken TV set can potentially contain the primary elements of drama—but in microcosm. Person has goal (to watch TV)—person is hindered in goal (fucking thing won’t work)—person takes action (thwack the thing on its side)—person achieves goal (can now watch TV)!
It’s no wonder that TV and movie directors go to that well so often. It’s used a lot because it works.
Duncan Robson put together a truly brilliant supercut of frustrated people getting mad at technology, selecting from a wide variety of movies and TV shows. Fonzie gets his own section, as is only appropriate. The video itself mimics the process—first we get a section on malfunctioning devices, then a section of people walloping their devices, ending with—glory be!—a section of people reacting with joy once the damn car/carnival attraction/spaceship finally kicks into gear—and we recognize many of the rejoicing characters from earlier in the supercut.
The slowly crescendoing music, by Joel Robson, could hardly be better, and the selections are consistently fantastic—Back to the Future, Brain Candy, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, WarGames, and Freaks and Geeks are just a few of the ones I caught—as I’m sure you will too.
Enjoy.
