How Napoleon Dynamite change the Narrative in Comedies?

Back in 2004, a small little movie had just come out in your nearby theatre and nobody knew it will change our lives forever. It was a small independent movie with relatively unknown actors and without big special effects and the stamp of BLOCKBUSTER all over it.

Napoleon Dynamite changed Hollywood… in a good way. With a budget of a mere $400,000 and a basic premise of a weird high school nerd trying to cope with his social skills in life, it‘s not as attractive as it sounds. Many years later, the movie became a cult classic. It was like they recite all the famous quotes from the movie in your everyday life, and not many films achieve to do that.

The movie isn‘t the best in terms of cinematography quality. It looks like it was filmed with an old VCR camcorder and the acting feels so raw and authentic, because most of the actors and background are basically guys hired for a casting for a small independent movie. Jared Hess later in interviews he said that he was aiming to do that on purpose, not because he wants them to become the next stars, because it was necessary for the story, to feel real and that created the tone of the movie. And let me just say this straight, he was right.

The movie feels timeless. Feels like it was made in the 70s but somehow remastered and… that‘s a good thing. Napoleon Dynamite it resonate with a lot of young and upcoming filmmakers to pursue a film career, because the director just showed how to make a movie without spending too much and saying everything in a little condesed story, and that‘s one of the greatest examples. Hollywood was used to make BIG blockbusters and movies with known tars, they didn‘t take much risks, back in the day, but now, they‘re taking this movie as an example.

The main character is a clear representation of someone who had a hard time in high school, you‘re super smart, but yet, you‘re a weirdo trying to maintain a social status, instead of being yourself. Napoleon Dynamite explores this themes and probably, if you watch it now, it can become redudant, because there‘s too many pictures out there with the same theme, but nothing compares to this film.

The picture doesn‘t do much in terms of narrative, but at the same time, it says everything. Later, it became a box office hit making 46 million dollars against a budget of 400,000, that‘s a groundbreaking. The style of humor influenced a lot of films that were trying to attempt telling a good story through comedy, and this film set the boundary of that. Hollywood tried to replicate that with known actors and it didn‘t favor them, because it takes a good story, a good message, a passionate director and your effort to break in the industry to get to tell the story you want it to be and that‘s how Napoleon Dynamite changed Hollywood.