Waiting for Guffman

  Who decides the fate of passionate person? Is it the enthusiastic man himself who create own future? Or is it an influential figure who has the power to evaluate someone else's passion? The answer for the above question might be "the both." The evaluation among other people cannot completely prove whether someone is really full of zeal. Like this, the passion alone cannot guarantee the social success. 


  In the mockumentary [Waiting for Guffman], the main characters started to have a real strong passion - performing a musical on the stage for 150th anniversary of their town, Blaine. With the lead of Corky, the enthusiasm inside these star wannabes began twisting. Corky attracted them with the possibility of their musical to become a Broadway-scale show by the critique from Mr. Guffman. So the people practiced harder and harder until the last moment. (Although they were not so good at acting and dancing.) 


  On the day of performance, finally the show started but the reserved seat for Guffman was empty. Corky calmed the casts down, believing all the Broadway star critiques are late for shows. Was he right? Soon one person came inside and sit on the reserved chair. Happy with the arrival of assumed Guffman, all the members    did their best and finished the performance successfully with the large cheer from audience.


  Right after the show, Corky took the assumed Guffman in front of the main characters, who were desperately waiting for Guffman's positive critique and dreaming to be Broadway stars. But Oh My God. The man who should be Guffman argued that his name is not Guffman. Something's wrong. At that moment, Corky received a telegram noticing Mr. Guffman's airplane was grounded due to the snowstorm (even though  it was summer). 


  What can we say about the powerful passion of main characters? Was their effort meaningless since Guffman actually didn't come at the first place? Maybe. Maybe they could earn lots of money, building the reputation in Broadway. Or maybe not. However, I think all of the performance members found their way out at last. Some became extra actors in Hollywood, and some began working as an entertainer. Someone just went back to the original life. The real important point is, that everybody anyway found the way of life, despite of the Guffman's absence. 


  The real point this film tried to make is (sure, the first and foremost one is comedy but) this: the life always go on. All we can do is just carrying it. Accept the life as itself, then it would be neither too sickening nor too sweet. (To be honest, life doesn't have any flavor at all.) Now let's answer the very first question again. Who decides the fate of passionate person? It's easy to discover the serious irony in it. No one can ever decide fate at all. Even Guffman, too.