In this blog post, I’ll examine the appeal of the school comedy genre as portrayed in the movie ‘Swing Girls’ and the structure of its recurring humor.
Before we begin
Personally, I chose “Swing Girls” because I love school-based stories. In particular, I’m drawn to the subtleties of the late teens—middle and high school—a time when, outwardly, they don’t differ much from adults but are still in the midst of growing up. There’s something charming about students in this stage of development who are easily affected by even small things and always seem a bit awkward. This time, instead of a coming-of-age drama, I wanted to watch a comedy—specifically, a heartwarming one—and that led me to ‘Swing Girls’.
About ‘Swing Girls’
Just by looking at the title and poster, you can tell at a glance that it’s a story about female students playing jazz, but one of the meanings the film directly conveys is, surprisingly, quite simple. Early in the film, during a scene where students are cheering at a baseball stadium, an elderly man shouts at them not to be afraid with two outs and to “swing.” This scene serves as a metaphor that runs throughout the entire film, emphasizing the attitude of taking a chance without fear—in other words, the attitude of “swinging.”
The most important conventions a comedy film must have are, of course, “fun” and “laughter.” Elements such as reckless behavior, forced repetition, absurd situations, and the unpredictability of eccentric characters appear as conventional devices, but in ‘Swing Girls’, reckless behavior, a sense of community, and the subversion of situations form the main pillars of the comedy.
Plot (Introduction, Development, Climax, Resolution)
Introduction: Students in a remedial class deliver lunch boxes to the school band, who had left theirs behind.
Development: During the delivery, the lunch boxes spoil in the midsummer heat, causing the band members to get sick; as a result, students from the remedial class are selected to take over the band.
Development: The remedial class students begin big band practice and prepare to participate in the music festival.
Resolution: After various mishaps and comedic incidents, they ultimately deliver a spectacular finale at the music festival.
Community Spirit and Exaggeration in the Introduction
From the very beginning of the film, the characters’ exaggerated behavior and collective movements stand out. Collective behavior refers to a group of people moving in perfect unison, as if they were a single entity. A prime example is the scene where, as the lunch truck arrives at the playground, the students in the make-up class rush to the windows, peering outside and running about in a flurry of confusion. Even the teachers get swept up in the frenzy.
Scenes such as when someone secretly eats a lunchbox during delivery, prompting several others to rush and eat the same lunchbox in quick succession, or when a student arrives late and nonchalantly washes a stain off their clothes by the river, clearly demonstrate how the film nonchalantly presents its absurdities to elicit quiet laughter.
Subversion of Gender Roles
The film generates laughter through scenes that subtly subvert gender expectations. While the male teacher leads remedial classes in casual attire, the female teacher appears in formal attire as she leads the ensemble club, exuding an elite image.
On the students’ side, one male student (the lone male) takes on a clumsy role, subverting traditional gender role stereotypes. Given that the title itself is ‘Swing Girls’, the dynamic where women take the lead and the man finds himself in a slightly awkward position elicits both bewilderment and laughter from the audience.
Key Theme — Repetition and Fulfillment
In comedy, repetition is a powerful tool. Even actions that aren’t particularly funny at first can become sources of laughter when repeated. In ‘Swing Girls’, repetition is also used as a key narrative device. The students, who start part-time jobs at a supermarket to earn money for instruments, are eventually fired due to their clumsy behavior.
Afterward, they are chased out while performing, and the cycle repeats as they practice and gradually improve. Eventually, when someone remarks, “Jazz isn’t such a big deal after all,” the film conveys a sense of fulfillment. Just like the everyday joy of hanging laundry or walking down the street—the jazz of daily life—nothing is achieved all at once; everything is gradually perfected through repetition.
Both jazz and laughter.
