Humor is a good way to hide exposition. Amusing explanations are light. The audience doesn’t perceive the writer’s concern to feed them information. Viewers don’t realize that an effort of comprehension is asked of them. Yet, their attention is kept alive.
In The Martian, where exposition is almost everywhere (aerospace engineering problems, issues concerning chemistry, physics, botany), humor is used a lot.
Think of how the script explains the system NASA has engineered to launch Mark from Mars back to the orbiting vessel and rescue him. It happens through three consecutive scenes.
The first scene is orchestrated in a funny crescendo. Vincent, the conscientious mission director, can’t believe his eyes and ears when an engineer explains to him (and us…) that they are going to take everything out of the ascent vehicle to make it lighter and faster. Every part of the equipment they announce they will eliminate is a further shock for him. Vincent can’t believe they are going to take such risks. He has an increasingly scandalized tone, which contrasts with the naïf, optimistic one maintained by the engineer – unintentionally provocative. When Vincent is told that they also want to take away the nose of the ship and substitute it with Hab canvas, his irony climaxes with a resigned and sarcastic comment: “You wanna send him into space under a tarp”.
The second scene (a transition one) is about Mark’s reaction to the plan. He sends Vincent a laconic written message (the only way they can communicate): “Are you f—ing kidding me?”. Vincent does get the point, but he makes a joke. As if he was uncertain of the meaning of the sentence, Vincent starts repeating it, leaving out the “f” word, wondering about the right tone. He uses a different tone each time, as if Mark’s message was ambiguous and its substance wasn’t evident.
Finally, the third scene stresses once again the risks of their plan. We see Mark talking to himself, judging what they proposed him to do. But, here… On how the problem of exposition was solved by screenwriter Drew Goddard – this was the most difficult scene of the movie in his opinion… Well, let’s see what the author himself has to say in this great article penned by him and Kevin Lincoln on Vulture.com.
I just want to add one last observation to Goddard’s comment. In the scene there is a great line that explains the plan in a nutshell. It is when the protagonist, referring again to the tarp issue, with humor says to himself: “Yeah, I get to go faster than any man in the history of space travel, because you’re launching me in a convertible”.
Simple, and funny.
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