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Simply put, his story is the American Dream incarnate, complete with all the crassness and tastelessness that is truly part of the American identity. The story of Navin Johnson, the main character of Steve Martin's movie 'The Jerk', is a complimentary story of a simple man from humble roots who endured a meteroic rise to fame and fortune, only to lose it all and find redemption at the end.
The movie premiered in 1979, just two short years after the King's demise. Steve Martin has said the whole movie was based around an old joke from his standup days, but how could he have not been influenced by the passing of one of the most bizarre and iconic stars America ever produced? Steve Martin plugs the joke into the opening lines of the movie, and could easily be mistaken as Elvis' own words:
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Huh? I am not a bum, I'm a jerk. I once had wealth, power, and the love of a beautiful woman. Now I only have two things. My friends and... uh... my thermos. Huh? My story? Okay, it was never easy for me. I was born a poor black child. I remember the days sitting on the porch with my family singing and dancing, down in Mississippi...
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The son of a poor white family living in the black section of Tupelo, Mississippi compares to Navin's situation, and together the two are confident in their own sense of rhythm as well. And then it is music that shapes the rest of their lives. Elvis Presley was the white man who took black music, shook his hips rhythmically, and brought it to the white masses. Navin Johnson was the poor black child who found his calling in a jazz standard
while showing no signs of rhythm at all, but it was the pivotal moment when he decided he could go out and be somebody:
 | | Grandma! Grandma! Look! Look at the radio! Turn it up! Turn it up! It's unbelievable! I've never heard music like this before! It speaks to me! Taj, Dad, this is unbelievable! Now watch, watch! Well if this is out there just
think how much more is out there! This is the kind of music that tells me to go out there and be somebody! | |
Both Navin and Elvis were naive mamas' boys, shy and curious with a heart of gold. Both fell in love, and both endured a fast rise to fame and fortune. While the Jerk ends before it switches into the tragedy of fat Elvis and dying on a toilet, the story arc is eerily similar. Here are some more examples beyond the obvious storylines of the two whitest black men:
THE OPTIGRAB/MUSIC ANALOGY
Navin and Elvis both arrived rich and famous by very different methods, one falling into good fortune and the other using talent to achieve his, but ultimately, its the same ascent with eerie parallels. The moment of coming into success for both men would happen when they were the small town rubes in a larger city (Memphis and St. Louis).
Elvis' musical career began when he convinced Sam Phillips to record him, and it was Stan Fox (notice the phonetic similarities) who patented and marketed the Optigrab for Navin. What better plot device could ever be created than a eyeglass holder that would mirror the King's own iconic sunglasses? |
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 | KARATE!
After Navin Johnson becomes rich, he is shown using his black belt skills when some
mobsters try shaking him down and offend his racial sensitivities. Elvis, of course, started his own system of karate - named TCB - Taking Care of Business. |  | | | | |
THE TRAPPINGS OF THE NOUVEAU RICHE
Both the Jerk and Elvis got wrapped up in one of the tackiest trappings of the newly rich - bad taste. While Elvis' Jungle Room and clashing ultrasaturated blue and yellow basement room with three tvs are legendary, Navin Johnson was no slouch in the classless department. With his Roman columned backyard, disco room and utter contempt for fashion (going so far as to literally put a feather in his cap), the curse of the fast
rising nouveau riche did not escape either of these gentlemen. |
| | | | |  | CHARITY!
Elvis's generosity was
well known, supporting a plenty of causes from polio to many varied Memphis charities as well. On the Graceland tour, its mentioned his accountant would get upset because he would write checks to help people out without balancing his checkbook. Navin Johnson had a similar heart of gold, and was particularly taken by the horrors of Mexican cat juggling. |  |
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ENDING THE JERK BEFORE TRAGEDY STRIKES
With his profits from the Optigrab evaporated in a class action lawsuit, The Jerk ended with a poor Navin Johnson reunited with his now rich family and Marie, his true love after his rags to riches tale comes to a
horrifyingly abrupt ending. Elvis' life ended abruptly as well, so Steve Martin had to find a point in Elvis' life when he came roaring back into the public eye, regaining his stride and his success. What did he look to? The '68 Comeback Special, a concert filmed for NBC at a time when Elvis had slipped out of the public eye and was largely seen as a joke because of poor songs, slow sales, and a series of cinematic setbacks. |
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| Next up:
How Navin's thermos is analogous to Citizen Kane's sled | |
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