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A Laughable Journey
Movie

A Laughable Journey

1964 • Unknown

Woke Score
2
out of 10

Plot

Overall Series Review

The film, identified as the 1964 American black comedy *What a Way to Go!*, presents an analysis of American materialism through the satirical tragedies of its protagonist, Louisa Foster. The entire narrative is built around Louisa's sincere desire for a simple, non-materialistic life with a loving husband, an ideal inspired by Henry David Thoreau. Every man she marries becomes wildly successful and rich against his own intentions, leading to his spectacular and premature death by an apparatus of his own wealth. The central conflict is the destructive nature of the American pursuit of success and extravagant wealth, which is presented as the corrupting force. The film focuses on classic themes of love, greed, and the hollowness of fortune, positioning the protagonist as a tragic figure whose pure intentions are constantly thwarted by the capitalist drive of the men around her. It is an old-fashioned Hollywood satire targeting wealth, not modern social hierarchies or identity-based grievances.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

The movie’s conflict is focused entirely on the pursuit of wealth versus the desire for a simple life. Character judgment and casting are colorblind and based on merit or class status, not race or intersectional hierarchy. The main cast is exclusively white, which is historically authentic for 1964 Hollywood and the setting.

Oikophobia3/10

The narrative criticizes the capitalist excess of American society and the destructive nature of materialism. The vilification is aimed at the *system* of greed, not the entire Western home culture or its ancestors. The protagonist's core ideal is a 'simple life' based on traditional Western, Thoreau-inspired principles, viewing that ideal as a shield against chaos and corruption.

Feminism2/10

The female lead is not a 'Girl Boss'; her goal is domestic simplicity and devoted love. Her power is a tragic, unintended curse that makes her husbands rich and then kills them. The men are satirized as bumbling or obsessive, but their emasculation is a result of their own greed-driven pathology, not the protagonist's intentional perfection or dominance. The film celebrates the traditional idea of a loving, simple domestic pairing.

LGBTQ+1/10

The story centers exclusively on traditional male-female pairings and the nuclear family unit (the protagonist’s marriages and her parents). The narrative contains no elements of alternative sexual ideology, queer theory, or gender deconstruction.

Anti-Theism2/10

The primary moral critique is against the hypocrisy of materialism and the love of money. The protagonist's mother recites Christian maxims while being a blatant hypocrite, but this criticizes the person, not the faith itself. The overall message about shunning wealth for a moral, simple life supports a concept of transcendent morality over secular materialism.