Happy Gilmore

Movie:  Happy Gilmore
Grandma Role:  Grandma
Played By:  Frances Bay
Salient Grandma Trait:  Motivation

“Happy Gilmore” is an Adam Sandler vehicle made way back when Sandler was still in comedy.  It is one of few movies in which the central plot is set in motion by a Grandma character.  That Grandma character’s name: Grandma.  Trust in Sandler to always keep it simple.

In this movie Frances Bay plays Grandma to Sandler’s Happy Gilmore.  While Sandler’s comedic exploitation of the elderly – spanning 20 years from “Memory Lane”, a track on his 1996 comedy album, to 2016’s Netflix Original “The Do-Over” – typically borders on gerontophilia, Happy’s relationship with Grandma can almost be described as healthy and normal.

Grandma is a kind, gentle woman who raised Happy during his formidable years and suddenly finds herself without possessions or even a home due to unpaid taxes.  Happy takes it upon himself to get her life back, which in turn forces him to get his own life in order.  Cue the chuckles.

Happy, like most of us, is lazy.   And though he might take being lazy further than the average person, we can identify with his initial desire to get the most out of doing the least.  So what could cause Happy (and us) to sacrifice finite energy and resources on anything outside of satisfying the very basic of needs?  Motivation.

Motivation is often difficult to obtain.  There are very few self-starters.  I for one write for and edit this website at 5 o’clock in the morning before I go to work.  My motivation is nothing lofty like a love of the written word.  Far from it.  My motivation is the chocolate chip muffin I allow myself to eat if I get up.  Too tired to get up and write?  No muffin.  If I know I’ve depleted my muffin supply I won’t get out of bed.  They’re motivational muffins.  I write for the muffins and only for the muffins.  But there is a problem with this type of motivation.

Motivation, as a force, is exerted by either a push or a pull.  If you have ever tried to move a heavy object you’ll know that a push is usually stronger than a pull; you can put your weight behind it and apply steady pressure.  Muffins, like money, are a motivational pull.  You are drawn toward them.  Motivating pulls are fleeting, like the jerking movements you make when trying to pull that heavy object.  Grandma in “Happy Gilmore” motivates Happy with a push.  And not just any push – one of the strongest.  Family in need.

Family and friends push you to succeed.  They stand with you and provide unconditional love and support.  In return you do whatever you have to do to make them comfortable and content.  You put their needs before your own.  Grandma never asked Happy for help but she would never have to.  When a family member is in need you automatically sprint into action.  You are pushed.  You are motivated.

We can all retreat to our natural lazy states and satisfy the bottommost rung of the needs hierarchy by ourselves.  But to achieve higher levels, to find meaning, most of us need a little help.  In the end Happy was a changed man; he found what he was meant to do.  But the metamorphosis was only possible through the motivation supplied by Grandma.

We all need to find what motivates us.  A pull can be a start but it will only get you so far – the satisfaction of a morning muffin will expire.  We need to find our Grandmas.