I recently re-watched Wayne’s World and it brought back a lot of fun memories. It got me thinking about another cinematic pair of rockers: Bill and Ted.
I was tempted to compare the two duos. After all, Bill and Ted and Wayne and Garth have a lot in common:
- They are would-be rockers who film themselves in their parents’ garage/basement.
- One has black hair and the other has blond hair.
- They share a similar vernacular, including such phrases as, “Party on,” “Excellent,” No way,” and “Bogus.”
- They date girls who are way out of their league (and/or century).
- They each had two movies that end in chase scenes and some type of performance at the end.
- In both duos, one actor went on to have a successful acting career (Keanu Reeves/Mike Myers) while the other fell into relative obscurity (Alex Winters/Dana Carvey).
But there is something about the very nature of these films that clearly differentiates them: the Bill and Ted movies are satires while Wayne’s World and its sequel are parodies.
Some might think that because of the shallow and stupid nature of the main characters, these films are completely silly and not worthy of any type of critical analysis. I beg to differ. I’ve already shown how Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is an example of cinematic chiasmus. That, by itself, shows that there is at least something going on in this film just below surface.
Let’s dig deeper and see what we find about these films. Continue reading
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