I don't care what you say, Don Quixote IS COOL

While watching Play it Again Sam, I could not help but think about Don Quixote idolizing the ideas of chivalry and knighthood. I realize that Don Quixote may have existed in a time where cool had not quite come into existence yet, but from my modern perspective, I believe him to be a very cool "knight". Throughout Woody Allen's movie, he is constantly idolizing Bogart as the epitome of cool. In an attempt to have sex, Allen emulates him, but even though Bogart is a very cool guy, Allen simply does not portray any amount of coolness. In fact, through emulation, he ends up making a fool of himself because of his extreme clumsiness. However, through his whimsical clumsiness, Woody Allen is a very funny person, and I believe humor through failed imitation to be a cool trait. Don Quixote is cool for similar reasons. Although he attempts to emulate the pure idea of being a knight, he horribly fails, creating many humorous situations. For example, when he comes across a windmill, Don Quixote inflates the situation by acting like the windmill is a horrible monster. From Don Quixote's eyes, he is performing a heroic act as a powerful knight, but from the eyes of onlookers, it would look like a man swinging wildly at a device used to grind grain.

I have begun to question why people like Woody Allen and Don Quixote are cool. Is humor a necessary component to the kind of cool that these two men have? Furthermore, is it really the failed imitation that generates their coolness, or is it just that these individuals are cool only because they are funny. I am starting to agree more with the idea that humor is the primary driver for the coolness of these people. My primary motivation for believing this is that I cannot think of anyone that is both funny and uncool. For example, Rick Rolling was once a very cool activity. The act of sending your friends fake links (see first link) that sent them to the video of Rick Astley singing Never Gonna Give you Up was cool because it was hilarious to watch their reactions to the song. However, now that the joke of Rick Rolling has become stale, Rick Rolling (and poor, poor Rick Astley as a result) has become very uncool.

Because of the relationship between coolness and humor, I would suggest that a more appropriate title for this movie's coolness would be "Cool Humor". Even though imitation is a definite part of Allen's performance, I believe it to be only a component of the humor that makes him cool.