Kenny

Clip 1: ‘S(tore) H(igh) I(n) T(ransit)’

Taken from the feature Kenny (2006)

Original title classification M – this clip chosen to be M

This clip contains medium-level coarse language.

Curator’s clip description

Kenny (Shane Jacobson) drives a tanker full of sewage to the Melbourne sewerage farm at Werribee, as he explains the origins of the word ‘shit’. Back at the depot, he demonstrates some of the damage sustained by his company’s portaloos.

Curator’s notes

Part of what makes Kenny so likeable and the movie so funny, is his facility with language. The character has a natural humour that’s inseparable from his natural humility. The monologue about the history of the word ‘shit’ tells us he’s interested in language, even though he’s less than confident about his level of education; he’s also philosophical, in his own way, about the subject of human waste and the way it embarrasses people. Part of the clever way that his character is constructed is that he keeps surprising us. Shane Jacobson’s performance is never self-conscious, a common problem in a lot of mockumentary. A lot of viewers apparently believed that Kenny was a real person when they watched the film – an impression the Jacobson brothers carefully fostered in their promotion of the film, where Shane Jacobson would appear in character, rather than as himself.

Paul Byrnes, curator

Teachers’ notes

provided by The Le@rning Federation

This page is printer friendly

This clip shows Kenny (Shane Jacobson), who works for Splashdown Corporate Bathroom Rentals, explaining the origins of the word ‘shit’. He is shown driving a tanker full of sewage to the Melbourne sewerage works at Werribee, before his return to the Splashdown depot to repair damaged portaloos. He holds a portaloo door with a gaping hole up to the camera and remarks ‘What kinda curry’s that bloke been eatin’?’. In the clip Kenny sometimes speaks in voice-over and sometimes directly to camera.

Educational value points

Kenny is a mockumentary, a film genre that relies on parodying or exaggerating the conventions of the documentary form to represent a fiction as reality. In Kenny a seemingly serious treatment is given to a rarely discussed subject about which people often feel squeamish or tend to regard as vulgar. By passing off fiction as reality, mockumentaries undermine the assumption that documentaries accurately represent reality.

Kenny is largely made in the style of an observational or fly-on-the-wall documentary, which records and presents the lived experience of ordinary people with no voice-over commentary or on-camera interviews. In keeping with this style, the film makes liberal use of a hand-held camera to follow Kenny in his day-to-day life, while Kenny often speaks directly to camera. This style is similar to fictional film in that each scene reveals aspects of the subject’s character.

Much of the humour in this clip is derived from the seriousness with which Kenny discusses the origins of the word ‘shit’ and his deadpan delivery of expressions such as ‘mama and papa poo’ to describe the sewerage works, as well as his commitment to a job that many might dismiss as inconsequential but that Kenny identifies as an essential service. This earthy humour, coupled with his dedication, gives the character an integrity that audiences warmed to.

Far from being an acronym as described in this clip, the word ‘shit’ has a long and well-documented history that includes the Anglo-Saxon word ‘scittan’, the Latin word ‘scitta’ (found in a 12th-century text) and many examples from the 14th century in which ‘schite’ refers to excrement or is used as an insult.

Kenny was awarded Best Original Screenplay by the Film Critics Circle of Australia in 2006. According to director Clayton Jacobson, who co-wrote the script with brother Shane, it was a hybrid made up of a tight story structure, written dialogue and improvisation. The script is able to move deftly between comedy and light drama by using Kenny’s monologues and his interactions with those around him to develop his screen character and provide humour.

Kenny’s trademark overalls, forthright manner, colourful turn of phrase, often wry humour and strong work ethic identify him as a working class bloke and battler, balancing the responsibilities of work with his relationships with his son and father. The confidence with which Kenny approaches his job and his willingness to do overtime suggest he derives satisfaction from his work, a sense reinforced by the candour with which he talks about it.