Chapter 21 of 22 · 4'26"
A young man argues, with total conviction, that Elvis is still alive and living in Las Vegas, and even builds a theory about why he would have become an impersonator of himself. The talk drifts to insects and women, then to a club door where nobody is on the list.
❝ Monologue · 8 lines Elvis Is Still Alive
One of the characters insists that Elvis is still alive and living in Las Vegas, and explains why a truly cool Elvis would have become an Elvis impersonator instead. The conversation wanders through his new life, an ant problem and his opinions about women. Later, he and a friend try to get into a show and fail.
The scene is a perfect example of how Slacker builds meaning out of talk. The Elvis theory is absurd and it is also, in its own way, a real argument about ageing and self-parody: "I really, honestly believe that this guy is still alive." The man means every word, and the film never winks. The conversation then keeps going with the same energy through ants that eat through Styrofoam, a life spent crashing on couches, and a bitter theory that women exist to make men suffer. The film does not endorse any of it and does not punish it either: it just listens. Later, at the club door, the guest list does not have his name, and he sums it up as "Universal sadness all around us." That is the quieter joke underneath: everyone here thinks they are inside something, and mostly they are not.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“Get as fat as he was and just make fun of himself all day long.”
It turns a dead icon's afterlife into a deadpan joke about getting fat and mocking yourself.
Informal
“- These are friends of yours then? - Friends? Friends is not the word.”
Echoing the word back and rejecting it says more about the bond than any explanation could.
Informal
“All right. Couldn't get in. Universal sadness all around us.”
A tiny rejection at the door gets inflated into cosmic grief, and the joke still lands.
Informal
“Check it out, man. I really, honestly believe that this guy is still alive.”
The whole urban legend starts here, with a belief stated so earnestly it becomes funny.
Informal
Check it out, man. I really, honestly believe that this guy is still alive. And I believe that he's like, you know, living in Las Vegas or something. 'Cause, you know, if the guy's half-ass cool, you know he's like an Elvis impersonator. 'Cause, I mean, that's kind of like some sort of spiritual hell... to parody yourself at the height of your ridiculousness. So the guy's gotta get up every day. Get as fat as he was and just make fun of himself all day long. Isn't that a killer job? Don't you think that's what all old people sort of do?
Up next · 22with us or against usThe scene: Friends Get In Free at the ClubHe believes Elvis is still alive and living in Las Vegas, and jokes that a genuine Elvis would have become an impersonator of himself.
He calls it a kind of spiritual hell to parody yourself at your most ridiculous, getting up every day to make fun of your own decline.
He has only lived there about six weeks and is crashing on friends' couches, and the thing he cannot stand is ants that eat through food and even Styrofoam cups.
He insists he is on the guest list for his roommate's band, but the doorman says no and charges three dollars, so he does not get in.
It means to treat someone badly because you are angry about something else. He says some women want to take it out on every man ever born.
