Envy
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Envy is an emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another’s superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it." At the core of envy seems to be an upward social comparison that threatens a person's self-esteem: another person has something that the envier considers to be important to have. However, what is envied could also be something that is only of personal importance to the envier, even if what the other person has is of little significance in his or her society, or even seen as a sign of inferior status. If the other person is perceived to be similar to the envier, the aroused envy will be particularly intense, because it signals to the envier that it just as well could have been him or her who had the desired object. Salovey, P., & Rodin, J. (1984). Some antecedents and consequences of social comparison jealousy.
The word jealous is often used to describe an envious state. In its correct usage, jealousy is the fear of losing something to another person (a loved one in the prototypical form), while envy is the pain or frustration caused by another person having something that one does not have oneself.
In some cultures, envy is often associated with the color green, as in "green with envy". The phrase "green-eyed monster" refers to an individual whose current actions appear motivated by envy. This is based on a line from Shakespeare's Othello.
Envy (Invidia) is one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
Envy is a 2004 comedy film, starring Ben Stiller and Jack Black and was directed by Barry Levinson. The film was poorly received by both critics and audiences in the U.S.. Both Jack Black and Jeffrey Katzenberg apologized for the film at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Many scenes were cut out of the film due to bad test screenings, evidence of this can be viewed in the Envy trailers.
[1] [May 2007]
Plot
Tim and Nick (played by Stiller and Black) are best friends who are also neighbours and co-workers at 3M. Nick is constantly coming up with crazy ideas to get rich quick, and when he invents the Vapoorizer, a spray that instantly removes dog excrement, he actually succeeds.
As Nick's wealth continues to grow, so does Tim's jealousy, as he had initially scoffed at the idea and squandered an opportunity to invest $2,000 and become mega-rich himself. Nick is blissfully unaware of Tim's jealousy, and his generosity only serves to make Tim more envious of him.
Tim's jealousy reaches new levels after J-Man (played by Christopher Walken), a bizarre drifter, decides to become his adviser.
After a drunken night out, Tim accidentally kills his neighbour's beloved horse, Corkey, and straight away tries to hide the body so Nick does not find out.
With the help of J-Man, he succeeds in this, but his jealousy continues to grow, as does Tim's wife's anger - she blames him for them not being rich like their friends.
One night, Nick reveals that he is going to Rome for the release of vapoorizer there, and gives Tim the oppurtunity to now join him in a 50/50 partnership.
J-Man finds out that Tim is now rich, and immediately tries to gain from this, but fails.
At the end of the movie, Corkey is seen floating down a river behind a press conference, and the animal hospital must do tests on him to reveal how he died. It is found that the horse was actually poisened - Corkey used to eat the apples off Tim's tree, and do his business there. They used vapoorizer to rid their yard of this, and this is what has killed Corky.
Straight away the Vapoorizer is pulled from the shelves in all stores, and Nick and Tim almost lose all their wealth and glory - until Tim comes up with an invention of his own - Pocket Flan, inspired by Nick and his family's love for the dessert.
