How I Learned to Drive

I learned to drive when I was sixteen, and had no sexual issues surrounding those lessons. This was not the case with Li'l Bits. Even more so the historical context of the play makes sexuality an even more prominent issue. The coming of age of the baby boomers lead to extensive societal changes from mid sets, to laws and cultural norms. Sexuality was one of the issues that changed in the 1960s and 70s. The push for women's rights lead to more divorce and speaking up about sexual abuse, both current and in the past. This trend continued throughout the latter half of the twentieth century as the negative connotations with being abused began to wane and people were encouraged to share their troubled pasts. How I Learned to Drive goes a great job of shedding light on these issues with out having Li'l Bits and Peck actually sleeping together. Similar to the environment that Churchill created in Top Girls, Paula Vogel is able to bring up controversial issues in a way that the audience can focus on them with out hating, or associating them with a specific character in a way that prohibits the audience from looking at them objectively. Vogel does a phenomenal job with the character Peck, making him the scape goat for sexual abuse, yet still forcing the audience to side with him as he stands up for and supports Li'l Bits.

Top Girls

This week I will touch on two topics, the structure of the text and feminism.

I completely disliked Churchill’s choice to use /’s to break up lines of interruption. I do not think it added anything to the meaning or flow of the play, only made it more confusing to the reader. There are more clear ways of showing interruption in text, such as Shakespeare’s using multiple characters to complete a line of iambic pentameter. Also simple dashes are very effective, as well as indenting the person interrupting. This play took me a lot longer to read than it should have simply because my mind would start to wander every time I saw a / and looked to see what should be read next.

The theme of feminism is very apparent in Top Girls. The five historical women who dine with Marlene each share some aspect of their life they had to give up in order to achieve, or attempt to achieve success. The women make it very clear that they are living, or lived in a male dominated society, making remarks that show even they would prefer to be male. Nijo on 352 “It was only a girl but I was still sorry to lose it.” And on 355 “Ah a boy. / So it all ended happily” Griselda on 354 “But of course a wife must obey her husband.” Feminism in the workplace is discussed in the second act when Mrs. Kidd tells Marlene about Howard’s disappointment to losing out to a woman and now having to work under her. Sexism in the workplace is likely to never disappear as the conflict of bearing a child and an uninterrupted career will loom for eternity. This debate has lots of economic fall out, as firms will often pay women less as they have the possibility of leaving to raise a child. Marlene knows all about this as she gave her daughter to Joyce to pursuit her career.

[Baseball] Fences

With the many baseball references in Fences, I decided to write about African Americans and Baseball for this blog. Early in the first act Troy Bono and Rose discuss baseball and race. This leads me to the Major leagues today, and the question of why the percentage of African Americans in MLB is so much less than in the NFL and NBA. In 1975 the number was 27 percent, and by 1995 it had dropped to about 19 percent. However over the past decade and a half the number had fallen even more, with just 9.5 percent of Players on 2010 opening day rosters African American. There are many theories for this decline, but one of the easiest to identify is college athletics. College baseball is much less of a moneymaker compared to Football and Basketball, so the number of full scholarships is significantly lower. Also compared to football the number of total roster spots is less than half. The SEC conference shows some scary numbers, as states with African American populations as high as 36%(Mississippi) only one of the 13 schools had as many as 4 African Americans on the 2006 roster (Tennessee), with 2 schools (Mississippi and Mississippi state) having non on the Roster. The fact that none of these schools had any African American Coaches on staff in 2006 might explain some of the numbers, as recruiting in such a big factor. But when it comes to money at the next level, the top NCAA football and Basketball players are essentially guaranteed both money and fame after college. Baseball is a much longer road to the Majors, with most MLB players spending at least a few years in the minors before making it to the majors, if they do at all.

Krapp's Last Tape

Holy Krapp! This play was like nothing else I had ever read before. Apart from being 4 pages, I thought the amount of stage directions in relation to the amount of text was overwhelming. With only a 4 page play, I see it a very aggressive choice having the first full page, and about another half of a page throughout the text being dedicated to stage directions. In particular the two bananas that Krapp eats and or peels seemed noteworthy. "Takes out a large banana, peers at it,... He turns advancing to edge of stage, halts, strokes banana, peels it, drops skin at his been, puts end of banana in his mouth and remains motionless" The detail here is so different to that found in the play we just read, the Importance of Being Earnest. As said in lecture, Beckett gave little insight to the directors and actors performing his works and claimed there is nothing more than what is on the text. This makes sense as he gives all the detail an actor needs. However this does inhibit the creativity of the actor, versus other plays where the characters and actions can vary drastically from performance to performance. And back to the Banana, the second one more specifically, "Takes out a second large banana, peers at it... strokes Banana, peels it, tosses skin in to pit, puts end of banana in his mouth and remains motionless, starting vacuously before him. Finally he has an idea and puts the banana in his waist coat pocket." This is what got to me. I may not be your average banana eater, but i have never thought to put a peeled, or un peeled for that matter, banana back in my pocket. Maybe Krapp would love this Raffi Song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5C6X9vOEkU

The Cherry Orchard

GEORGE: Yeah. I think we really go something here.

JERRY: What do we got?

GEORGE: An idea.

JERRY: What idea?

GEORGE: An idea for the show.

JERRY: I still don't know what the idea is.

GEORGE: It's about nothing. 

JERRY: Right.

GEORGE: Everybody's doing something, we'll do nothing.

JERRY: So, we go into NBC, we tell them we've got an idea for a show about nothing.

GEORGE: Exactly.

JERRY: They say, "What's your show about?" I say, "Nothing."

GEORGE: There you go.

(A moment passes)

JERRY: (Nodding) I think you may have something there.

Seinfeld, the self-proclaimed “show about nothing,” shares many similarities to The Cherry Orchard. While New York city in the early 1990s and Russia in 1904 are not exactly the two most similar places, both draw comedy in the absence of events. In The Cherry Orchard many of the events take place off stage, included arguably the most important; the auction of the property. While Seinfeld does have simple plots in each episode the majority of them end with a screen shot of a major event or twist in the plot that is left open ended and not returned to in subsequent episodes. Liubov fails to act and eventually loses her estate, which parallels George Costanza frequent failures in life as he returns to his parent’s home and moves in after multiple failed jobs. Seinfeld draws many of its laughs from situations that are easy to relate to and very common through out contemporary society. Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard also draws laughter from everyday situations and even the lack there of. The Failure to listen to Lopakhin’s advice about revamping the orchard can be related to anything life throws at you that brings the shoulda coulda woulda type questions and hindsight. In the end there are relationships that are made and the youth in the play has some success, much like there are things that go well for the Seinfeld characters in any given episode, although throughout the show they are meant to have ups and downs much like any average citizen would. 

The Importance of Being Earnest

My post will not let me post if because of form errors. I apologize to by dedicated followers and hope to overcome this technical difficultly soon

Othello

Iago. One of Shakespeare’s most notorious villains and fascinating characters. He even has more lines than the character Othello, whom the play it titled after. Shakespeare does such a good job of making the reader despise Iago’s character one almost starts to admire him for his cunning intelligence. People relate Iago to that one schemer they know, or that politician who seems to have some master plan and makes even the purest of souls succumb to it. A true Shakespearian masterpiece, Iago lives on as a timeless character that continues to be a reference point to any villain in entertainment, pop culture or politics today. Part of Iago’s appeal as literary genius is his contrast to Othello. For all of Othello’s integrity honor and righteousness Iago possesses the opposite and is able to manipulate Othello- and the rest of the cast- to get his way. Iago’s way of earning the trust of his companions only to abuse it and often harm them only adds to his complexity and evilness; he is the first one there for comfort and condolences, yet he is able to use that trust how he pleases. His lack of motivation, and the ease at which he jumps on revenge and plots of destruction make it hard to find a more notorious character in literature. Iago’s plans finally come crashing down around him, but not after he has ruined or killed- directly or indirectly- many of those around him. How do these Villains Compare to Iago?

Poetics

Plot

vs Characters.

   Picking the more important element is one of life’s great tragedies in it’s self. What makes this conflict even more significant is how in some circumstances plot may be of more importance, yet in other situations the individual characters are what drive the story, regardless of the plot.  When this debate is taken to the tragedy ring; Aristotle declares that plot wins in a first round knock out. “Tragedy cannot exist without a plot, but it can without characters(90).” If by characters Aristotle is referring to characters as the people on stage who act out the play, I am not really sure how one could have a tragedy with out them. Aristotle then goes on to say that a tragedy must be structured “that the one hearing the events unroll shudders with fear and feels pity at what happens(93).”  While feeling pity at specific events is not completely out of the question, humans find it easier to feel pity with a person, with whom they can relate to.  When a famous hand model, such as George Costanza uses his hands to break a fall on a hot iron, we feel pity for George because he will no longer be able to continue his career, not because of the specific event. It is much easier to relate to characters that may not lead the most eventful lives, compared to a rock and tree that are destroyed in a hurricane.   If you cannot relate or at least feel pity for the characters, what use is the play in itself?

Medea

Revenge. Revenge. Revenge. A very powerful word and a common theme in literature film song and life its self throughout history.

 Romeo seeks revenge for the death of Mercutio and kills Tybalt.

 Harry and Marv seek revenge on Kevin McCallister for spoiling their reign as the “wet bandits.”

 The play hamlet is referred to as a ‘revenge tragedy,’ yet the protagonist is unable to commit revenge. 

Anakin Skywalker seeks revenge for those who killed his mother and those acts of revenge lead him down the path to become Darth Vader.

 The British looked for revenge on the Americans in the War of 1812.

 Seeking revenge for Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan and eventually dropped two atomic bombs on them.

 Revenge is ever present in Medea as well. Medea also addresses the value of revenge versus the grievances that cause one to act in a revengeful manner. Medea feels that Jason’s suffering for her killings outweighs the guilt of killing her own children (as well as Jason’s new wife and father in law.) This is the true conflict in any revenge plot, does the satisfaction of the revenge outweigh the guilt of committing such an act as well as the suffering of those who the revenge is acted upon. Most rational people need to be severely provoked to seriously think about acting upon revenge. And once reaching that stage I feel it is difficult to act in a way that deep down makes you feel better.  Revenge is playing down to the competition. Success is the only all encompassing revenge.

Death of a Salesman

Biff’s speech at the end of the play is the most important monologue in the entire play. Not only is it a very moving speech, it is Biffs attempt at stopping his father’s suicide attempt. Willy has left a few clues around that he is on the edge of committing suicide, and the (split up) monologue the beginning with No! Nobody is hanging himself, Willy! and continues to  I’m just what I am, that’s all, is Biff giving his all to save his fathers life.  Biff is also trying to bring his father down to earth, as Willy’s standards for himself are out the roof. Additionally, Biff wants to bring his fathers expectations of Biff down to reality. This speech goes along with one of the major themes of the play, that while everyone expects high achieving success, in reality the standards most people set for them selves are often not achieved and dealing with that differentiation is a part of life. Willy Loman tries to deal with this problem, but in the end cannot deal with the pressure. Biff struggles as well, but is more of a realist and has coped while not achieving his proclaimed potential.  This theme is very apparent in today’s time, with the recent economic collapse and ensuing recession. Many people with successful career’s are left without jobs because of factors out of their control.

American Dream

Fires in the Mirror

Reading any controversial issue, there are multiple factors that can lead our thought process to choose one side or the other. With literature in this format, constantly back and forth, the order of information has such a strong impact on swaying the mind. Regardless of my (or any readers) beliefs and personal experiences I feel that Anna Deavere Smith’s choice to have Rabbi Joseph Spielman’s interview placed first in the Crown Heights section of the play had a immense influence on which side of the story I was to believe. As humans we tend to believe people are truthful and side with what we hear first, proven by the fact that most people tend to have similar political views as their parents. So when I read Spielmans recount of the incident my instinct was to believe his recall was the truth and that was how the event on August 19, 1991 really took place.  While this may not have been the case, it was what I subconsciously leaned toward.  Smith tries to force the reader to pick a side, and even with her choice of placing Carmel Cato’s provocative interview last, to me the primacy effect had a much stronger influence on this issue than the recency effect. I am curious as to how my reading of the play would have gone had one of the characters recalling the event from one of the black residents of Crown Heights.

(240 Words)

Week 1

I have read my syllabus and accept the terms of the course.


And in case anyone was wondering the Redskins beat the Cowboys on sunday night