The Waiting in “Waiting for Godot” June 2, 2010

Abstract: I give an analysis of the lack of sound and particular choices of camera angles in the 2001 film adaptation of Waiting for Godot.  This paper was written entirely without research to define or support ideas mentioned in this paper.  This paper was written for a class in modern drama.

The Waiting in Waiting for Godot

In 2001 Michael Lindsay-Hogg adapted Waiting for Godot to film.  It was not the first adaptation; the five other directors that came before each had a particular vision for telling the story.  Each director utilized setting, space on the set, camera angles, lighting, sound, or any other various techniques at his or her disposal to mold Beckett’s work into his or her own. Lindsay-Hogg uses camera angles and sound to give his vision to the audience.

I say that Lindsay-Hogg uses sound, but, to be more accurate, he uses a lack of sound.  Lindsay-Hogg has the title in white block letters against a black screen.  There is no accompanying melody, no beating of drums, no natural sound, such as wind, no human sound, such as voices, to set the mood for the audience.  The opening credits have always been considered important in film, because just by way of music, the director can set the tone of the entire piece; for example – Fight Club, a movie focused on fighting, destruction, and general rebellion against corporate capitalism opens with a heavy techno beat.  The music gets the audience excited for the action that will be displayed on the screen.  However, Lindsay-Hogg does nothing to prep the audience’s emotions.  The audience expects some sort of sound and so the audience may strain to hear a sound that isn’t there or turn questioningly to another person.  The audience is left waiting for the expected arrival of sound, just as Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for the expected arrival of Godot.

Lindsay-Hogg forgoes the full opening credits – opting instead to cut from the title to the film itself.  As the audience sees the two men in a sad state there is an empty sound: a faint background noise of wind.  This sound is so slight that it can be completely missed.  Throughout the entire movie there is no music nor sound, other than the sounds of human voices and the sounds of the shuffling feet as the characters walk to and fro across stoney and barren ground. The music never appears, just as Godot never appears.

The silence does not serve only to echo the waiting of the men but also the boredom and emptiness of their lives.  While the tempo of the men’s words go through a series of increases and decreases in tempo there is nothing to give indication of a “true” meaning behind those words.  Vladimir’s words of “so there you are again” could be delivered in a cheerful voice, but if it was accompanied a low bass brass sound, it could be construed to be a negative emotion, a false cheer.  Without the music the audience must take all the movements and dialogue for their face-value.  During the lulls in the conversation, the silence weighs heavily on the ears of the audience.  The audience yearns to hear the characters speak just as much as the characters wish to speak.  The empty dialogue becomes a filler for their time spent waiting.

To emphasize that they are waiting, Lindsay-Hogg opens the first shot of the movie of Estragon’s feet, then his face, and then Vladimir’s feet.  The last shot of what is Act One in the play is of the men’s feet as they sit side by side preparing to wait out the night.  The importance of these opening and closing shots of the feet indicate the men are merely waiting.  They are  not actively searching out their happiness, or whatever else Godot may symbolize.  The feet are still, they are not active and neither is the waiting.  The men’s spirits were crushed many years before, so they do nothing but wait.

Lindsay-Hogg also uses a long shot looking down at the two men from over the top of the barren tree.  Vladimir looks up at it and goes on to say to himself that one of the sinners crucified with Jesus was saved.  The cross of Christ is often compared to a tree.  The barren tree, which is called a willow but has no distinguishing marks, is higher than the two men in the shot as well as the predominant figure.  The tree is also waiting, for spring to arrive with the new buds of new leaves.  The desperation of waiting clings to everything.

Lindsay-Hogg uses the lack of sound or music and the camera shots of stilled feet to reflect the plays darker side, the hopelessness that we all can feel even in the midst of waiting for something good to happen.

Setting, Costume, and Color in “Death of Salesman”

Abstract: Dustin Hoffman version of Death of a Salesman.  I look at the costumes, the set construction, and the color of each within the film version and see how each helps the audience understand the characters of the play, specifically Willy.  This was created for a class in modern drama.  I did no research for this paper in either the development of my ideas or for support of those ideas.

Setting, Costume, and Color in Death of a Salesman

In Arthur Miller’s play, the set of Death of a Salesman is designed to be transparent; the lack of walls allows the characters of  Willy Loman’s memories to walk in and out of the house without regards to their location on the stage.  This convention was not entirely followed when Volker Schlӧndorff created the film adaptation.  The film set is comprised of a “real” house, but one that is not complete.  The walls do not always connect, allowing the audience to see straight through to the other buildings, or when the camera is positioned outside, to see the characters on the inside of the house.  Even the ceiling and roof is completely missing in one shot.  The background for the entire movie is set against a backdrop.  Schlӧndorff utilizes the these gaps to not only give a nod to the film’s theater roots but to help tells his version of the story.  Schlӧndorff, in addition, uses props, color schemes, and costume to aid in character development.

The set itself, as already discussed, is not completely put together.  It is generally at the corners of the walls that the gaps occurs.  Likewise, it is the stories of Willy’s life, the stories he tells to make himself seem important, that never quite match up to his real life.  The backyard, which is nothing but dirt, evidence of the lack of growth in Willy’s life, is enclosed with a incomplete fence.  During Willy’s first memory he sits down at the table outside to talk to Biff and Happy.  The camera is positioned directly in front of Willy.  The audience sees Willy sitting in front of the only gap in the boarded fence line – the gap that looks over the cemetery.  This positioning is a foreshadowing of Willy’s life.  Reminiscing on his past, pining for a bright future his sons,  particularly Biff, will have will lead him to his early death.  The image of Willy in front of the cemetery also reflects the futility of trying to relive the past.

The sets’ color schemes are also important to Willy’s life.  The Woman of Willy’s past is connected with the color red.  The hotel room walls are red, and the floor is red and black.  The red in this scene connects to the sexual nature of the relationship between Willy and the Woman.  The color of the room connects to the red of the restaurant as well.  The restaurant has the same shade of red for the walls and the floor is the same red and black checkered pattern.  Because the audience is already aware of the sexual quality of red in the movie, the audience is cued for something sexual in nature to occur.  Hap picks up the prostitute that has come into the restaurant and has her call in a friend for Biff.  (Hap’s over eager sexual drive is marked in the very first scene by his discussion of his sexual conquests while he is wearing a red house robe.)  The laughter of the prostitutes eventually merge into the laughter of the Woman from Willy’s past and it is in this scene, the merging of all the red, that the audience is given the reason for Biff and Willy’s falling out – Biff finds the Woman in Willy’s hotel room.

White is also an important color in the movie.  The kitchen of his house, a symbol of his home life, is almost completely white.  The only color coming from the dark wood chairs and the black and white checkered floor.  But, the white that generally symbolizes purity or wholesomeness is faded and old.  Like his hope to gain the American dream of material success, the kitchen, as well as the rest of the house, has long ago faded.  The color white is used several more times as either set/lighting or as costume colors on a character to symbolize a combination of regret and loss of hope. The Woman and Ben both wear all white.  Ben is in a near constant state of enshrined in light.  In Harold’s office, Ben’s face is framed with the soft white windows which mimics the other-worldly light.  Willy regrets not going with Ben to Alaska and so always remembers Ben as just about to leave, asking Willy to go with him.  Willy realizes, either consciously or unconsciously, that he will never have another opportunity to succeed in the say he could have had he gone with Ben.  Willy’s conscience is nagged by the Woman not only because he betrayed Linda, but also because due to Biff finding out about the affair, he has lost the respect of his eldest son.

For a closing remark I want to switch briefly to Dustin Hoffman’s portrayal of Willy at the end of the movie and its connection with color.  Willy seemingly finally decides to take his life in order to give Biff a financial chance at achieving success.  Hoffman portrays Willy as excited and hopeful about the prospect of his son succeeding, but the director chooses to fade the screen to white as the sound of the car crash is heard, accompanied by distraught screams from Willy’s family.  With Willy finally following Ben into the white light, a giving into the regret of not following Ben, and the audience being blinded by the color that for Willy is connected to despair and regret, one has to ask was Hoffman’s portrayal accurate?  Does Willy feel a sense of hope or was his suicide really an act of despair, a final realization that the only help he can be to his family is by causing his own death?

Costumes and Music in Cinderella June 1, 2010

Abstract:  I attended a presentation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella in the city where I live.  I took my two children with me, it was their introduction into theater, and it was a fabulous time had by all.  Since it was student night, the actors stayed after the production and answered questions (although, they flat-out refused to answer the technical ones).  Both my children asked questions (with no prompting from me at all!)  This piece describes the use of music and costumes in this particular production (April, 2010) and how each are used to give not only indication of character (goodie or baddie) but also to link characters.

I would like to add that my eldest son, who is in 2nd grade, made the connection of the Prince and Cinderella based on the song/costume pairing.  After the “The Sweetest Sounds” reprisal he asked me, “why do they keep pairing them together?”  Even if he wasn’t sure exactly what the point was, he got that “they” were trying to make a point.  YAY!!!

Costumes and Music in Cinderella

Costumes of characters more often than not give some indication of the inner character.  In Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, the costumes not only provide this insight, but also forms connections between characters.  In a world of loud colors and loud characters, the Prince and Cinderella wear soft, matching colors, causing them to stand out instead of fading into the set.  The step-family of Cinderella instead of standing out with their loud, vibrant, and ugly colors  blends in with the other characters and scenery.  The King and Queen also are subject to the intent of costume.  While the characteristic insights are given with costumes, they are also given with the music.

As the play opens onto the market place, the audience is a washed in bright, gaudy colors for the costumes.  The music is loud and happy and together with the costumes create  a feeling of being overwhelmed.  The step-family is the loudest and most vibrant – with bright reds, greens, pinks, yellows and greens in their costumes, makeup and hair.  Enter Cinderella.  She is walking slowly, in direct contrast to the busy atmosphere of the marketplace. She is wearing a simple dress in a muted blue and off-white combination.  She is ridiculed and belittled by the step-sisters, and, because of the connection to the townsfolk, the rest of the world.  As the step-family continues their loud shopping: enter the prince.  The prince is also wearing the same muted blue and off-white combination.  Before the prince has said two words, the audience is able to make a physical connection between the two characters that will lead to the happily ever after.

This clothing connection between fated lovers is also seen in the King and Queen’s costume.  The royal costumes are also loud in color, but not the clashing vibrancy of the townsfolk.  Both the King and Queen wear deep, royal purple and red, and as the King dons his robe and stands next to the Queen, the audience sees that their costumes form a mirroring image.  As the scenes and costumes change, the King and Queen, as well as Cinderella and her prince are wearing coordinating outfits.

The coordinating outfits are not the only connection between the Prince and Cinderella.  They both sing the same song, but do not sing it to one another.  In the market place, the Prince and Cinderella sing “The Sweetest Sounds” as they walk “blindly” around one another.  In the next scene, the setting has changed and the Prince is in the castle with the King and Queen.  After a family dispute over the impending ball the Prince begins to sing the song once more.  The director decided to leave the background of the castle up and slide on to stage the fireplace with which Cinderella is most associated.  The stage is evenly divided between the two characters and they both reprise the song “The Sweetest Sounds.”  The characters also have a spatially separated duet in “Do I Love You Because Your Beautiful?”

The choice of costume and songs can visually connect characters in such a way that is obvious even to younger audiences.  While the pairings of costumes and music can be cliché, if done correctly, as in this play, they become elements of foreshadowing and support the already known plot.

just a little slice of poetry please April 8, 2010

Yes, I said poetry.  I love poetry.  I’m a huge fan of the old school poetry, you know the one that is written by a bunch of dead white guys.  I dig the female poets, too, (Wheatley!!!) one hears more about the old canon through school.  My fascination with poetry as a thing of beauty probably stems from my darker side.   One name: Poe.  He is a master – if you like his style.  For my creative writing class I had to write two poems.  I come nowhere near Poe.  I just generally lack that poetic bone.  I believe my writing style is strong (even while it needs honing) but being poetic is not a part of that style.  I’ve tried just about everything and have come to the conclusion I should just give up.  But, as I’ve mentioned, it’s old school.  So that means I’m trying to have a set meter, trying to follow a certain rhyming scheme, etc. That is just way too much for my brian to digest.  Luckily I can interpret the stuff, or I’d really be up the creek come teaching time.  So, yes, I’m going to give to you my pieces.  The first two that I’m going to post are what I turned in for the assignment, while the third is what we did in class today for exercise.  Who ever reads this, please, please, please (times infinity) offer up some advice.  I’m self-deprecating at best when it comes to my poetry so I need all the help I can get.

-A Reflection-

Look at me now, changed through the years.

Look at me with your aged eyes.

Have you yet to see my beauty?

Have you yet to see the perfection that is me?

Observe the light reflected in my eyes.

Observe the smile that brightens the room.

Gaze at the ears you once thought too big.

Gaze at the nose you once thought too narrow.

Does my face pass your inspection?

Does my body pass your inspection?

Peer at my short stature and small frame.

Peer at the one duck foot.

Scrutinize the way the dress falls around the curves of my hips.

Scrutinize the way my shoulders no longer hunch.

Reflect on these things you see before you,

Reflect on you and me and we.

– youmakemehappy

-And you, oh Muse, Guide My Blinking Cursor-

The inkwells have all run dry

The wood and graphite flakes to dust

Memory is filled with electronic imagination

The technique made simpler on fingers, wrist, and elbow,

Except for carpal tunnel syndrome

The fatigue remains the same

The steady pulsing seems to cry, what’s next, what’s next?

The blank page stares back at me through a glare

Silence is replaced by the quite electrical hum

That is only conspicuous at its sudden absence.

The midnight oil burns from the monitor in my lap

While my tongue tied muse waits.

She waits with that damned cursor asking

What’s next, what’s next, what’s next?

-youmakemehappy

-Fixing a Flat-

Tired. Tired of being the tire prop.

Years down the road, maybe this road,

Her tire will be flat, unlearned and, so, unloved,

Hands dirty only from being the tire prop.

Her straight As and straight teeth,

The wrinkle-free, hole-free clothes

The white collered family life

Suburbia, two point five kids

Will leave her with no experience outside the tire prop

That man behind her now grunts off the screw

He tells her wait; no watch, not learn, not do.

In his white work shirt he has the know-how.

He was expected to get dirty.

He was expected to never ask for help.

Years down the road, maybe this road,

She’ll be expected to ask for help.

She wants to be learned and, so, loved,

Not helpless nor hopeless – not needed to be

Nothing more than the tire prop.

-youmakemehappy

Oh and for anyone who follows the comparative work I do with film and lit, I have stuff I’m working on that I will post soon. Angles and Demons (general film, no lit -sorry); Waiting for Godot; and Death of a Salesman will be up shortly.  I’m attending a live play tomorrow – Cinderella – and will post something on that as well.  I also want to write up a short piece about a novel I’ve just read – Melissa Marr’s Ink Exchange – so for those who might read this for the educational part stay tuned as well.  And at a later soon I will be posting a comparative lit piece concerning Thristy by M.T. Anderson with Nightlight a Harvard Lampoon (Twilight parody).  Summer is right around the corner – I’ll have plenty of time to work on more then.

Teaching Begins at Home March 20, 2010

If you were not already aware – I am currently enrolled in college in hopes of becoming an English teacher.  My long term goal is to teach in college.  To get there, I am first going to become a high school English teacher.  Why would I start there?  For a good many reasons, one being that I don’t have the money to earn my doctorate any time soon.  A second reason is pedagogical in nature.

I want to actually learn HOW to TEACH.  Professors earn their ability to teach solely by learning the information of their field.  Why do so many college students complain about poor teaching skills, test questions that make no sense, or unfair grading practices?  Because unless that teacher belongs to the education field, he/she has not once been trained in HOW to teach.  So, I began my journey by taking an English degree with a specialization in secondary education.  I get to focus my concentration on my field while still learning how to teach the information.  I understand that a lot of the learning process will be on the job experience.  I will have to try many different approaches, on many different kids, in order to find what works best for me.  Luckily, I have two children on whom I can practice.

My eldest child is in second grade and is learning how to write multiple paragraphs.  My child and I sat down the other day to gauge how far along his skill has progressed and to discover what I need to do to help him further his progress.  We worked with the four-square model that is used in his classroom.  There are four squares that surround a central fifth square.  (Should it be called five-square?)  The fifth square is the topic of the piece, it can be anything from a journal entry to a response to book the class has read together; his topic was his sport’s team.  Three of the squares represent three paragraphs while the fourth represents a feeling sentence to close out the paper.  (This system can be tweaked, and has been since its inception at the beginning of the year, as the child progresses in skill.)  The first three squares are filled in with three different ideas concerning the topic.  This idea will transform into the topic sentence of the paragraph.  The student then fills out supporting details – I started with having him provide at least two.  This gives each paragraph three sentences, the last paragraph has four since it includes the feeling sentence from the fourth box.    When my son had transferred his topic sentences onto his first draft, he did not include any supporting details.  I hinted at and danced around ideas for almost ten minutes before he came up with two other details for each paragraph.  After the first draft was completed I checked for spelling and grammar errors.  I added final details to sentences that would make them clearer.  “I have two Taylors” became “I have two Taylors on my team.”  He then wrote a second draft that was again checked for spelling or grammar errors.  At his level of writing, all sentences were pretty simple, so the grammar issue is very slight.  I did not make him rewrite the work a third time, but I did inform him that for school assignments he would have to correct mistakes if he wanted to ensure getting the best grade he could.  (As a tangent, we do not push for good grades in my house.  I firmly believe that grades do not always accurately reflect a person’s knowledge in a subject.  Nor do low grades always reflect laziness/flat out refusal to do work.  My husband and I push our children to do the absolute best they can do – the good grades will come as a result of their effort.  If they get low grades we talk about what they could have done to achieve higher marks- was it their lack of effort or their understanding?  If lack of effort we look for ways to improve, if lack of understanding we provide scaffolding.)

After everything was completed, he went and played with his legos, a favorite past time of his, while I sat back on the couch looking at our three sheets of paper and felt a pride that I don’t think I’ve ever felt before.  Of course, I was proud of the work my son had done.  His reading and writing level, which has never been his strong point, has jumped significantly over the course of the year.  But, I was also filled with the pride that comes from helping someone.  Did this one exercise forever change him?  No, of course not.  Will he continue to struggle with his writing?  Yes, I still do.  But, I was able to help him achieve a small success.  Little things in education build until they become big things – like graduation in ten years.  I know teaching high schoolers will be slightly different than teaching a second grader, but I felt for the first time that yes, I can be a good teacher.  I felt a moment of clarity that I am called to be a teacher, and lucky for me, teaching begins at home.

Looking at Modern Adaptation while Teaching Macbeth February 20, 2010

Abstract:

The modern adaptation I use for this piece is part of a series called “Shakespeare Retold” produced by the BBC.  This was a paper done for a class I took last spring: Shakespeare for Teachers.  The paper, as the title suggests, looks at how a modern adaptation can help bring the student to a fuller enlightenment of a work that is normally considered difficult.  I will work on this in my part time and give a fuller analysis at a later time.  I hope that this sparks your interest to go out and watch this adaptation – which can be seen on Instant Play on Netflix.

Looking at Modern Adaptation while Teaching Macbeth

When teaching Shakespeare to any class, the teacher should ensure that the class views some sort of presentation of the play.  The presentation can be seen on stage or as a feature film.  Shakespeare wrote his plays to be viewed, rather than merely read.  Due to the change in language from Elizabethan England to modern United States, many students will fail to understand the language until they actually watch a presentation.  Thanks to modern technology a teacher has many avenues in which to bring the play to the students.  Many teachers find a classic presentation, usually produced by PBS or the BBC.  These presentations are undeniably well acted, but often give the students no more than what they could have received from classroom discussion.  The teacher should not be afraid to look outside of the text to modern language adaptations to discuss Shakespeare’s plays.

Classic adaptation films  begin in the exact manner as the play; three witches on a heath discussing a future meeting with Macbeth, who is currently fighting in a battle.  Shakespeare gives the audience no indication of Macbeth’s character.  The members of the audience must decide for themselves if Macbeth was a victim of the fates or if, by trying to control his fate, he was a victim of pride and ambition.

Shakespeare allows only two instances of the discussion of Macbeth’s character.  The information the audience receives is contradictory.  The two descriptions of Macbeth are separated by a description of his already changing behavior.  The first description comes in 1.ii.16-40 by a wounded captain.  The captain describes Macbeth’s bravery and capability on the battlefield.  Off of the battlefield, Macbeth’s nature is described as “too full o’ th’ milk of humankindness” (1.v.18) by Lady Macbeth.  Lady Macbeth lists several contradictory attributes of Macbeth’s characters leaving the audience still asking; who is Macbeth?  The scene describing Macbeth’s changing behavior is given to the audience from Banquo in 1.iii.143.  As Macbeth and Banquo hear the fruition of the first prophesy, Macbeth begins an aside.  Banquo speaks to Ross and Angus, “Look, how our partner’s rapt.”  A few lines later Banquo notes that “new honors come upon him, like our strange garments, cleave not to their mold but with aid of use.”  It is Macbeth’s apologize more than Banquo’s comments that alert the reader to the strangeness of Macbeth’s behavior.  If Macbeth was prone to suddenly drawing into himself, there would be no reason for Macbeth to apologize.  Macbeth’s suddenly strange behavior is the audience’s first clue that something is not right with Macbeth.  While on the field of battle, Macbeth is confident and able to handle intimately bloody moments.  The two personas, the warrior loyal to the king and the private citizen with private ambitions, have collided and caused Macbeth’s mental, and moral, deterioration.

These small insights into Macbeth’s character do not really fit with modern American audiences.  As a general rule, the American public likes to have character development within the story, either up front or via flashback.  The classic adaptation can not give the audience anything further than what Shakespeare gave his original audience because of the language barrier.  If the language is updated from Elizabethan English to 20th century English, whether Brit speak or translated Japanese, the character of Macbeth can be fleshed out.  Without the language barrier, scenes can be created from scratch or can be developed that were are not presented in the original Elizabethan English.

The battle scene is related to the king via the Captain.  In the modern adaptation Shakespeare Retold: Macbeth, directed by Brian Percival, the battlefield is in the kitchen.  This new scene not only gives the viewer the action that was not given by Shakespeare, but also fleshes out the character of Macbeth.  The scene introduces the main characters: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Banquo, and Duncan.  The characters are not given any extra lines, it is their actions that speak louder than words.  The movie literalizes Lady Macbeth’s description by having Macbeth drink straight from a glass bottle of milk.  Macbeth has chosen the milk (health and strength) over the beer  that sits blocking the milk in the refrigerator.   Macbeth is seen greeting Banquo by way of a jovial kiss, a good indication of how close Macbeth’s friendship is with Banquo.  Macbeth greets Lady Macbeth on the front stairs, they kiss and laugh.  The Macbeth’s walk hand-in-hand to the dining room to view their little kingdom.  Macbeth takes his leave to go into the kitchen, but walks backward so that he may look at Lady Macbeth for as long as possible.  As Macbeth enters the male dominated sphere of the kitchen/battlefield, Macbeth is singing.  Macbeth does not need to look at the sharpening of his knife.  His skills on the battlefield have been transformed to a head chef. The other men in the scene join in Macbeth’s singing.  Macbeth becomes a teacher; explaining as he carves the head of a pig, “the first rule of the kitchen: respect. … No waste, that in a word is respect”  (Percival).

Respect is the key to understanding the film version of Macbeth.  Respect translates not just to the art of cooking, but also to the animals that become the food he prepares.  The reason for Macbeth’s delusions and madness is that there is no respect in Duncan’s death.  The film gives the audience a motive for Macbeth to want to kill Duncan.  Even with the motive of gaining everything, Macbeth knows there is no respect in killing Duncan.  The collision of his desire to be “the guy who puts everything he has into cooking the best food he can” (Percival) and his desire to have the prestige Duncan has has deteriorated his mental state.

The deterioration can be traced with the use of the milk bottle.  The first use of the milk has already been discussed.  The second time the audience sees the milk bottle comes as the Macbeth’s are setting the conditions to stage Duncan’s murder.  Macbeth drops the bottle, and it breaks all over the floor.  Macbeth desires to be a good person, but he has let go of an essential part of himself that is capable of doing good.  The third time the milk bottle is seen is after the murder.  The scene is a parallel to the first kitchen scene: Macbeth getting dressed while listening to the cooking show (this time with Macbeth hosting), drinking a bottle of milk, Banquo entering the locker room, the Macbeths meeting on the stairs (this time passing one another), and Macbeth walking into the kitchen.  The other cooks in this scene are talking and whistling until Macbeth walks in, then everyone is silent, and the only sound that can be heard is the sharpening of the knives.  The bottle of milk that Macbeth pulls out of the fridge at the opening of this scene is the exact same as the first bottle.  However, when Macbeth has pulled the bottle away from his mouth and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, he imagines blood to be on the bottle of milk, his mouth, and his hand.  The last scene the milk bottle is shown is when Macbeth is setting up the murder of Banquo.   A half bottle sits in between a half-full glass of milk and a bottle of Grey Goose Vodka.  The position of the bottle indicates that the milk and the vodka are being mixed together.  Macbeth is no longer who he once was.

The original play and the modern film adaptation present the viewer with a story of the corruption that accompanies ambition and the descent into madness that is caused by treachery.  Both versions allow the audience to question if Macbeth was a tragic victim of the fates or a corrupt man who deserved his death.  However, the modern revision gives the modern audience more information to work with in regards to the character development.  A teacher should always be careful in choosing which modern adaptation to use, perhaps for a particular play there does not exist a good adaptation, but a teacher should never be afraid to look outside the text for way to explain the text to the students.

My First Experience with Peer Editing in Creative Writing Class February 5, 2010

Okay, I have officially had twenty strangers read a creative non-fiction (CNF) piece that I have written.  That assignment was a little of a double whammy for those of us who are nervous about sharing our writings for the first time.  Not only do I have to subject my writing skills to strangers’ scrutiny, people who may not be interested in not hurting my feelings, but I have to share something personal about myself: something I’ve lived or witnessed and how that something had affected me.  On the whole, everyone seemed to like the story.  I received many compliments on the story itself and a few remarks noting that the reader actually liked my writing skills.  Most of the negative critiques (and by this I mean the remarks that noted my mistakes) focused on how to improve the writing.  Some of the critiquers must not have had experience editing someone else’s work before now; those people left very few editing remarks and almost nothing, if anything, in the way of suggestions on how to improve.  There was one person who pulled out those foreign grammar words that no one knows: present indicative, past progressive, and other such gibberish.  I looked at those words and felt my stomach drop.  I have NO idea how to fix THAT problem – I wanted to yell at the paper, “Just give me the proper word.”  Luckily, I was in another class and was surrounded by people.  I don’t deliberately make a fool of myself in front of others; I do it by mistake often enough.  Even the negative critiques complimented the overall writing ability and story.

I understand that the compliments may be empty words, but I take heart at the words anyway.  I received enough positive and negative critiques that it all balanced out – which is all I can really hope for at this time.  Part of becoming a successful writer is knowing that you can not please everyone all the time.  I plan on teaching high school English; there are bound to be more than a few students who will not like the reading assignment.  Despite the number of students that don’t like a particular piece, the literature list hasn’t changed much in the last fifty years, except to add more on.

The overall lesson to take away from this experience: I don’t have to be afraid.

Adaptation of Importance of being Earnest February 3, 2010

Abstract: This analysis focuses only on the first act of the play.  However, the 2002 movie adaptation rearranged the play creating different scenes from the first and second act.  I do not discuss the second act of the play, but do discuss the implications of the second act appearing in the midst of the first act.  This was created from my own analysis and never researched for supporting argumentation from the “experts.”

While discussing film adaptations of the play The Importance of Being Earnest it is important to keep in mind the original play.  The introductions of characters, the stage directions, the lines are all important pieces of a greater whole, when these pieces are changed, rearranged or omitted in adaptations it is because of the director’s vision of the story to be told in the film. In the 2002 adaptation directed by Oliver Parker, many changes have been made to illustrate the director’s vision of the play.

The first change from the play to the big screen is the introduction of Algernon.  The film begins with a black screen and music with a quick tempo.  The audience hearing score music playing before the audience sees Algernon mirrors the play’s opening scene.  The stage directions set the scene with the sound of a piano coming from a connected room off-stage.  A brief few moments is the only similarity, however, as the audience is introduced to Algernon running away from men in a darkened ally.  The quick, fun tempo reflects Algernon hurry while at the same time letting the audience knows that this chase is not one of danger; Algernon is pegged as a likable rogue.  The music becomes a part of the movie as the scene cuts from the chase to Algernon playing the piano.  The introduction of Algernon in this way is Parker’s attempt to give the audience an insight into the character of Algernon.

The director also shows the audience an insight into Jack’s character before entrance in the play.  Jack leads a double life: one in the country, where he is known as Jack, and one in the city, where he is known as Earnest.  The audience sees Jack leaving his home in the country complaining of his brother Earnest.  The audience is given a glimpse of Jack opening his suitcase with a smile on his face.  The audience then sees Jack has taken on his Earnest persona with a change of clothes.

In order to give the audience the different viewpoints of Algernon and Jack, the director must rearrange the scenery.  In the play, the action of the entire first act occurs within the breakfast room at Algernon’s home.  In the movie there are nine or ten different shot locations before the film reaches the end of the first act.  Some of the locations are part of act one while others are from act two of the play.  The splicing and rearranging of the acts allow for the director to introduce Cecily, Miss Prism, and Dr. Chasuble earlier in the story and thereby creating an elongation of suspense to the Algernon and Jack story line.  The splicing also allows for contrast of the male character Algernon, who speaks against romance and family, against the female character Cecily, who in the movie is a hopeless romantic losing herself in daydreams of knights in shining armor coming to rescue her.  Gwendolen’s introduction is made in this rearrangement.  The audience is given a visual introduction of Aunt Augusta and Gwendolen practicing archery.  Gwendolen pulls the string taunt and releases the arrow.  The shot cuts to Jack who mimes being shot in the heart.  Because the two shots are next to one another the audience can make two deductions about the film.  The first is that cupid’s arrow has struck Jack.  The second follows more closer with Algernon’s non-romantic train of thought, that the woman is hunting the man for marriage reasons.

The film version is faithful to the script, but the director’s vision comes alive with editing and visual stimulus that can not be captured by merely reading the play.  The director adds visual scenes that are not a part of the play but that can easily be imagined to be a part of Wilde’s original play.

The Relationship of Enid and Becky in the Film and Graphic Novel “Ghost World” January 29, 2010

Abstract: This is a comparison of the relationship of Enid and Becky in the film and graphic novel of Ghost World.  This was my first experience comparing film to literature and so the film descriptions are less of an analysis and more of mere description.  This was my own work and never researched for supporting arguments.  I look at several scenes from both the movie and graphic novel and compare how the relationship of the girls change over the story line.  While both story lines have the girls grow up and apart after they graduate from high school, the film and movie take different approaches.  The film focuses on former oddball Becky trying to mainstream into the real world, while Enid desperately tries to find her place in the real world while not changing who she was in high school.  In the graphic novel, Enid is trying to discover who she is, but she feels hindered by Becky, who is the one who doesn’t wish for her high school days to change.

Ghost World is a story of two girls, Enid and Becky, who face the challenges of growing up while still trying to hang on to the past.  While the graphic novel, written by Daniel Clowes represents Enid as the dominant personality, the movie adaptation directed by Terry Zwigoff places the girls on equal footing in the relationship.  In the graphic novel, Enid dictates the conversation and makes the decision of what they are going to do, even if Becky does not express interest in the activity.  In the movie, Becky has, if not equal, at least more so of a say in what they do.  The differences in the relationship structure changes the dynamic of the girls relationship, so that the movie presents the girls slowly drifting away, while the graphic novel presents a quick ending after a long, and one-sided, friendship.

The graphic novel opens with two separate pictures of Becky and Enid; one of the girls, possibly around the age of ten, standing side by side at a grave, and one that depicts the girls in cap and gowns with Enid raising her middle finger.  With these two quick snapshots located on the index page, the reader understands before the novel has begun the relationship of these two girls has already existed for a long time. The graphic novel opens with the girls watching t.v. together.  Enid tells Becky about two people that she swears are Satanists.  When Becky is portrayed during this scene she is watching the television, and while she does respond with appropriate responses, she is not engaged in the conversation.  Enid proclaims that they “have to follow them someday” (14).  Becky in obviously not enthused by this prospect but relents when Enid gives her a hard time.  Zwigoff changes the scene so the girls are together when Enid sees the Satanists.

The Satanist scene opens with Enid sitting in the diner sketching the Satanists in her sketchbook; she is so engrossed in drawing the man and woman that she does not respond when Becky sits down, Becky has to speak to get her attention.  This diner scene begins the divergence of Enid and Becky’s paths in the movie.

Becky asks about the time frame of looking for an apartment, but Enid casually blows Becky off making an excuse about her summer school.  Becky notes that “it’s so weird that [they’re] finally out of high school.”  Enid looks slightly uncomfortable at Becky’s sentiment, she shifts both her body and her eyes, but she responds with a non-committed “yeah, it really hasn’t hit me yet.”  While Becky is excited about the prospect of moving forward, Enid is still hanging on to the past.  When the Satanists leave, Enid excitedly proclaims they should to follow them, and Becky responds excitedly with a “totally have to.”  Becky is not the passive follower from the novel, she is an active participant in Enid’s ideas.

As the girls follow the Satanists the scene in the movie shifts to a scene that happens much later in the graphic novel.  Instead of Enid dragging Becky across town on a city bus to an unknown destination, the girls stumble across the new 50’s diner.  The dynamic of the relationship is again changed by this simple shifting of scenes.  Enid has not dragged an unenthusiastic, but willing, Becky across town.  Zwigoff changed very little about the actual scene from the book.  The conversation is condensed to focus on the search of the personal ads, which is still Becky’s idea, as is her follow up suggestion of calling the man from the ad.  By Zwigoff placing Becky’s suggestion at the beginning of the movie, instead of the middle, he is placing Becky on equal footing with Enid.  In the novel, Becky’s suggestion to check the personal ads, and then to call the man in the ad, is contrasted against a prank call that Enid had made earlier.  By having Becky make the suggestion in the middle of his novel, Clowes has already enforced Enid as the dominant figure.  Becky making a suggestion for an activity for them to do represents a break in their relationship.

An obvious strain in the movie relationship is when Enid shows up at Becky’s work wearing the latex mask from an adult novelty shop.  In the graphic novel, Enid calls Becky on the phone to tell her about going to the novelty shop.  Zwigoff has changed this scene from the girls talking about Enid’s loss of virginity to Becky pushing Enid about getting a job.  Becky’s shift away from high school is picking up speed, while Enid is still clinging to what she knows.  Becky tells Enid “You’ll see, you get totally tired of all the creeps, and losers, and weirdos.”  Enid’s face conveys a sense of shock at Becky’s changing attitude.  With her “you’ll see” Becky displays her feelings of being more experienced than Enid.  When Becky shifts the conversation to Enid finding a job, Enid looks down and begins to blow off the importance that Becky attaches to the idea.  Becky looks exasperated, but all she responds with is her disbelief that Enid went to the novelty shop without her.  The strain is felt by both girls, but neither is ready for the final break.

The final break happens in the novel and in the book while discussing living together.  The discussion of Becky and Enid living together in the novel takes place over two pages.  Becky is feeling the potential loss of Enid’s friendship if Enid goes away to college.  Becky suggests that she could follow Enid to Strathmore, not to attend college but merely to live with Enid, but Enid does not want Becky to come.  Becky is the one that does not want anything to change, she is frightened of her life being different, but Enid wants to change, she wants to forget who she’s been up until this point, and to Enid, Becky represents what Enid wants to forget.  After this discussion, the relationship doesn’t exist anymore.  Becky and Enid talk one last time, but the conversation is of two acquaintances rather than of two best friends.  In the movie, the discussion is an actual fight between the friends.  Enid accuses Becky of “still living out some seventh grade fantasy.”  Becky retorts that Enid will be living with her dad for the rest of her life.  Becky is ready to embrace the grown-up world and Enid just wants things to stay the way they are.  As with the novel, there is another meeting of the girls.  Becky has taken charge of her own life and has begun to move herself into an apartment.  Enid while saying she’s going to be bringing her stuff later, still appears to be uncertain about the change.  Enid never shows back up with her stuff.

The goodbye between the girls takes place in different ways in the movie.  In the novel, Enid watches Becky through a glass window and says “You’ve grown into a very beautiful young woman” (80).  Those words are the only ones on the page.  This silence of Enid’s is juxtaposed against almost an entire novel of Enid talking, this silence is the end.  These few words represent Enid’s realization that not only is everything changing, everything already has changed.  They aren’t little girls anymore, and it’s time to live as adults.  This is the first real compliment she has paid to Becky.  Enid has realized that the dynamic of their relationship has changed, Becky no longer needs Enid.  The final boxes show Enid getting on the bus and leaving town, on her journey to finding herself.  In the movie, the final goodbye is a reworking of a scene from the book.  The girls sit on the bus-stop bench holding hands.  In the book the bench represents several changes: the Satanists have apparently separated and Norman is no longer there due to the bus-stop being re-activated.  In the movie the bench is not Norman’s bench, but it still represents the final change for the girls.  They sit quietly, holding hands.  Becky looks sadly at Enid and asks, “What are you going to do now?”  Enid does not know, but Becky is not included in her unknown plans.  Becky leaves to go to work, representing the different shift in the girls’ maturity and the girls shift away from one another.  As Becky and Enid hold hands they look at one another with concern.  This goodbye is a sad one for both of them.  Becky stands and gently rubs the top of Enid’s hand with her thumb.  The simple gesture is often seen between people who care for one another, it is both stimulates the nerve endings on the hand as well as comforts the recipient of the gesture.  It represents their kiss goodbye.  They drop their hands simultaneously, neither one pulling away from the other, while at the same time, it is Becky who walks out of the shot.

In both versions of Ghost World, the ending of the friendship is hard for both girls.  In the movie, Becky and Enid are two strong girls who drift apart as Becky continues to grow.  The novel depicts Becky as a needy accessory to Enid’s life.  In the novel it is Enid who is ready to move on, and the separation comes as Becky realizes she is no longer wanted.  Within the scope of the movie, the girls were allowed to grow and drift apart rather than an abrupt change coming from an identity crisis that Enid is facing in the book.  This growth is allowed by the shift in Becky’s role in her relationship with Enid.

Is it fate or REALLY lucky planning on my part? January 25, 2010

My purpose in college is to eventually become a college literature professor with my very own PhD.  I decided to start small and begin my teaching career as a teacher.  Sounds like a common sense decision, but the difference between understanding literature and teaching literature seems to have missed many college professors.  Only my education teachers have ever had teacher training before teaching in college.  An argument for those of you in college: How many of you have ever read a test question and said to yourself, “that’s not a fair/valid question?”  It’s most likely due to the fact that the poor college professor never really learned how to write a test question.  Think about it for a bit.

Anyway, I am currently an undergrad for high school English.  I will learn both my subject matter and how to teach that subject matter.  Yay.  I have already decided that I will not flinch from using t.v. or film in my classroom to help students understand a piece of literature.  I decided this for multiple reasons.  First; a t.v. show or film is nothing more than a story told in a visual way, rather than with text.  (For all of you purists, please think about theatre for a moment.)  I can teach many of the same story telling techniques (foreshadowing, dramatic irony, character/plot development, etc) and the students may actually understand.  Second; if a student is busy talking about a t.v. show or movie he/she saw over the weekend then I am simply combining business and pleasure.  Why waste valuable time trying to stop them from talking about something they WANT to talk about and use it to teach them something.  Third; seeing the story told from a different perspective will add depth to the work the class is studying.  It’s like a student voicing his/her own interpretation of a work.  Multiple opinions usually make for good (and bad) dialogue.   Fourth, but not last; who doesn’t like to watch t.v. or film?

I should qualify all of the above with this:  I do NOT intend for the students to watch Jerry Springer or some reality show.  I plan to study any t.v. show or film for literary value.  I also plan to use adaptations more than original screen plays.  While there can exist literary merit in any (although not all) film, I plan to incorporate the films with works that the students are reading.

Now, for all my blabbering, what is the purpose of my post title?  Simply this.  With my above plan already in my head, I chose to take Film and Lit for my required film class last semester.  Film and Lit was exactly as it sounds  – we read books and watched movies.  We studied the adaptation process more than we studied the text, but I LOVED the course.  It helped me see the many layers of film and how film can support an idea I had about a novel or change an idea completely.  In conjunction with that class I took Shakespeare for teachers.  My professor emphasized the importance of watching the plays and supported us when we went outside the typical theater domain.  (Sidenote: watch Shakespeare Retold:Macbeth – such a good adaptation – I will post my paper on it soon.)  This semester I needed an extra course just to fill in my credit hours.  I choose a drama course because of the teacher.  I took a poetry class with her and really liked her.  She also is pushing watching the plays, both in theater and film.  We have three papers to write that focus on the adaptation of the play.  I walked out of class the other day with a smile on my face.  The assignment is one that I’m not only familiar with, but hope to use in my own classes!  The luck part of my blog title is that next semester is my professional semester.  I will be teaching this fall.  For me to have chosen these three classes so close to my professional semester makes me think that I’ll really be able to do it; to use film adaptation to help teach a work of literature.  Maybe, it’s meant to be.  Maybe it was just lucky planning.  Whatever it is, I fully believe that this is one of my talents that I am meant to share with others.