Josh Greenfield, Oleanna Film and Play Comparison

Intrepid Shakespeare Company recently ran a production of David Mamet’s highly controversial play Oleanna at San Dieguito college. Oleanna is considered controversial by critics due to its no-holds-bar approach to the topic of higher education and the power struggle between universities, professors, and students, as well as the shocking conclusion of the play itself. The differences between the play and the 1994 theatrical release starring William H. Macy and Debra Eisenstadt are notable not only because of the format, but also through the interpretation of the power struggle and how the film and the play both achieve that goal in their own creative ways.

Intrepid Shakespeare’s take on the play, directed by Christy Yael, brings the story to life in a theatre-in-the-round format. The stage is set in the center of the audience which allows the viewers to take a voyeuristic, over the shoulder view. This seating creates a very intimate feel, the audience is very close to the actors, Francis Gercke and Rachael VanWormer, which gives the audience more insight and establishes a closer personal connection between the characters. The audience is treated to a constant close-up, as if the four walls of John’s office have been removed and the viewers are on the outside looking in. In this way, the viewer is more invested in the characters John and Carol, because they can keenly perceive the actor’s facial expressions and are able to hear the subtleties and nuances of the dialogue, which is written in broken syntax and incomplete sentences which adds to the overall realism of the play. The entire play takes place in John’s office at the university, so there are no scene changes and nothing to distract the audience from the dialogue.

In the film version, John’s office is made to look like it’s a part of a well-established university with great detail, complete with bookshelves, a chalkboard, leather chairs and an adjacent conference room. This more clearly establishes John as a well-to-do professor that is used to a level of comfort and preferential treatment only ivy league professors obtain. Because of this, the audience learns very quickly that John is wealthy, respected, and successful as an educator. In comparison to the play, depending on the level of detail provided by the set, the audience may not immediately recognize John as being as well-off. Instead, the dialogue leads the listener to discover these details over time. John’s opening monologue informs the viewer that he is attempting to buy a new home for his family and is having complications. Over time we understand that John is facing “first world problems,” or problems that have little to do with basic human necessity and more to do with comfort and class establishment.

Another notable difference between the film and the play is the actor’s relatability in live performance in contrast to the separation of actor and audience in film. Oleanna is written in a way that incites frustration, confusion, misunderstanding and ultimately anger, all of which translates very well in film, but takes on a more intimate and personal tone in a live performance. On film, the camera dictates how every scene is viewed and leads the audience through the story in a linear way. On stage, and especially in round theatre, the audience is given more freedom to watch either character when they choose, thus allowing the viewer to study the reactions of the actors more closely. This ability to see and hear the actors converse live creates a deeper tension, as if we were watching these arguments occur in real life. The actors have more responsibility to be fully engaged in the dialogue and are forced to react to each other in a more believable way. On film, the camera has to cut back and forth between the characters to keep the story visually appealing, but not being able to examine both characters at the same time diminishes the effectiveness of the arguments.

In conclusion, the differences between the film and play are very subtle, but the true nature of the text and the heart of the story are best conveyed through live performance. The film relates the story in a very polished and predictable format which conveys the story extremely well, but the staged play gives the text a necessary tension and realism that is best experienced in person and performed by live actors.

#5 The Hunger Games

The book that I have decided to do is the Hunger Games. It is about a group of people who have to fight for their lives and to stay alive by the end of the game in order to win for their district. I have decided to use Marxism to analyse, and to also talk about how distopia plays a role throughout the book.

Thats all I have so far for my paper.

Joe Rota Blog #5 - The Book of Eli

This is a movie based off of the setting of Post-Apocolytic nuclear fall out. It deals with the challenges of the human race fending for themselves after religion was blamed for the nuclear war that happened 30 years prior to where the story starts. Eli is still a believer in god and is said to carry out the mission of bringing the last any only bible left from the east to west side of the united states to have more copied and preserved.

I am still trying to narrow down my analytical lens for this movie. researching this movie I found a lot of revieews, but nothing more as far a research goes. With that said I think there is a lot that can be done with this movie.

One source I did find helpful but not to positive was:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-remington/the-book-of-eli-an-okay-p_b_434500.html

Blog Post # 5 Paper #3 The Lottery, Lee Bowen

Societies develop on different systems, wether they are good or bad ways of living are determined by their own views. A utopia is a perfect way of sustaining a society. A dystopia is an imaginary place where everything is a bad as can be. Not only for the people but the way of life in general. The short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a story that represents a dystopia within this town. This town uses misery of others and fear to retain order with their people. It is a cut off society that isn't too fond of outsiders and considers any other way of life wrong. They have kept their traditions for many years and don't plan on changing any time soon. Not everyone in the town though agrees with this way of living and these traditions. The Lottery portrays a dystopia because of its ways of human misery, concealing secrets, and fear of living.
The biggest fearful symbol is the dreaded black box. Every year an even using this black box is feared by all. It resembles the most sense of dystopia in this society. Everyone in town has to participate by picking a piece of paper from the black box to see who is this years winner. Whoever ends up getting to black dot is the one who needs to fear the most. In our society winning the lottery is probably the best thing that could happen because it gives you something everyone wants more of; money. Except the only thing this lottery offers up is death.

Sanchez, Jennifer Blog #5 "The Island" Paper #3

The island is about an underground society in 2016 that makes clones. They are made in pods when they grow they are put into a sector where they are fed and given a daily routine.The clones are told they were found after a contamination and that everything outside them is dead with no living organisms but yet the owners/workers find "survivers" being the clones developing in pods in a different section of their utopian society. Everyone there is told about a raffle thing, whoever wins gets to go to an island.  The two main characters Jordan two delta and lincoln six echo. Lincoln starts to question everything that is around him. So everytimes he gets a chance he lies to his "boss" and obtains a key that goes into a room where all the gas tanks are and utilites equipment of the society. Lincoln decides to go to another sector where he sees a pregnant clones give birth, is killed, and later given to the real person out in the real world; which he does not see the baby given to someone else. Right after he sees a man that had one the lottery to go to the island all wired up and screaming "I want to live" he knew something was definetly not right. Jordan had won the lottery and goes after her to escape. They escape, look for a man that worked in the utility section of the utpotian society. The man helps them escape to find their "real person" to tell them they have "feelings" and tell them what actually goes on in that underground society.

I've started to watch the movie again and I have not done any research on it. I don't know if the movie will work for this research paper.

Brad Petz Blog #5 Dystopia Brave New World

I've chosen to use the novel Brave New World for the primary text of my research paper. This story has long been regarded as one of the main pieces to read if you want to study dystopian society. I read it in high school, and very much enjoyed it, but am looking forward to using my new found knowledge and literary criticism techniques to critique it in a different way. Brave New World is Huxley's representation of a dystopian society, in which he uses his amazing satire abilities to draw stark differences between today's society and where, collectively, we could be headed. Huxley's fascination with science and technology influenced him to write about a futuristic, extreme world in which a totalitarian government controlled society by the use of science and technology. This new world they live in is so overstimulating, most people don't know what it means to be naturally happy; only with the private use of a drug, Soma, do they experience pleasure. I feel with my new tools and abilities I will be able to more accurately and more thoroughly dissect this classic novel.

Alex Aroyo Blog Post #5: On The Beach

I've chosen to use the novel On The Beach by Nevil Shute as my primary text for the research paper. It's a post-apocalyptic account after World War III  of the remaining survivors off the southern coast of Australia awaiting certain death from an oncoming radioactive cloud. I'm still in the process of finishing the novel, but I'd like to take a psychoanalytic approach to writing this involving the remarkable civility the characters instill themselves with under the inevitable fate they face. From what I've gathered thus far my analysis will explore a unique variety of dystopian society and contrast certain Freudian normalities we tend to see in an average dystopia.