Date Drama Analysis of Steel Magnolias Steel Magnolias was written by American playwright Robert Harling, and premiered in 1987. It tells the story of a group of Southern Women, their unshakable bond and their role within the community. The story, which takes the shape of a comic-drama, revolves around the conflict between the characters, and uses a limited third person point of view, in combination with a limited setting, in order to place its focus on the relationships between characters. More specifically, by analyzing the setting, plot and characterization, and specific language with in the play, the play places emphasis on the theme of relationships, especially regarding the role of feminine friendship. The play is set exclusively …show more content…
First, because the play is primarily focused on the female characters in the play, their relationships with one another, and their role within the community, the setting within the beauty parlor increases the focus on those female relationships. More specifically, beauty parlors are traditionally an exclusively female space, where women go to socialize, and share their lives with one another, and to bond. This is emphasized by the props in the space including the glamour shots in the background, the frequent use of mirrors, the purple body capes, and other effeminate and beauty related elements that would be expected in a beauty parlor. This also create an environment where it feels logical, or natural, for women to communicate openly. As a result, the characters that enter and exit the beauty parlor tell their stories, engage in gossip, and trade recipes. This both reinforces the focus on the relationships between female characters, and provides a …show more content…
Because the whole play takes place in the beauty parlor, there is no action to create tension. The audience does not get to witness Shelby’s wedding, the delivery of her baby, or the transplant that precedes her death. This makes the descriptive language used to describe these events absolutely critical to the play’s plot development and theme. On a very basic level, the dialogue is used to deliver description of action that occurs off screen. For example, the audience does not see Annebelle’s husband leave, but rather hears her telling Truvy “Everything’s horrible. Bunkie…that’s my husband. He left. We only moved here a month ago. He just vanished last week…took all the money, my jewelry, the car. Most of my clothes were in the trunk.” (Harling
The use of vernacular speech, in this play, lends to the overall feeling of life in the early 20th century. This definitely aids in establishing a link with this play’s key audience, women. And also helps to establish the play’s surroundings and setting. The use of language provides a backdrop for the play, illustrating the differences between men and women. More so, the purpose of this play was to illustrate the common bond between women, even in the face of the law. It proves that in hard times people of a common bond usually stick together, and written in the face of the up and coming women’s suffrage movement, it provides the reader with a real understanding of the motivation and the dedication these women put into their work.
Steel Magnolias was an adaption of Robert Harling’s play of the same name. The story was based off his experience with his sister’s death due to Type 1 diabetes. At the time of the film’s release, Reagan had just left the presidency and George Bush entered office. The shift towards conservative politics brought on by Reagan continued to cause social anxiety and conflict in what some refer to as “the war on women’s rights.” On April 9, over three hundred thousand protestors marched on DC in support of legal abortion. Then in July, the Supreme Court reached a decision in the case of Webster v. Reproductive Health Services that gave individual states the right to restrict abortion. Finally, on October 23rd President Bush vetoed a bill that would have provided funding for abortions for women who were victims of rape or incest. He appointed Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court and stood by this nomination even after Anita Hill came forward with sexual harassment claims. After this, Bush lost the support of moderate, and some conservative, women. Despite these struggles, feminism was on the decline in part because of the severe backlash against the movement in the media. This resulted in the rise of the postfeminist, a woman who believed feminism had accomplished its main objectives and now it was time to alienate themselves from the
"HER ORIGINAL NAME was Patricia Neal"(Reynolds1), but the author of Fried Green Tomatoes is better known under the alias: Fannie Flagg. In the novel Fried Green Tomatoes she uniquely compares the modern day world to the world in the early and the middle 1900’s. As the novel shifts from the 1930’s to the 1980’s the significance of life is seen through two of the main characters, Mrs. Cleo Threadgoode and Evelyn Couch, as life ends and begins. Fannie Flagg shows that living life to its fullest indeed has its consequences, but is the only way to live a happy life without regrets.
The 1986 film “Sixteen Candles” tells a timeless tale of growing up in suburban America. The film’s star, Sam, played by Molly Ringwald, wakes up with big expectations on her sweet sixteenth birthday only to be completely disappointed. Not only does she find that she looks exactly the same as when she was fifteen, but her family is so preoccupied with her older sister’s wedding that they forget her birthday altogether.
Orson Welles is a legend in itself. He is a dedicated director, actor, and artist. An artist in the sense he directed, produced, and was the star in the film Citizen Kane.' The film won an award for best screenplay that was co-written by Welles. Citizen Kane' brings into light many social problems between countries, relationships, and also between competing newspaper companies. The film was a big controversy when it was first released on a delay (because of personal conditions with W.R. Hearst). It brings into light how a newspaper should react and also brings the corruption of politics. War was breaking out in Europe and throughout the entire film Kane states there will be no war. He ignores the fact people are being killed, tortured, and rounded up like livestock because of Adolf Hitler. The film was released on May 1, 1941 a few days before Joseph Stalin becomes premier of Russia, a day before Nazis took over Netherlands, and eight days before the English army breaks the German codes.
The film Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, is a great example of how a man can be corrupted by wealth. Through the characters in the film we can observe how Charles Foster Kane, an idealistic man with principles, can be changed and misguided by wealth and what accompanies wealth. The film takes places during the late 19th century and early 20th century, a time in American history when the world is changing and wealth is a great power to change it with. Through the story telling of Kane’s life we are able to see how wealth changes, not only Kane’s ideals, but his actions and how he perceives the world.
Juror #1 originally thought that the boy was guilty. He was convinced that the evidence was concrete enough to convict the boy. He continued to think this until the jury voted the first time and saw that one of the jurors thought that the boy was innocent. Then throughout the movie, all of the jurors were slowly convinced that the boy was no guilty.
Steel Magnolias takes place in a small town in the south and more specifically a beauty shop owned and ran by Truvy Jones. Truvy brings an aspiring beautician named Annelle to the beauty shop to work. While working, Annelle meets several ladies who she becomes close with. One of the ladies, Shelby, is a severe diabetic and heavily relies on the help from her mother, M’Lynn, and the other ladies. When Shelby decides to become pregnant against the doctor’s advice all of the ladies unite to try and help to get Shelby healthy again. When things take a turn for the worse and Shelby dies suddenly due to complications from having her baby, it becomes obvious that friendship the ladies had was the only thing that held them together. I think that the plot Is the most important part of any production. Although I loved this plays use of the plot, I found it quite difficult to follow along if you haven’t seen the movie before hand.
During the late 80’s, Phil Alden Robinson developed a sensational story that revolved around a real life account of a sport tragedy. The viewers were immersed in a touching account of how sport, a social interest, can play a powerful role in human bonding; thus becoming a very spiritual component of life. It in itself has a profound effect on the societies’ spiritual experiences; and just like religion can respectfully be considered a form of spirituality for a modern society, as exemplified in Robinson’s movie ‘Field of Dreams’. This story resonates far beyond the power of dreams, its appeal lies in a vision of a perfect sport and the love for which can inadvertently resolve issues no matter how grand. The plot at first presents itself as a complex; or maybe even a strange series of events, but somehow its scenes string themselves into a moral about redemption and deep interpersonal bonds.
For my third quarter book report I read The Green Mile written by Stephen King. This book is about an old man, Paul Edgecomb, recalling his experiences when he worked as the cell block captain in Cold Mountain state penitentiary. Paul was the cell block
I spent a lot of time considering what movie I would watch to write this essay. I listed off the movies that I would like to watch again, and then I decided on The Notebook. I didn’t really think I could write about adolescence or children, so I thought that, maybe, I could write about the elderly. The love story that The Notebook tells is truly amazing. I love watching this movie, although I cry every time I watch it. The Notebook is about an elderly man that tells the story of his life with the one he loves the most, his wife. He is telling the story to his wife, who has Alzheimer’s Disease, which is a degenerative disease that affects a person’s memory. She has no recollection of him or their life together, or even her own children. She wrote the story of their love herself, so that when he read the story to her, she would come back to him. There are three things that I would like to discuss about this movie. First, I would like to discuss their stage of life and the theory that I believe describes their stage of life the best. Second, I would like to discuss Alzheimer’s DIsease and its affect on the main character who has it and her family. Third, I would like to discuss how at the end of the movie, they died together. I know it is a movie, but I do know that it is known that elderly people who have been together for a long time, usually die not to far apart from one another.
Entrails torn from the body with bare hands, eyes gouged out with razor blades, battery cables, rats borrowing inside the human body, power drills to the face, cannibalism, credit cards, business cards, Dorsia, Testoni, Armani, Wall Street; all of these things are Patrick Bateman’s world. The only difference between Bateman and anybody else is what is repulsive to Bateman and what is repulsive to the rest of the world. Bateman has great interest in the upper class life, fashions, and social existence, but at the same time he is, at times, sickened by the constant struggle to be one up on everybody else. On the other hand Bateman’s nightlife reveals a side of him never seen during the day. Bateman is relaxed, impulsive, and confident while torturing and killing. He doesn’t have to worry about being better than anyone else. The only competition he has is his last victim. Torture and murder are the two true loves of Patrick Bateman.
In this play, the men and women characters are separated even from their first entrance onto the stage. To the intuitive reader (or playgoer), the gender differences are immediately apparent when the men walk confidently into the room and over to the heater while the women timidly creep only through the door and stand huddled together. This separation between genders becomes more apparent when the characters proceed in investigating the murder. The men focus on means while the women focus on motive: action vs. emotion. While the men...
Woman’s constant metaphors upset Man and portrays his loss of identity because it was something he previously enjoyed. In the play the audience can see this as it is illustrated through their dialogue when Woman states “You used to like my turns of phrases,” and Man replies with “That’s before I started rehab.” This infers that his transition has not been easy for him, but rather harder than he had initially expected and has taken a toll on his identity. Further, as Man describes his surroundings to Woman it is a very plain description, and no real vivid imagery until Woman pushes it on him to be more vivid. Man is being reserved in this dialogue which the reader can infer is connected to his anger and difficulty with being in rehab. However, the only time Man spoke descriptively was when he described the room. The room symbolized a lot of negativity and dreadfulness towards his current situation. He goes as far as to directly incline that he really wishes that he can have an alcoholic beverage. Thus, his description of the room clearly shows the reader the distress he is
This is a report on the story "Driving Miss Daisy". The main characters are Daisy Werthan, Boolie Werthan, and Hoke Colborn. Alfred Uhry wrote the play. It started in nineteen forty-eight and ended in nineteen seventy-three. It’s a play based on a female Jew, which is Daisy Werthan, which passes the ages of seventy-two to ninety-seven years old, and a black chauffeur named Hoke. Daisy’s son Boolie is stuck in between Daisy’s prejudice and Hoke. Here goes.