The 1967 movie Valley of the Dolls connects to Susan Sontag’s definition of camp in her essay “Notes on ‘Camp.’” Its characters act seriously in the film, the world inside is an entertaining comic that fosters laughter, and everything is seen in quotation marks. Sontag notes in her essay that “Camp is art that proposes itself seriously, but cannot be taken altogether seriously because it is ‘too much.’” It really means that the actors in the film are oblivious to anything humorous or silly happening. They are serious. This happens in Valley of the Dolls at its ending, when Neely O’Hara screams to the top of her lungs in an alleyway next to a dumpster. It’s funny to the audience but real and serious to the character. That’s what makes something campy: the foolishness of a character without her even noticing. …show more content…
But not a bitter or polemical comedy,” as Sontag says. Meaning camp is a cartoon, not meant for controversy; rather for humor that’s enjoyable to watch. Valley of the Dolls presents this when Neely unknowingly discovers that Helen Lawson is wearing a wig. With the wing in her hands, Neely flushes it down the toilet, calling it a “pussy cat” and “meowing” as well. This situation is comical because it shows Neely’s insanity and power. But, realistically, we wouldn’t flush a wig down the toilet. That would be childish and unusual. These situations are comical in campy films like Valley of the
In the movie, the three main types of comedy I recognized were farce, parody, and satire. Farce is comedy designed to provoke the audience into simple, hearty laughter and often uses highly exaggerated or caricatured character types and puts them into improbable and ludicrous situations. It also makes use of broad verbal humor and physical horseplay. Some examples of farce in the movie are:
The first instance of ambiguity between comedy/drama begins directly at the beginning credits of the film, with the brilliant shot of a uniform waltzing party, in carousel motion, or a perfect circle. From my perspective, I was unable to recognize w...
Oscar Wilde once said, “Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.” The content of this quote embodies A Doll’s House and The Glass Menagerie because of the sexual control in both the plays. A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen and The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee William, the characters, although from different time periods, face the hardships of sexual control through the men they admire. Nora is written as the naive protagonist of A Doll’s House, who embodies the themes of the novella as she matures throughout the play. Nora learns that her husband, Torvald, uses her as a doll for his own pleasure and does not truly care for her. In The Glass Menagerie, Laura, the main character, is also
The unlikely pair of “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams and “A Doll House” by Henrik Ibsen do share multiple similarities in their domestic situations and in the things they chose to do. . When comparing these two plays you also have to keep in mind about how that both the plays were done in different time periods. Therefore things are going to be different when it comes to the roles of the women. With the “The Glass Menagerie” and “A Doll House” all the characters have flaws, lived in different time period, felt like they were trapped in ways, and reacted to things differently.
Television’s rise in popularity throughout the fifties saw the emergence of the situation comedy, a style that captivated audiences by presenting a story with a beginning, a middle, and a happy end. One of the most popular of these shows, I Love Lucy, continues to appeal to both young and old some forty years later -- and counting. For most people, the answer to how I Love Lucy continually and effectively draws viewers to the screen is that "It’s funny." There is more to this funny show than meets the eye.
Joseph L. Mankiewicz is the director of Guys and Dolls, and the head authors of the screenplay are Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, who wrote the screenplay based upon the play Guys and Dolls. Joseph L. Mankiewicz has directed in total 22 films; he is known for All About Eve (1950), Julius Caesar (1953), Guys and Dolls (1955), The Quiet American (1958), and Cleopatra (1963). The lead screenplay author, Jo Swerling, has written in total 68 screenplays; his more well known are The Whole Town’s Talking (1935), The Westerner (1940), Lifeboat (1944), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), and Guys and Dolls (1955). Abe Burrows has written 12 films, and his most well known are Guys and Dolls (1955) and Just Go With It (2011).
Guys and Dolls a charming classical musical, known for it’s catchy soundtrack, humorous dialogue and heartwarming plot, is likely to be produced at Signature Theatre in the future.
“The Youngest Doll” by Rosario Ferre is ultimately about an aunt who constantly creates life-sized dolls for her three nieces. It becomes more of an obsession rather than hobby when the author explains that each year the aunt spends more time and effort into making these dolls resemble her nieces as much as possible. Towards the end of the story the youngest niece ends up marrying a doctor. The doctor who she ends up marrying views her more as an object to flaunt rather than respecting her worth. Many of the critics who analyze the story come across the idea that Rosario Ferre is attempting to make it appointed that during this time period there was a mixture of sexism, racism, gender, and class implications. As I agree with all of these statements,
After reading “The Doll House” and “Trifles”, the idea of females being inferior to men is portrayed. Both plays, are in a much older time period. But from a feminist view, females are still sometimes given the doubtful role in today’s society. Both plays, are very different, but much alike in the ways the females are treated, never taken seriously, nor are they appreciated.
Women are still expected to follow rules that society has set for them. Advertisements with unrealistic beauty standards are shown millions of times everyday. Women are still expected to stay at home and cook and clean while men go to work. Scout is a very brave girl who is not afraid to break the rules society has set for her. In every chapter, Scout shows the reader that she is not afraid to be herself.
Sight gags are an essential part of comedy, especially the silent comedies of Charlie Chaplin's time. A sight gag is a visual form of comedy. In this form of comedy, the actors rely on the way the audience perceives the actions on screen for humor. This could include a misunderstanding by characters or a misrepresentation of an everyday object. In order to make the gag work, the actor must use smooth, visible actions to convey his or her point. Noel Carroll outlines six different types of sight gags in the book, Comedy/Cinema/Theory. In this paper, I will talk about each gag and give examples from the three Charlie Chaplin films that we have watched.
"Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll" is a timeless play as it can be transposed to be as relevant today as when it was written. The play is definitely a tragi-comedy but more than the ideas raised in the statement the play is about change and the inability for some to deal with it, the battle between dream and reality and loyalty and mateship. It also serves as a social document of Australia in the 1950s. Lawler uses symbols, the actions of the characters, the structure of the play and mise-en-scene to effectively portray his feelings to the audience.
In the play, A Doll’s House portrays the fixation to keep up with appearances through the main characters’ actions and words. A Doll’s House creates a statement about the gender roles and social norms in the nineteenth century. Ibsen argues that individual tend to get sidetracked due to appearances, especially in an effort to please society. Individuals tend to focus on the opinions of others, therefore they believe that keeping up with appearance is important. Appearances can be used to masks or deflect various hardships and issues of reality. A Doll’s House depicts that not everything is how it appears. Appearance are not necessary, if fact they only hold people back from doing what is important and distorts reality.
Death of a Doll: Paternal and Maternal Figures in Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll House”. Nora’s final actions at the end of Henrick Ibsen’s “A Doll House” have certainly been the subject of much criticism. In fact, “So much has it disturbed audiences that a few well-known productions changed the ending to have her return before the curtain falls”(Brooks). After all, why would a mother abandon her children and her husband with no clear indication if she was going to return?
The story of a Dolls house by Ibsen is full of unique and hidden messages. In the play, there are many things that do not seem to have any importance to the play. This is why it is important to use close reading. Close reading allows a better understanding for what Ibsen is trying to say not just what the words mean. Throughout the story a Dolls House it is easy to notice the importance of material things to the main characters. The purpose of this paper is to show how the importance of holidays and how they are subordinate to materials and self-worth in the play as well as how these religious symbols relate to the charters in the play.