This production of Philadelphia Story, had an interesting use of pantomime at the beginning of each act to set the scene and give a little bit of exposition. In the first act, this pantomime was used to show the previous volatile relationship between Tracy and Dexter. This gave the audience an idea of the conflict in the show, and introduced a few of the characters, showing their personalities through their actions. The relationship dynamic between Tracy and Dexter is quickly established, as both of them hit one another. This pantomime performance is used again in the second act, giving the audience a quick recap of what the party was like. I thought this was an excellent way to quickly give the audience some backstory on the characters, and …show more content…
Tracy is obsessed with being perfect, and expects everyone around her to be perfect as well. These standards of perfection could come from the expectations set by the society of the time. Women, especially women of upper class, were expected to be perfect wives, and models of American society. I feel like this relates to women today. Most women feel pressured to be and look perfect, usually due to the ridiculously high standards set by the fashion industry and the media. A moment that stuck out to me during the play was when George Kittredge was talking to Tracy about how he worshipped her and idolized her, while moving her around and positioning her like a statue. His words and actions are juxtaposed. While he admires her for being untouchable and unable to be possessed, he moves her around, creating a perfect, statuesque …show more content…
Many women feel like they have a predestined path that was molded for them, that they have to follow. This stems from the fact that women are often seen as the mothers and wives of the world. This was more so in the 1930’s, but many aspects of that thought still lingers today. We may be told that we can be anything we want, but that still does not take away from the idea that society often expects a woman to eventually settle down and have a child, putting their careers on hold. In The Philadelphia Story, Tracy seems to be this independent woman, but as she says herself, she has been gotten out of all her problems. She does not get herself out of them, others, often the men around her, do it. Tracy comes to realize what she wants in life through the men around her. Kittredge shows her that she does not want this upstanding and perfect gentleman to lead her through life, most likely because she would eventually get bored. Mike Connor helps with this by becoming romantically involved with her for a night. She wants adventure, and this affair helps show her that she is not as perfect as she seems. Finally, Dexter is the one silently guiding her throughout the entire play. He is always there when Tracy is making her mistakes, and he is there at the end when she breaks-up with Kittredge, ready to pick up the pieces and marry her. At the end of the play, Kittredge himself says, “I’ve got a feeling you’ve had more to do with this than
The characters address the audience; the fast movement from scene to scene juxtaposing past and present and prevents us from identifying with particular characters, forcing us to assess their points of view; there are few characters who fail to repel us, as they display truly human complexity and fallibility. That fallibility is usually associated with greed and a ruthless disregard for the needs of others. Emotional needs are rarely acknowledged by those most concerned with taking what they maintain is theirs, and this confusion of feeling and finance contributes to the play's ultimate bleak mood.
May begins by exploring the origins of this "domestic containment" in the 30's and 40's. During the Depression, she argues, two different views of the family competed -- one with two breadwinners who shared tasks and the other with spouses whose roles were sharply differentiated. Yet, despite the many single women glamorized in popular culture of the 1930's, families ultimately came to choose the latter option. Why? For one, according to May, for all its affirmation of the emancipation of women, Hollywood fell short of pointing the way toward a restructured family that would incorporate independent women. (May p.42) Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday and Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, for example, are both forced to choose between independence and a happy domestic life - the two cannot be squared. For another, New Deal programs aimed to raise the male employment level, which often meant doing nothing for female employment. And, finally, as historian Ruth Milkman has also noted, the g...
shall firstly do a summery of the play and give a basic image of what
I noticed a few major symbols throughout the scenes in this play. For example, Mama’s plant; this plant never fails to be watered and taken care of by Mama, and this represents not only her caring and compassionate attitude towards a plant but her attitude towards her family as well. Her care for her plant is similar to her care for her children, both unconditional and unending despite the less-than-perfect “garden” that it is in(their house).
When Buck and Tracy got involved she realized that he had a gambling problem. She had confronted him about him losing money while gambling in front of his friends. Buck became furious and punched the door working his way around Tracy. Buck then starts yelling and saying how his mother put a gun to his head and asked Tracy never to leave him. Seeing his vulnerable side, Tracy felt sorry for him. This showed Tracy that Buck had a shattered soul and a sense of humanity.
The main theme of the play is trying to put across a strong view to
Some of the antagonists’ poor personality traits are revealed by implication of what will happen later in the story. Jennifer threatens to leave Norman for ridiculous reasons showing she does not truly care for him and Liam’s ignorance is revealed. Nature is also connected with the characters feelings. The bear and rain represents the characters problems, now gone. Jennifer and Liam’s true characteristics are revealed throughout the stories more so, when in conflict others. Liam is proven to be jealous and always thinking high of himself as Jennifer is beyond disrespectful. . Both protagonists in the stories have to rid themselves of their unhealthy relationships and the negativity in their life to be self-empowered thus being the only way to gain
After executing the near perfect plan, Dexter starts to think that Miquel is an actual best friend and invites him to be the best man at his wedding, to which Miquel accepts. Meanwhile Dexter’s sister, Debra Morgan, a police officer at Miami Metro, continues to struggle to earn her Shield, or badge to be a detective. Her partner, Joey Quin, helps Debra chase down a serial killer by the name of “The Skinner”. Miquel starts to press the Dexter that he let Miquel do the killing for once, to which Dexter sets up a kill for his newfound best friend(Netflix). Dexter watches as Miquel kills his target without remorse or hesitation. Miquel explains that he enjoyed the killing of the guilty man. The next day Dexter overhears the Lieutenant saying that a defense attorney that Miquel despises, goes missing. He decides to look into it, only to find her blood in her house and her body at the bottom of an empty grave I the cemetery, where he told Miquel that he dumps the bodies. He confronts Miquel about it and says that she was innocent and not worthy of death. Miquel disagrees with Dexter and goes about his business. Dexter decides to teach him a lesson and gives anonymous tips that lead to the police finding the body of
Contrastingly, Mrs. Darling, his wife, is portrayed as a romantic, maternal character. She is a “lovely lady”, who had many suitors yet was “won” by Mr. Darling, who got to her first. However, she is a multifaceted character because her mind is described “like the tiny boxes, one within the other, that come from the puzzling East”, suggesting that she is, to some extent, an enigma to the other characters, especially Mr. Darling. As well as this, she exemplifies the characteristics of a “perfect mother”. She puts everything in order, including her children’s minds, which is a metaphor for the morals and ethics that she instils in them. Although ...
story and lasting throughout the play with the constant themes of deception and doing evil in the
As we look around at our women in today’s era, we might ask how did she become so independent, successful, and confidant? Even when I look at my own my mom, she was hired as the first woman to work as a manager at a fortune 500 business, and then created her own business. As well as my friends’ mom, who also has her own business in psychology; accomplishments like these must have originated from somewhere. The answer lies in the 1920’s. A couple years earlier, World War I was waging havoc, killing many men, while allowing women more freedom. The effects of World War I gave birth to the new women, also known as the Flappers, and inspiration for the 19th amendment. The flappers stirred up traditions and launched a new way of living. It soon became very apparent that the new women of the 1920’s helped redefine the social norms of society.
The spectacle of this play is limited which is why there is such weight put on the actors themselves. Their scene and ensembles never show signs of change yet they develop and grow. There is a huge stress on the statue, which whom the Learned Ladies bow
The play shows a natural order of rulership between slaves and their master. Also, the dehumanization of a character due to a lack of knowledge
It seemed kind of rushed when I knew there was a lot going on in that part. I realixe that could have been a character choice the rest of the time and it kind of fit. I think he just needed more balance there. Ray and Kennon also could have possibly made a character choice to have a slightly slow conversation at the
Part One:The scene that was most memorable to me in this play was when Lenny and Curley¡¦s wife shared a conversation while the others were away. It started with Lenny moping around about the rabbit he had killed and then Curley¡¦s wife joined him. This scene ended in a surprising way, but in my opinion many interesting things were discussed about the concept of life. I was extremely surprised with the ending of this scene because when the conversation began I predicted that it was the start to a close relationship between the two of them.