david mamet

887 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Importance of theatre in our contemporary life

THIS EPIGRAPH IS LIFTED from Harry Elam’s article “’Only in America’: Contemporary American Theater and the Power of Performance”, where many issues arisen as to what extent theater is a site where the American identity can be deconstructed and to what extent is a possible site to call into question the given assumptions and go beyond the mainstream. I start with this quote in my attempt to approach Mamet as a playwright that questions the sureties of the norm and society, and calls for a critical evaluation of the basic assumptions of American society through his plays. In the 1970s there were events that decisively contributed to a new configuration of the United States as a whole. America was coming into terms with the cultural and political aftermath of Richard Nixon presidency, the Watergate scandal, and the war in Vietnam. Besides this, America was undergoing the effects of free-market economy governed by capitalism which contributed to the shape of the nation: a bigger division between social classes and an increasing number of the dispossessed and powerless. In this sense, the American dream had been corrupted because success was demanded but it was not available to all the layers of the society. My particular stress on the decay of the American dream and capitalism are significant for the purposes of this paper, since David Mamet’s plays that will be analysed came into being a reflection of the American society and many of the concerns they show are a direct result of the socio-political and economic atmosphere of the time. It is to such a stage that we should approach Mamet’s plays, and against this background, the plays want to show in what way the American dream has failed. Therefore, he tries to convey his personal vi...

... middle of paper ...

...deals with not what has been said but with what has not been revealed through words, that is, Mamet’s dialogue emphasizes not only what is spoken in dialogue, but what remains unspoken. It is within this minimalist approach and his economy of efficient consumption and efficient articulation produce its reminder: the unspoken. One of the most powerful and moving example of this can be found in the play Edmond:
“EDMOND: […] it’s more comfortable to accept a law than question it and live your life. All of us. All of us. We’ve bred the life out of ourselves. And we live in a fog. We live in a dream. Our life is a schoolhouse, and we’re dead.
[…]
EDMOND: I’ve lived in a fog for thirty-four year. Most of the life I have to live. It’s gone. It’s gone. I wasted it. Because I didn’t know. And you know what the answer is? To live. (Pause)” (Edmond: 67; original emphasis).

Show More
Related

  • Harold Clurman's Theatre of Life

    2232 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Dialogue: Theatre of America, Harold Clurman said, “we make theatre out of life” (27), and it was precisely this view that motivated him to help create a uniquely American theatre. Clurman, considered one of the most influential directors of the modern American theatre, had a unique vision of what the American theatre could become. One of the founders of the quintessentially American troupe, the Group Theatre, Clurman was a contemporary of Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg, and even married to Stella Adler for twenty years. At a ceremony honoring Clurman, Elia Kazan stated that Clurman’s “greatest achievement [was] himself” (Harold Clurman: A Life of Theatre). An important figure in our theatrical past, Clurman’s theories on theatre and directing require close attention. In this paper, I will first provide a brief biography of Clurman, second, examine his theories of theatre and directing, and lastly, I will explore his criticisms of the then-contemporary theatre, and draw conclusions to the current state of the Broadway theatre.

    Read More

  • Comparing Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Fences by August Wilson

    1405 Words  | 3 Pages

    Corruption of the American Dream In Death of a Salesman: A Thematic Analysis Of Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman. Cross-Cultural Communication 6.3 (2010): 122-126. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Mar. 2012.

    Read More

  • Todd Jesdale: A Short Story

    478 Words  | 1 Pages

    “I have lived every day of my life asking myself ‘is what I’m doing reflective of who I am? Or who I want to be?’ If not...”

    Read More

  • Brecht

    2059 Words  | 5 Pages

    It is difficult to imagine a play which is completely successful in portraying drama as Bertolt Brecht envisioned it to be. For many years before and since Brecht proposed his theory of “Epic Theatre”, writers, directors and actors have been focused on the vitality of entertaining the audience, and creating characters with which the spectator can empathize. ‘Epic Theatre’ believes that the actor-spectator relationship should be one of distinct separation, and that the spectator should learn from the actor rather than relate to him. Two contemporary plays that have been written in the last thirty years which examine and work with Brechtian ideals are ‘Fanshen’ by David Hare, and ‘The Laramie Project’ by Moises Kaufman. The question to be examined is whether either of these two plays are entirely successful in achieving what was later called, ‘The Alienation Effect”.

    Read More

  • Destruction of the American Dream in Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    A white picket fence surrounds the tangible icons of the American Dreams in the middle 1900's: a mortgage, an automobile, a kitchen appliance paid for on the monthly - installment - plan, and a silver trophy representative of high school football triumph. A pathetic tale examining the consequences of man's harmartias, Arthur Miller's "Death of A Salesman" satisfies many, but not all, of the essential elements of a tragedy. Reality peels away the thin layers of Willy Loman's American Dream; a dream built on a lifetime of poor choices and false values.

    Read More

  • Analyzing Social Class and Humanity in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Seinfeld

    1764 Words  | 4 Pages

    My work proposes a broader view of the theatre-film interface, one that relies on intertextuality as its interpretive method. I believe it is valuable-both pedagogically and theoretically-to ask broad questions about the aesthetic, narrative, and ideological exchanges between the history of theatre and contemporary film and television. For example, this paper will study how the "Chinese Restaurant" episode of the sitcom, Seinfeld, intertextually reworks Samuel Beckett's modernist play, Waiting for Godot. In each text, characters encounter an existential plight as they are forced to wait interminably, and thus confront their powerlessness at the hands of larger social forces. As a pedagogical matter, this connection encourages the students to see academic culture in the guise of having to read Beckett's play for my course, not as foreign and alienating, but instead as continuous with their understanding of leisure activities like watching sitcoms. As a theoretical matter, this intertextual connection allows important ideological matters to come into bold relie...

    Read More

  • Lily Dialectical Journal

    1443 Words  | 3 Pages

    “I realized it for the first time in my life: there is nothing but mystery in the world, how it hides behind the fabric of our poor, browbeat days, shining brightly and we don't even know it.”

    Read More

  • Essay On West Side Story

    666 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most of all, those values that the American musical celebrated — and that is those values of American life, American philosophy, American belief — what we find is by the mid-1960s all of those beliefs, all of those philosophies, are being challenged, are being upset. As in all genres, the musical has had its share of failures. Some worthy dramas have been pressed into service and musicalized and sometimes butchered in the process, and audiences have had to watch a fine play diluted into a mediocre musical. But the successes have been many and spectacular, and they have left a long lasting effect on the American art and culture.

    Read More

  • Free Antigone Essays: The Human Condition

    592 Words  | 2 Pages

    “I did not intend to pay, before the gods,/for breaking these laws/because of my fear of one man and his principles.”

    Read More

  • Willy Lowman’s Tragic Misinterpretation of the American Dream in Death of a Salesman

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    Barack Obama made history by being elected President of the United States, twice. This is just one more example that the American Dream is without a doubt achievable. Its pursuit is not easy; it requires undeniable hard work, modesty and optimism. Armed with these characteristics, seekers of this lifestyle will undeniably succeed. Success, though, is an interesting concept, for it can entail many superficial qualities. Willy Loman, the tragic hero of the play Death of a Salesman, sees only the superficial qualities of this dream. He views success solely as likeability (linked with attractiveness), and wealth. Ignoring all methods to honorably achieve these, Arthur Miller demonstrates how Willy’s search for the superficial qualities of the American Dream lead him to his own despair.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Death Of A Salesman And Glengarry Glen Ross

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    Introduction Death of a Salesman and Glengarry Glen Ross are two plays which attempt to validate the key values that have been strongly advocated for by capitalism. The two plays dwell on somewhat similar themes, but these themes are presented in different styles. Both Miller and Mamet hold a similar interpretation of success in that the success of the main characters in the two plays is measured from a material standpoint. According to Miller and Mamet, these characters will do anything within their reach to stay ahead of other members of the society (the system/principle of capitalism), but as fate would have it, tragedies befall them in the end. Nevertheless, Miller and Mamet interpret these themes from different perspectives.

    Read More

  • Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Tony Kushner’s Angels in America

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    At first glance, Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Tony Kushner’s Angels in America appear to serve as two individual exercises in the absurd. Varying degrees of the fantastical and bizarre drives the respective stories, and their respective conclusions hardly serve as logical resolutions to the questions that both Beckett and Kushner’s characters pose throughout the individual productions. Rather than viewing this abandonment of reality as the destination of either play, it should be seen as a method used by both Beckett and Kushner to force the audience to reconsider their preconceived notions when understanding the deeper emotional subtext of the plays. By presenting common and relatable situations such as love, loss, and the ways in which humans deal with change and growth, in largely unrecognizable packaging, Kushner and Beckett are able to disarm their audience amidst the chaos of the on stage action. Once the viewer’s inclination to make assumptions is stripped by the fantastical elements of either production, both playwrights provide moments of emotional clarity that the audience is forced to distill, analyze, and ultimately, comprehend on an individual level.

    Read More

  • Death Of A Salesman Analysis

    654 Words  | 2 Pages

    The pursuit of the American Dream has been a long sought ambitions of many. Generally speaking the American Dream is the ability to become prosperous, successful and to be financially free. In “The Death of a Salesmen” by Arthur Miller Willy Lomans’ character has his own perception of the American Dreams. Likewise, “The Death of the Salesman” challenges Willy’s perception of the American Dream. Throughout the play the dialogue and actions of the Willy character illustrate desperate pursuit of the American Dream.

    Read More

  • Tony Kushner's play, Angels in America

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tony Kushner’s play, Angels in America, comments on a number of social issues of its time; ranging from political to societal. Additionally, it incorporates many concepts discussed in the Modern Condition courses. Thinkers such as Nietzsche, Borges, and DeBeauvoir are specifically represented in the play through the characters presented. Kushner uses his characters to convey the ideas of these thinkers in the context of the culture the play takes place in.

    Read More

  • The Meaning of the Title in The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

    557 Words  | 2 Pages

    Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman criticizes the American Dream and the means some (i.e. Willy Loman) use to achieve the Dream through many different symbol and motifs; however, the title Miller selected for his play is an overlooked aspect of his criticism towards the Dream. He uses the title to build layers of understanding for his denunciation of the American Dream.

    Read More

More about david mamet

Open Document