Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Post Inspired by Theatre 460B

Directed by Robert Weine (Germany, 1920)
Example of German Expressionistic Film along with Nosferatu and The Golem


Machinal By Sophie Treadwell

Post inspired by Theatre 460B



Who is Sophie Treadwell:
Ms. Treadwell was born in 1885. She earned a degree in French from UC Berkeley in 1902 while pursuing both acting and writing simultaneously. After graduation, she began writing for the San Francisco Bulletin, the Harper’s Weekly and the New York Tribune in addition to others.

During WWI she acted as one of the world's first female war correspondents as well as being "the only journalist permitted to interview Pancho Villa at his hideaway in Canutillo during the Mexican Revolution."

Sophie Treadwell wrote Boradway plays such as Gringo, O Nightingale, Machinal, Ladies Leave, Lone Valley and Plumes in the Dust. "Machinal, which is loosely based on the famous murder trial of Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray, is considered the best in her oeuvre. The play first opened on Broadway in 1928 and featured a young Clark Gable. Treadwell also penned the novels, Hope for a Harvest and One Fierce Hour and Sweet. In 1970, she died in Tucson Arizona and the majority of her works and papers were donated to the University of Arizona."

Sophie Treadwell's Mission:
Machinal is distinct amoung plays for many reasons, one of which is the mission which she has stated at the beginning of the Play. It s divided into three parts: The Plot, The Plan and The Hope.

The language which Sophie uses even in this introduction is used to support the premis. Although the play is based on the murder trial of Ruth Snyder, the play states that this could be "any woman," and the play continues to refer to the main character as simply "Young Woman."

The play is entirely expressionistic. The rhythms and speech patterns as well as any thought processes are unlike anything we would hear out of the mouths around us. It is entirely from within the head and unconcious.

Expressionism was used ironically to showcase the ugliness or true beauty in life through the unrealistic. Using the out of the norm concepts to face true reality.

The play is written in a time when machinery and technology was booming. People were increasingly expected to work in a mechanical manner (i.e. assembly lines) and and were asked on a daily basis to conform to the norm.

The play asks questions about human nature verus machine and how the expectaions of our society shape our lives. This is a question which is still explored today. (Dollhouse anyone? If you haven't figured out by now that I am a fan.)



"The mechanization of labor and its correlation with war created a sense of impersonal conformity and an intense fear that somehow the machine would consume humanity." We still deal with that fear. Terminator, Dollhouse, The Matrix.

Ms. Treadwell furthers this point by never refering to any of the character by their individual names. Instead they are refered to by the job, or relation to those around them. (Sidenote: Refering to people by their occupations has been done for thousands of years, resulting in last names such as Smith, and Thatcher.)



Source:
http://www.montclair.edu/Arts/oeco/images/Machinal.pdf

Elucidate

  • verb, dat-ed, dat-ing
  • to make lucid or clear; throw light upon; explain

Other References:
  • the name of and American Trance music duo (http://www.elucidatemusic.com/)
  • the name of a web design company (http://elucidate.net/)
  • Storefront Cleaning Service (http://elucidate.biz/)
  • A retail and distribution company (http://www.ideallc.com/elucidate/)

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Krishna

Inspired by the "Cry of The Tiger" writing process

Wikipedia Page
Chicago Scholarly Review
Hinduism and It's Spiritual Masters By William Stoddart


Krishna (कृष्ण in Devanagari, kṛṣṇa in IAST, pronounced [ˈkr̩ʂɳə] in classical Sanskrit) is a deity worshiped across many traditions in Hinduism. He is considered to be both an avatar of Vishnu, and the supreme being.

Krishna is the eigth avatar of Vishnu, and is depicted as a young boy playing a flute as in the Bhagavata Purana. Krishna the avatar is a paradoxical god because while he is a supreme being, he often obtains his goal through dishonest and manipulative means. How are followers of Hinduism then to reconcile the misbehavior of their god in relation to the moral behavior they are supposed to demonstrate in their own lives.

Krishna is worshiped by not only Hindus but Buddhists and other religions as well.

Demeter

Inspired by the "Cry of The Tiger" writing process

Wikipedia Page
Who's Who in Classical Mythology By Michael Grant and John Hazel

Demeter (pronounced /dɨˈmiːtər/; Greek: Δημήτηρ, lit. translates into Mother Earth. She was identified with her own mother Rhea, Ceres in the Roman Empire, Isis in Egypt and Cybele in Phrygian myth.

Demeter is the Earth Goddess, and patroness of fertility, the bringer of the seasons and patroness of the Eleusinian Mysteries. She is one of the twelve main Olympic Gods and on of the six Children of Rhea and Cronos. Zeus was both her brother and the father of her daughter Persephone (Proserpina in Rome).

In Greek mythology, is the Goddess of grain and fertility, the pure. She nourishes the youth and the green earth, the health-giving cycle of life and death, and preserver of marriage and the sacred law.

He life and worship is heavily associated with the story of her daughter Persephone and the resulting marriage.