Thursday, February 9, 2012
"For Whom the Southern Bell Tolls"
Is Christopher Durang's one-act play an effective parody of Tennessee Willams's play? Why or why not? Be specific in your analysis by incorporating the literary terminology for humor that we discussed earlier this week. Also use this space for any other questions about The Glass Menagerie.
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Jessica Martinez
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The parody "For Whom the Southern Bell Tolls" by Christopher Durang is an effective parody, because although it left out some of the main symbols used, it focused on characterization and directly showed what each wanted. The author shows his frustrations with the characters actions by making them more ridiculous.In this parody we can see there is basically no sympathy for Lawrence (Laura) because Amanda directly says that she hates her life and she just wants to get rid of him, and start to live her own life. She also is constantly saying harsh comments and making "jokes." Also with Tom we see a contrast of characterization from being understanding to being rude to Lawrence (Laura). This parody is effective when Durang mentions the glass swizzle sticks, which represents the glass menagerie Laura had. Durang exaggerates Lawrence's obsession with the glass swizzle sticks, allowing the audience to see how ridiculous it really is to be spending so much time focusing on a glass menagerie. In this parody we see that Ginny(Jim) is being contrasted with he original character, where as before Jim was understanding towards Laura and tries to make her feel better,and now he is played as Ginny who is deaf and believes that his swizzle sticks are ridiculous. She even breaks one of his favorite swizzle sticks on purpose rather than by accident. Also the parody loses its effectiveness, because entirely Durang only emphasizes on characterization and ridicule rather than the theme of the major play.
A question that I had in mind was, does Durang keep any of the major symbols and if so what are they and how are they similar or different?
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ReplyDeleteAbsent so posted today
The parody of the famous play "The Glass Menagerie", "For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls" is an effective parody in my opinion. The parody uses Horatian satire and burlesque in order to exaggerate the feelings that are felt of the main characters in "The Glass Menagerie" I feel Durang's parody is effective because although there are minor tweaks to the names of characters, actions, and symbols of the story, the story still follows a similar plot line in comparison to "The Glass Menagerie". In "For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls," I found that even in the title, there was witty and sarcastic humor. "Belle" means beautiful in French, and by including this word in the title, I think that Amanda is being portrayed as needy and nostalgic in a negative manner from the beginning. She wishes that she could go back to her beautiful days of the South, but she can not in reality. We can begin to see burlesque when Lawrence (Laura) begins to complain about his pimples, limp, eczyma, and asthma continuously. This shows an exaggeration of Laura Wingfield, who was constantly worried about herself. However, Lawrence can easily be characterized as a hyperchondriac, hence the burlesque. In other cases, characters are portrayed nearly the oppisite in the parody as in "The Glass Menagerie." For example, Tom Wingfield of "The Glass Menagerie" was a selfish person but also loved his sister deeply. However, in "For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls," he is portayed as both selfish but rude to Lawrence. He constantly is putting him down for his insecurites. Amanda is also very different as in the original play. In "For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls," Amanda has transformed into a cruel, bitter mother who hates her life due to the unsuccessful life of her children. However, in the original play, Amanda was extremely sympathetic and pushed her children to achieveving success to the brink of insanity. Also, Gin (the counter of Jim) is portrayed as selfish and unaware of her surroundings. She is partially deaf, which obstructs her hearing, hence her unawareness of her surroundings. She also demands certain things, such as Gin and a sandwich. However, Jim of "The Glass Menagerie," is shown as careing and a gentleman. Another reason that "For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls" is a good parody is because it provides a witty storyline which mocks Tennessee Williams' homosexuality. For example, Ginny is a lesbian, the most obvious portion of homosexuality. Durang also incorporates cocktail stirrers into the play in order to mock Williams' homosexuality. It is also said that Tom only meets men at the movies and lets sailors who "missed their ship" spend the night in his room. These small details hint that Tom of "For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls" is gay. One last reason that the play is a good parody is because Durang also makes important aspects of Williams' play seem unimportant or even meaningless. The cocktail stirrers, for example, are so easily replaced and meaningless that they mock Laura's menagerie beyond measurement. Tom's future and wish of becoming a merchant marine is also diminished into a pointless pamphlet that his mother found in his bedroom drawer. I agree with Jessica in that the parody does lose some of its meaning due to the fact that it loses theme. This is due to the fact that Durang makes everything in the parody either so exaggerated or so pointless that the play is merely a comedy with little to no universal meaning.
One thing I was confused about was Ginny's deafness. Was it added to the parody just because it allowed for sarcastic or witty remarks? Or does it somehow correlate to a mocking of Jim O'Connor?
I believe that Ginny's deafness was only another witty technique used by Williams. In The Glass Managerie, Jim had misheard Laura when she said she had pleurosis, and instead, thought she said she had "Blue Roses." This one misunderstanding is much more drawn out as Ginny now misunderstands everything that is said to her.
DeleteBut otherwise, very good analysis--intuitive!
Paulette Villicana
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In response to Kiara's question about Ginny, i believe the author Christopher Durang purposely made Ginny deaf to show the contrast between the original charachter Jim, and Ginny. Jim was very caring towars Laura, listened to what she had to say, and never judged her or her obsession with her glass menagerie. On the contrary Ginny, could not hear therefore she did not listen or understand anything Lawrence told her, and Ginny made fun of Lawrence because of his swizzle sticks. Unlike the original, the characters Amanda and Tom do not care for Lawrence but are rather annoyed by him and want him gone. Amanda is desperate for him to marry and leave and Tom cannot stand the sight of him. Something that really stood out to me was the fact that at the end of the play Lawrence does not give up his fantasy like Laura did when she game her broken unicorn to Jim. Instead, Lawrence asks Tom to buy him a new swizzle stick because Ginny broke his favorite one. This shows that Lawrence is still stuck in that fantasy world and is not in touch with reality. Overall I think Christopher Durang's parody was very effective in mocking the characters and their conflicts.
Sally Kang
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The play, "For Whom the Southern Bell Tolls" by Christopher Durang, is a parody of another play called, "The Glass Menagerie". I agree with the above comments about this parody being good and how it does not cover all the main points from the original play. It was very interesting to read than the original play because it was entertaining. I think that this parody was written for the people that already read original play because some of the details were not mentioned throughout the whole parody. I also agree with the above comments about Durang exaggerating some points from the play. For example, he exaggerated Lawrence(Laura)'s unconfidence and Tom, Amanda, and Gin(Jim)'s selfishness. To answer Jessica's question, the major symbols that were kept are the glass menagerie and the wish upon the moon. The glass menagerie was replaced as the swizzle sticks. However, unlike the glass menagerie, the swizzle sticks did not symbolize anything important. Also, the wish upon the moon was replaced as the wish upon the evening star on the newspaper. The wishes had the same meaning because they both meant that the wishes that they wished for will not come true.
I also have the same question as Kiara. Why did Durang decided to make Gin deaf?
Jason Galang
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In my opinion, I agree with Kiara in saying that "For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls" is an effective parody solely because the original plot in "The Glass Menagerie" is recognizable. Durang provides some alterations including the characterizations of Amanda, Tom, and in this parody, Lawrence. Lawrence is shown to be more pathetic compared to Laura through his supposed conditions such as his limp, eczema, and asthma. In the parody, Amanda, caring as she is, proves to be more harsh through her negative comments towards both her sons. In Tom's case, he does not show the love and compassion he did for Laura in "The Glass Menagerie." Instead, he acknowledges Lawrence with unpleasant remarks like "stupid fuck" and "four-eyes." Finally, Ginny, like Jim, takes a course in public speaking. However, here she is much more outspoken and practically shouts every time she speaks.
Jason Galang
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I also think the setting plays a key role in the parody's effectiveness. It can be said that the parody targets a more modern audience. As mentioned during the socratic seminar in class, "Red China" refers to an even that happened after World War II. In addition, Durang mentions things people of 1994, when the parody became popular, are more familiar with such as Q-tips, pimples, and pornography.
Jessica Martinez
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I think that Durang by making Ginny (Jim) deaf he tried to poke fun at Tennessee Williams' usual structure of play writing,romantic expectations, momentary fulfillment, and ultimate loss. There seems to be a moment of fulfillment, but then Durang inserts crude jokes from the other characters, diminishing the feeling of any type of fulfillment. I also noticed that both Ginny (Jim) and Lawrence (Laura) are the complete opposites in this parody. Durang adds ridicule by making Lawrence (Laura) seem more sensitive by changing the gender which adds to the ridiculousness of her ailments, and emphasizing she is only hypochondriac and uses any excuse to not face reality. The audience expects Ginny (Jim) to be feminine, but at the beginning Durang explains how she works at a factory and wears nothing presentable. Also, the male characteristics are strengthened by the fact that she is a lesbian. Duran does this to strengthened the ridiculousness between these two characters. I think that by also adding that she is lesbian, it enforces how fulfillment to Lawrence (Laura) is unattainable. I agree with Paulette because even though Lawrence (Laura) was not able to find someone he does not give up and only wishes for more swizzle sticks, which do not allow him to grow up to his gender role and face reality.
nadia zarate p.5
Deletein my opinion i think ginny is not deaf.if we read carefully we could notice in a few sentences she show not to be deaf.for instance, when ginny declares that she likes a girl(betty)Amanda is so shocked that she double checks with a "what?" and then ginny responds "whos the deaf one now?"this and a few other sentences in the play show that ginny is not deaf.I think she pretends to to not get too involved with the family and so by contrast it characterizes Jim, showing that in the glass menagerie he liked getting involved with Amanda,Laura and Tom.Another observation that i had is that as the glass menagerrie characterized Laura, the glass swizzle sticks characterize Lawrence. The glass swizzle sticks represents Lawrence in his non-masculinity because the swizzle stick(s) is a rod for mixing drinks, but if the rod is made out of glass the rod(could be intepreted as penis) is more delicate.The simple form of these swizzle sticks that is long and thin (scrawny) adds up to the non-muscular image.My last comment is that the author tried to tell us that in the Glass menagerie Laura had no opportunity to get a guy whatsoever,thats why in his play he made Lawrence gay to show this impossibility but in a much physical form.
a question that i have is...why does Tom call his sis (Lawrence) four eyes?? And why do only Laura and Jim change name and sex?
Kiara Walker
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Thanks for clearing up my question about Ginny's "deafness" everyone. (:
I responce to your question Nadia, I think that Durang only changed the sex of Laura and Jim because those were the two characters that annoyed him the most in "The Glass Menagerie." He was annoyed by Laura because she was so overly dramatic about her leg "defect" that she let it overcome her. Durange even says that he was "finding Laura's sensitivity frustrating." As a result, Durang decided to portray her as a male who was very sensitive and collected cocktail stirrers. This showed Laura, now Lawrenc, as a overly sensitive and whiny male who was "in touch with his feminine side"
As for Jim, I think that he was portrayed as a lesbian because Durang did not think the idea of a "gentleman caller" was practical. He was annoyed with the whole "arranged marriage" and "fairytale ending" that the idea gave, so he switched it up and made Jim a rude person who ignored the family.
In response to Sally Kang the swizzle sticks did have meaning by exaggerating Laura's lack of creativity and the uselessness of her glass menagerie. For example Lawrence deems one swizzle stick as Blue because it is blue, also he tells Tom to go to the drugstore and purchase more, contrasting with the uniqueness of Laura's figurines especially her favored unicorn. The swizzle sticks also are a phallic symbol, this parody switches the roles and the dependency. Lawrence being pathetic spends his time with cocktail stirrers as a symbol of his lack in masculinity and power.
ReplyDeleteIn response to many comments above, even though Tom shows regret for his actions he never acted with any kindness or compassion towards Laura, this was disguised by Laura's love for him. I believe there was a subtle incestuous relationship between Tom and Laura. In "For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls" when Ginny revealed that she already had a partner Tom was not surprised, and in fact knew she would not be suitable for Lawrence but he brought her home anyways. As this parody parallels "The Glass Menagerie" I think Tom knew Jim was engaged also, but brought him home to keep Laura for himself. Tom also speaks with his mother saying Laura is unlike other girls showing his lack of support and belief in the gentleman caller situation. Tom's subtle lack of compassion towards Laura is emphasized in "For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls" as he is openly and extremely rude and mean to Lawrence. It is also important to remember that "The Glass Menagerie" is a memory play, and Tom may seem so distant from Laura because he may have wanted to distance himself from his feelings for her, the reality of his memories, and the results of his actions.
In response to Kiara I believe that Jim and Laura's roles were reversed because this one act parody mainly focused on homosexuality and being different in society. By switching their gender Durang steps out of the typical patriarchal society and openly addresses Tennessee William's feelings towards being different as he was gay.
All in all I believe that the parody was an emphasis on homosexuality and societal views and pressures. The comedy included was for the benefit of those not familiar with Tennessee Williams work, and the exaggerations used focused on Laura's pathetic world of glass, Tom and Laura's distant relationship, and Laura's low self- esteem due to an unnoticeable ailment.