Creative Engagement: Forbidden Planet

When researching further adaptations for the play, "The Tempest", there were none that were nearly as interest as "Forbidden Planet". "Forbidden Planet" was made in 1956 and although it is not completely similar to "The Tempest", it is close enough to be entertaining. Leslie Nielson (The Naked Gun movies) is the lead role and plays a character similar to Ferdinand. This movie takes plays in the 24th Century and Leslie Nieslon's character is a captain of a spaceship that decides to enter an uninhabited planet where only two people live. These people are Dr. Morbius (Prospero) and his daughter Altaira (Miranda). ONe of the differences that made me laugh is that Altaira is 19, not 15. This is due to the sexual implications of the film. These are the similarities of the film to the play. However, there is one key difference between the two stories; "Forbidden Planet" has nothing to do with forgiveness. It is instead substituted with a pretty entertaining Sci-Fi plot. This difference begs the question, should a film like "Forbidden Planet" with such a great thematic difference, still be considered an adaptation? I have embedded the trailer for the film below to possibly help decide.

Adaptation Adapted and The Importance of Art in Society

The brilliance of authors is proven sometimes by the amount of times in which they are adapted. Stories are adapted and used again because the message of a specific human emotion is so important that it needs to be revisited. I compared "Volpone" to "Wall Street" last week and a fellow classmate compared it to "Goodfellas". This displays the brilliance of Jonson as an author. However, no author will ever achieve the flattery level of adaptation as well as Shakespeare. It is true that the movie affected me on an emotional level. The portrayal of Sammie as a caring, intelligent, and grief-ridden human being who then gets denied parole was undoubtedly a tear-jerking moment. Nonetheless, the film actually hit me greater on an artistic level. It did not make me feel more artistic, but instead showed me the great need and importance for art at a societal level.

The need and relevance for art in society is understood as important but I sense that many feel skeptical about the subject. The inmates are proof of its importance because they are able to learn how to fix themselves through the story of "The Tempest". Proof of this is seen when "Big G" attempts to discover "Caliban", the character he is playing in their production. He first portrays the character as a pure monster, who awkwardly lumbers around with no emotion or care. He then gets stopped by the director and his fellow actors because they understood something about the art. They understood that even though the world viewed Caliban as a monster, he had feelings and emotions just like anyone else. I would argue that this is the thesis of "Shakespeare Behind Bars". Big G and the other inmates realized that every person, no matter what they do, has real emotions. They could now use this information created by art, to make themselves truly better people.

More proof of how the adaptation of great art helped the inmates is with Red's realizations through the character Miranda. Red is able to deal with is bisexuality through Miranda as well as dealing with parental issues that plagued his life. This is proof that the archetypes already established by great authors should not be ignored due to a lack of creativity, but instead developed further to create a new kind of message.

A movie that attempts to find the archetypes of contemporary writing is the movie "Adaptation". Attempting to summarize the movie would be a true nightmare, but the video that I posted below does a pretty good job of showing the struggle of an author attempting to be fresh and creative. The story is about a screenwriter attempting to adapt a book into a movie, which is what the screenwriter of the actual movie did. If you understand that, than the movie is right for you. The youtube video below is comically titled "Adaptation Adapted". Enjoy!

Volpone: Greed is Good

When reading "Volpone", I could not help but see the extraordinary similarities between it and the movie "Wall Street". Above, I have posted the most famous scene from the legendary film that sums up the greed that surrounds Volpone as well as the 1980's. Volpone's opens with one of his famous speeches by saying "Hail the world's soul and mine! More glad than is/The teeming earth to see the longed-for sun/Peep through the horns of the celestial Ram". I believe this is comparable to Gekko's a speech and is one of the many similarities that is shared between the two stories. Pre-Crazy Charlie Sheen plays Bud Fox in the movie Wall Street, a character who is extremely similar to Mosca. Michael Douglas plays the infamous Gordon Gekko, with the same initial financial success and desire for greed that Volpone has. Mosca and Bud both respect and work under their respective leaders at the beginning of their stories, but at the end attempt to sabotage them. Also, Volpone and Gekko end up in jail at the end of their stories.

It is hard to imagine all of the similarities being a complete coincidence as some of the plot was probably stolen from Volpone. Nonetheless, the movie "Wall Street" proves that the story written by Ben Jonson is one that will last throughout time because it explicitly deals with greed; a character flaw that will probably never vanish in civilization. Due to the fact that the lessons of greed are lessons that can stand the tests of time, I think a contemporary version of the play is unnecessary. That may sound contradictory, but I think it is important for historical purposes to keep the play how it is written in 1600's Venice.

Since the times of Shakespeare and Jonson were so similar, I could not help but to imagine the costumes of the story in the same way that I envision Shakespearean plays I have seen in the past. I imagine Volpone in one of those funny looking dressy shirts and stockings with a boatload of ruffles. I would always have Volpone wearing dark green to symbolize the color of money and greed. Makeup would also have to be worn for his fake sickness. I would have Celia wearing a big, long white dress to symbolize her purity and innocence. I would always have Mosca looking dirty and wearing a black suit to represent him always lurking in the darkness somewhere. When thinking about actors to play these characters my immediate thought was Michael Douglas to play Volpone. However, Douglas' character Gordon Gekko does not have the fun kind of energy that the character embodies. He is also too old in my mind. I would instead pick Robert Downey Jr. to play Volpone. I feel that he could fully embody the entire character of Volpone. For the character Mosca, I would choose John Turturro because he could incorporate a mix of servitude with a growing sense of dignity. I would choose Scarlett Johannsen to play Celia because she is ridiculously good looking and I could see an innocence in her.

Creative Engagement - Week 10 - "Wells' Modern Utopia"

 

An interesting comparison of More's "Utopia" could be H.G. Wells version of "A Modern Utopia". In this story, Wells compares many of the same things in society that More does. One of these things is a description of what a Utopian man would look like. His description a Utopian Man doesn't seem to fit the narrator's ideal which is different from some of the images that we find in More's Utopia. It does not seem proven that Wells' Utopia is in fact the Utopia that he desires. Instead, it feels more of a science fiction based story but the similarites of discussion society are the same. Wells'' goes into discussion of economics, education, and religion just like More. The comparison's to More's story are extremely noticeable and I enjoyed reading parts of Wells' "A Modern Utopia" because I could compare the two stories. I found a reliable link to the story online and DARE you to at least take a little time out to the read a passage or two. Here is the link: http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/modern-utopia/3/

The Accessibility of Utopia to Modern Day Readers

The Accessibility of Utopia to Modern Day Readers

Sir Thomas More’s “Utopia” was written around 500 odd years ago in a different country and language, yet it is still a valid link to a contemporary understanding of the nature of human beings, of social norms, and morals. Through More's Utopia, it becomes evident that the trans-historical and trans-cultural nature of the text emerges through More's conscious and subconscious inclusion of universal human truths, in particular those of happiness, money and values, which allows the reader a higher quality of textual engagement and insight.

While More may be intending to simply tell the story of a traveler's voyages and sagas, it is his inclusion of these certain universal values and beliefs that readily transcend from his 15th century pen to the my understanding of the story.  In the text itself, a surprising incorporation by More is the inclusion of himself as an actual major character, with the other being the protagonist Raphael Hythlodaeus, a bearded traveler of the world. The inclusion of More in the story is one of the reasons why the story is so accessible. The character of More certainly reflects Sir Thomas More and due to Sir More’s ability to incorporate his beliefs, the story begins to exhibit a greater meaning. It is due to More’s pure genius partially.

Another way that the story survives throughout time is through many of the underlying themes. One theme being the difference between a person’s moral take on society and the real take on society. Everyone has an idea of what they expect or want society to be like. Then, there is the reality of society. This difference can strain people and frustrate them. Utopia is so easy to relate to because everybody wants to have their ideal society realized. It can be argued that More’s Utopia didn’t totally match his ideal. However, it was a society that he was much more accepting of.

One tool that More effectively uses is satire to connect modern day readers. Satire like More’s is used today which makes it very relatable. The Colbert Report is an excellent example of the use of political satire which More would probably greatly appreciate. The name “Utopia” literally means “no place” which sets the tone for the stories satirical nature. One example of satire that relates to modern day satire is when the Utopians ban their lawyers because they are "clever practitioners and sly interpreters of the law." This is a satirical remark because it is both funny, yet sets the standard talk about something serious. Other satirical remarks that can relate to modern readers are criticisms of church practices, political corruption, and social ills. Parody and humor allow More to expose areas of legitimate concern, even if it is indirectly. Political satire usually stirs an opinion in any person which is possibly the strongest connecting theme of them all.

The Savages Were Courteous?

    In the online link, the Norton Anthology describes people who were irreducibly alien as having a "surprising instability in the Elizabethan Imagination". This may be seen by some as startling initially due to the propaganda-natured writing that was assigned this week. It would appear that nearly all of the writing portrays the Natives in a negative light. However, in a more focused second pass reading it appears that the authors of these discoveries could not help but to feel some form of respect for the natives.
    In George Best’s discourse of “Frobisher’s Voyages”, it is obvious that Best wanted to perceive the native Eskimos in a negative light. The initial thing to notice is that he calls the savages. However, in the first interaction between the “savages” and his own crew, Best explains that “Our men offered them like kindness aboard our ships, but neither admitted or trusted the other’s courtesy” (929). The words to note in this quotation are “likeness and courtesy”. These are two characteristics that one would be tough to attribute to a savage and it appears that Best almost accidentally called the Natives this. Another contradiction made by Best is when he describes the houses of the Eskimos on “Countess’s Island”. He initially labels them as “poor caves and houses” (931) but then concedes that the “whales’ bones... were handsomely compacted in the top together” (931). He admires the Eskimos after he disapproves of them. The most peculiar part of Best’s document is how he decided to end it. Best writes that “when we made him signs that they were slain and eaten, he earnestly denied, and made signs to the contrary” (932). The word to focus on is “earnestly” because it is an adjective that Best did not have to add. He did it to show the seriousness and sincerity that the Eskimo showed. This also puts the Eskimos into a somewhat positive light which could be seen as a conflicting view that Best might have been faced with.
    The accounts of Drakes landing in California also provides a positive light for the natives that were encountered. Although these accounts do not explicitly label the natives as “savages”, the accounts do spend enough time on the topic of sacrificing, that the intent to implicitly call the natives “savages” is clear. However, the text also displays a strong for of respect for the natives. One of the first things that Drake’s account admits is a certain affinity for the natives king, as they describe him as of “goodly stature and comely personage” (933). The accounts also explain the natives initial reaction to Christianity. The text reads that the natives “were greatly affected” by the scriptures of Christianity. It does go on to explain that they restored back to their original religious ways. Nonetheless, it should be viewed as important that the natives were affected by the religion for at least some time because it shows that the natives could someday be “saved”. Although “The Wider World” is ladened with intense propaganda, it should still be noted that there is a form of conflict that spans all of the accounts of travel, in regards to their native counterparts.

"The Rising Sun" is Aubade Poetry? Not Quite

    The use of metaphysical dialogue in John Donne poetry is what gives him his originality. It is then  accurate to infer that Donne uses metaphysical themes to change the lyrical “aubade” form of poetry forever with “The Sun Rising”. The Norton Anthology understands “aubade” to partially mean “a lover’s dawn song or lyric” (A51). For this requirement, Donne succeeds as the poem is about the rising hours of the morning. However, the definition continues by claiming that in aubade poetry the lover “bewails the arrival of the day and the necessary separation of the lovers” (A51). Due to this definition, “The Sun Rising” should not be included as a good example of aubade poetry.
    The first contradiction between “The Sun Rising” and the definition of “aubade” was the description of aubade including a lover bewailing. In the Oxford-English Dictionary “bewailing” is defined as “to utter wailings or cries of sorrow over”. There is no point in the poem when the narrator is wailing or crying. The narrator is instead very confident and defiant to the sun. The narrator says “Go tell court huntsmen that the king will ride” (7). The narrator feels confident enough to tell the sun what to do. He feels so self-assured in the power of love that he believes “I could eclipse and cloud them (the suns beams) with a wink” (13). This does not sound like a bewailing lover but quite the opposite.  The definition of aubade also claims that the poetry is supposed to have a “necessary separation of lovers”. Nonetheless, near the end of the poem is where the lovers seem more connected that ever. “That’s done in warming us. Shine here to us” (29-30) the narrator claims as he uses the word us to prove that the love he shares is much more powerful than the “busy old fool” (1).  One could even go so far as claiming that the narrator is mocking the sun. It should not be considered a stretch that the title “The Sun Rising” could easily be inferred as a sexual pun. He calls the sun a “saucy pedantic wretch” (5) The second stanza of the poem, with a clearly ocular theme, claims that the narrator’s lover could blind the sun. If this this doesn’t elicit a confident tone than nothing will.
    After claiming how much “The Sun Rising” is not a good example of aubade poetry, I found it only fair to find a good example of what could be considered aubade poetry. I had to look no further than the poem titled “Aubade” (seriously) by Philip Larkin. This poem commands the tone of real fear and sorrow of the upcoming dawn that aubade poetry should incorporate. Bewailing is a clear theme of this poem as the narrator claims “Unresting death, a whole day nearer now, Making all thought impossible but how” (5-6). Finding two lovers in Larkin’s poem was much harder than in Donne’s but after examination the lover’s seem to be the narrator and time, and in this sense, there most definitely is a “necessary separation”. Read Larkin's poem to try asking yourself what should be considered aubade poetry.

Aubade

I work all day, and get half-drunk at night.
Waking at four to soundless dark, I stare.
In time the curtain-edges will grow light.
Till then I see what's really always there:
Unresting death, a whole day nearer now,
Making all thought impossible but how
And where and when I shall myself die.
Arid interrogation: yet the dread
Of dying, and being dead,
Flashes afresh to hold and horrify.
The mind blanks at the glare. Not in remorse
- The good not done, the love not given, time
Torn off unused - nor wretchedly because
An only life can take so long to climb
Clear of its wrong beginnings, and may never;
But at the total emptiness for ever,
The sure extinction that we travel to
And shall be lost in always. Not to be here,
Not to be anywhere,
And soon; nothing more terrible, nothing more true.

This is a special way of being afraid
No trick dispels. Religion used to try,
That vast, moth-eaten musical brocade
Created to pretend we never die,
And specious stuff that says No rational being
Can fear a thing it will not feel, not seeing
That this is what we fear - no sight, no sound,
No touch or taste or smell, nothing to think with,
Nothing to love or link with,
The anasthetic from which none come round.

And so it stays just on the edge of vision,
A small, unfocused blur, a standing chill
That slows each impulse down to indecision.
Most things may never happen: this one will,
And realisation of it rages out
In furnace-fear when we are caught without
People or drink. Courage is no good:
It means not scaring others. Being brave
Lets no one off the grave.
Death is no different whined at than withstood.

Slowly light strengthens, and the room takes shape.
It stands plain as a wardrobe, what we know,
Have always known, know that we can't escape,
Yet can't accept. One side will have to go.
Meanwhile telephones crouch, getting ready to ring
In locked-up offices, and all the uncaring
Intricate rented world begins to rouse.
The sky is white as clay, with no sun.
Work has to be done.
Postmen like doctors go from house to house.
Philip Larkin