Monday, May 2, 2011
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.
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I really like reading the ruminations this week about casting choices for a staging of Volpone. I never made the connection between Volpone and Wall Street, and much like Jennie Morello's rumination (comparing the play to Goodfellas), I think you are dead on in your comparison. I also agree with your point about Volpone being a timeless piece of literature due to its focal points. Much like love, human issues such as greed, envy, hate, loss, etc. remain in the forefront of creative writing - and if they are executed with such wit and precision as Volpone is, they stand the tests of time. I enjoyed your casting and costume choices; RDJ WOULD SO BE PERFECT AS VOLPONE! I almost wish they would make a movie of this, keeping with the original costume and language, just so I could see your suggestions come to light. I also think it might be cool to do a Romeo+Juliet, Baz Luhrman sort of thing with the work - it could be fun to see how such a classic satire gets spun on contemporary movie screen.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Vick. When thinking of remaking old literature, Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet is always the first thing I think about. Hopefully we can get in touch with RDJ's agent.
ReplyDeletei think using Wall Street to imagine what Volpone would be like on stage is really insightful. After you pointed out how Volpone and Mosca resemble the Sheens in Oliver Stone's picture i could not be convinced that the movie characters were not in some way inspired by this classic play.
ReplyDeleteI really like your comparison of Volpone to Wall Street, David! I think these lines from Gordon to Bud, could be something a modern day Volpone might say to Mosca: "You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own. We make the rules, pal...You're walking around blind without a cane, pal. A fool and his money are lucky enough to get together in the first place."
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