film vs play

Oleanna film vs. Play

I think watching Oleanna made all of the interruptions more effective. I think the actors were able to handle the script well.  I had mixed feelings about carol, she seemed much more annoying when she followed him around the room, and complained that she was stupid, when you see an actual person just saying “I don’t understand” over and over, she becomes more detestable. However when she called him out on his hypocrisy and told him to let her talk and to stop “encouraging” her, I thought that had its merit and in the movie I had more sympathy for her. But hearing her talk about how all she wanted was “understanding” was much more annoying in the movie. I think facial expressions make her more detestable especially the loosely veiled smugness. I am wondering about the last image of boys throwing a football in the yard. I’m not sure why he included this, it reminded me of the last part of the play version of streetcar, and “the game is seven card stud.” It just zooms away from a severe situation back to a normal college campus, where boys throw footballs. I guess that could relate to the paradise of oleanna, a place that’s fun and joyful.

I found something interesting on Saumyas blog. She said that carol becomes a “highly manipulative strong woman,” and I think this is hard to define because of her group. Does Carol really transform or is she just the delivery system for her group? I think the movie visually highlights this by her change in costume. Nothing seems like she’s gradually reveals her intentions, its very much a before and after, in Act 1 she comes in a whiny, inarticulate, helpless student, then she comes back all business with an agenda. She doesn’t seem as emotional. Adrienne mentioned in class that she didn’t seem to be super self interested, she just did what she was told, followed protocol. I think this is right to a certain extent, she now has the support of a group and she wants to maintain loyalty, but I don’t think she really cares about such feminist issues. Watching the film I found myself getting annoyed with her lack of emotion during this part, her blank facial expression, her “I just want understanding” claim. She was angry with him because of her power over her in the first part, I think she just used her feminist group to gain leverage over him, and shame him in the name of protocol. To me she seemed dumber in the movie. In the book I was sort of impressed by her ability to take something out of context and use it to her advantage, I thought, “oh wow, maybe she’s not as thick as we thought.” But in the movie she seemed like she was regurgitating more, I guess. Her lack of emotion, makes it seem more like regurgitation of stuff the group told her, but lack of emotion makes her complaint justifiable, because its in the name of emotionless politic correctness.