great works ii – 2850 jta 12:25-2:05: love letters from the world

Regarding this excerpt of the film, I wanted to touch upon the directing and production aspect in the sense that the two are creatively similar. Through the film we’re able to see the characters feelings and sentiments whereas in the text, it is difficult to distinguish what the emotions of the characters are. The directing makes it easier to comprehend the situations and the relationships between the characters. For example, when Clov and Hamm are conversing it’s hard to tell what Clov’s reactions are towards Hamm’s demands. Although the two have had a lengthy history, it seems as if Clov is a personal servant to Hamm. However this can only be understood when watching the film as opposed to the text.
Farhan Zaman

The acting in the Endgame portrays the characters extremely differently then the text does. While reading the Endgame it was very difficult for me to picture emotion between the characters, whereas while watching the Endgame the acting allowed me to see emotional relationships between the characters. One idea I picked up on while reading the text was that Clov seemed like Hamm’s servant, however it was hard for me to understand Clov’s emotion toward serving Hamm. Around 33 minutes into the Endgame Hamm asks Clov how his legs and eyes are and Clov responds by saying bad, Hamm them says at least he can and walk but one day he won’t be able to. After Hamm says that to Clov, you are able to see Clov becomes sad by what Hamm says to him. When comparing this scene to the text, I was unable to pick up on any emotion from Clov whereas in the film you can see sadness.
Katarina Stojanovic
The creative direction of the film, the darkness, the lighting, the visuals are very obscure. I think the acting is horrible, and the setting seems darker and honestly, weirder than I expected from what I understood from the text. From the text the movie, the text didn’t give me the image that was portrayed in the movie. The scene around 33 minutes, it depicts how negative everything the world seems to them, no hope in sight, everything and everyone seems bitter. The only person that can see and move takes the negativity, and he has a little hope. Blackmail and threats is all I get out of this. But right after this Hamm is excited to play with the stuffed dog, so there’s some pure innocence that exist. So the moods flip flop quite drastically.
-Onu Mezbah

The text and the film where very different in my opinion. I was expecting to see something not so dark and specially not so dramatic. For example, while reading the text I was hoping that Hamm didn’t have his parents in trash cans and I thought that it was just a trick by Beckett.to capture the audience’s attention immediately but when I saw the film I realized it wasn’t a trick but a real setting. The imagery of having his parents in trash cans in the back corner, added to the make up production and how the room is set with him in the middle makes this piece extremely dull. Also, when reading the text, I imagined the relationship between Hamm and Glov to be more friendly or at least not so harsh but in minute 33 you see Hamm’s mental dominance over Glov. He uses very sharp words in an intent to scare Glov and convince him of things he didn’t want to do.
Joaquin Azcue

Rebecca:

We chose to do the scene 25 minutes into the play. Watching this scene, in specific, the acting of the actor who played Clov, really helped me conceptualize the character of Clov. In the story, I felt that Clov was in some way subservient to Hamm, but not in a very submissive way. It was apparent that he was stuck there, and serving Hamm, but I thought that he would have a more confident and strong nature. In the play, Clov appears as a very low esteem and submissive personality, never standing straight, and with scared facial expressions. Every time that Hamm tells Clov to stop, or “Wait,” or move to another place, Clov gets a panicked anxious facial expression, which was not clearly portrayed in the play. Even when Hamm asks Clov to “finish him,” I imagined Clov answering in a more powerful way, but even then, he answers in a scare tone and expression.

Songyun:

Hamm asks Clov to move him around on his chair and, as he can not see for himself, to hug the walls. Hamm directs Clov to return him back to his spot in the exact center. From the movie we can see Hamm is the protagonist of the play, though his unlikeable demeanor at times makes him the antagonist to his servant Clov. And Clov is the other protagonist of the play, the servant to Hamm despite his own infirmity. The movie is more actively than text. Hamm controls everyone in the play while having absolutely no control over himself or his environment. But from the text, we can feel more details expression from characters. Hamm’s great fear is that existence is cyclical. He wants to be left alone, but clings to Clov and does anything he can to pull him back into the room. He believes that nature is changing, though all evidence indicates that it has”zero” change.

Michelle:

One can describe The Endgame as a different and ‘weird’ play. The scenery of the play is really dark, dull, and plain. The costume of the characters contribute to the scenery of the play because it adds on to how ‘dull’ the play is meant to be. In this scene in the story, it doesn’t really describe how the characters are dressed, facial expressions, or make up looks that help the reader understand the appearance of Clov and Hamm. As for the movie, the costume designs definitely allow the reader to understand and feel how and why they are dressed and look the way they are. Hamm is wearing a thick coat in a dark brown blue-ish color with a grey blanket over his legs. He is also wearing a dark brown hat, with small, black tinted glasses. His hair is long, grey and all messed up. Clov is dressed in a navy blue cardigan with a light blue shirt under and black pants. Both Clov and Hamm’s clothing look dull and worn out which allows the reader to understand the kind of feeling Beckett wanted the express which in my opinion, with the costume design and the scenario he chose, I get a depressing and anxious feeling.

The scene that we focused on came a little more than halfway through the movie at the 54 minute mark, when Nagg is speaking to Hamm. In the text, the author, Samuel Beckett, did not specify what reaction Hamm was having as he heard his father tell him, “I hope the day will come when you’ll really need me to listen to you, and need to hear my voice, any voice.” (p.786). However, the director of the play chose to circle around Hamm’s face and zoom into his facial expression. The director of the play tries to show that Hamm is coming to a realization that what he is doing with his parents is wrong. Hamm has a facial expression that showcases some sort of guilt, as if he is feeling repentance for having treated his father so bad. This is the last time that Nagg is seen in the play.

 Jiwoo Han:

    This production has many more dynamic aspects than the text and gave more understanding of the text. Especially, I very much enjoyed Hamm’s and Clov’s facial expressions while watching it. Sometimes, their facial expressions helped me better understand the intent of the director. I watched about the last 20 minutes and I found the clear-cut difference between the production and the text. Hamm asks Clov for his pain-killer and Clov says that there is no more pain-killer. In the text on page 791, their conversation seemed to me that it is an everyday conversation with the words which are empty of meaning. But, in the production, when Hamm asked for pain-killer and said “Ah! At last! Give it to me! Quick!”, Clov answered with an abrupt facial expression that “There’s no more pain-killer”. His facial expression was like I know what is coming in the end and it is high time to begin to change. In my opinion, this production provides a greater understanding of the story.

Susanna Domosi:

I agree with Jiwoo that the production brought much more light to the meaning of the story through the expression of the actors. Another element that I observed while watching the last 20-30 minutes of the production is how much the use of costumes can bring more insight to a work. While reading the script, Beckett does not exactly describe the attire of Hamm and Clov. Many clues throughout the script and the period during which Beckett wrote “Endgame” during communicate that the story takes place post apocalypse, or post atomic bomb attacks. The costumes of Clov and Hamm illustrate that they are living in the Cold War Era, the time period that followed World War II during which the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki took place. Clov is wearing a button down shirt and vest with a tie, also known as work attire. To contrast this outfit, Hamm is wearing a robe and a blanket. This brings meaning to the fact that Clov is in essence a worker and is present to serve Clov. Even though Clov does not officially work for Hamm which can be proven by Clov’s pondering on page 792 “There’s one thing I’ll never understand. Why I always obey you,” Their interactions based on the script  and attire based on the production illustrate that Clove is in a sense, a laborer of Hamm’s.

Daphne Young:

I agree with both Jiwoo and Susanna, the production helped me to understand more in depth what was happening in Endgame. Facial expressions, like Jiwoo explained, helped to understand the mood and feelings of the characters. The costumes, like Susanna mentioned, helped me to further understand the dialogue references as it may give us an insight as to when the story took place.

Another thing I believe that the production provided, that helped to understand the story better, that the script didn’t was the tone of voice that the characters used when speaking. Although the script did sometimes mention when a dialogue was spoken sarcastically, in the production the tones that’s the actors had throughout the story helped me to understand when they were being sarcastic, angry, upset, and even happy.

We chose to look at the last 20-30 minutes of the movie End Game. I focused on the acting during the final scene and how it compared to the writing in the book. One thing that stood out to me right away was the emotion and anger between Hamm and Clov in the production. It was hard to sense that emotion while reading the book. Although I could tell that they weren’t happy with each other while reading the book, I wasn’t able to get a full grasp of their emotions. It almost seemed like a regular conversation in the book. However once I watched the production, I was able to see that there was more anger and animosity between them than what was portrayed in the book. This difference is what stood out most to me while watching the production of End Game.

-Muneeb Khan

Nicole:

The part of the play we chose was at 41:00 when Clov is talking to Hamm and Hamm asks Clov if he’s tired of doing what he’s been doing and Clov says he is. They agree that if Clov leaves he will set an alarm clock to go off so he know he will no longer return. The whole play takes place in the living room. The movie makes it feel a lot more lonely, empty and cold whereas the book describes what it looks like but doesn’t emphasize it as much. In the film, we notice the clothes the characters are dressed in which makes it seem like they’re in a cold dark room. (Jacket, gloves, hat) In the movie, Clov appears to be more enthusiastic to explain what he will do when he leaves Hamm. He seems excited to have come up with the alarm clock idea and eventually leave Hamm although the book kind of shows us that Clov very much cares for Hamm.

Maria:

When reading the story I imagined the setting to be more complete than how it is depicted in the movie. In the movie, the characters are wearing dark clothing and presented in a dark room with light shining only on the actors as the camera is directed at them. The acting in the movie allows the read to visualize the text in a better way as it shines light on the expressions that the characters have in the story. On page 783, Hamm tells Clov, “To hell with the universe… Think of something.” and Clov responds “Wait! Yes… Yes! I have it! I set the alarm.” and although the text states the actions of Clov, the movie shows animated expressions of his face and his reaction to thinking of an idea. Although Hamm is unable to see Clov’s expressions, in the movie, Clov acts with very distinctive expressions. When Clov rings the alarm clock, he is grinning, showing how proud he is of his idea and Hamm is looking concerningly as he is unsure and unimpressed of Clov’s idea. This allows the reader to paint a better picture in their mind of the relationship Hamm and Clov have.

Movie time: 30 minute mark through 45 minute

In the book: Pg 778-784

Joseph Morreale: costume design

A big difference that I encountered when comparing the text to the production was how the characters were dressed and how the characters acted. After reading the text i was able to imagine how I thought the scene would be set up and how the characters would be dressed. When we then watched the film my prediction was completely wrong. The film pictured the characters dressed in dirty and old looking clothes. They seem to not have showered in a long time since their fingers were black. The sheet that was put over Hamm while he slept was very dirty as well. From the text i did not get the impression that the house and the characters were dirty and so dark. I also think that the only way to correctly picture Hamm’s parents are to watch the film. It is very difficult just by reading the text to fully understand that the parents live in a garbage can and are expressed as pale white and looking similar to a corpse. The plot of the text and the film is very similar just the costume design and the setting i would have thought would have been a little different.

Bintou Samura – acting

In this scene, Clov and Hamm are arguing again , Clov threatens to leave him . Only in the production while watching you could kind of see the frustration and feel the tension. Though the acting in the production is still rather calm like the book. In the book both Clov and Hamm are acting as if they’re having a normal conversation. Even though its aware that they are fighting , the acting doesn’t execute the situation enough. There’s a lack of expression as well because I think they could’ve showed their expressions much more or had it been more detailed. When they were happy they weren’t happy enough, when they were angry they weren’t angry enough and finally when they were sad they weren’t sad enough. The whole reading of the play the actors felt dull.

Keauna- directing

For this short excerpt of the book and film, the directing for the most part is similar. However, in the film, there are some things that are different. Which I believe helps convey the emotions of the character/actors more vividly. For example, the part where Hamm is asking Clov questions. As written in the book:  “CLOV Yes. [He looks at Hamm fixedly.] You were that to me.” Instead in the film, Clov says this, but he doesn’t look at Hamm, he’s more so staring off into space. The camera is more focused on Clov face, and the blurred outline of Hamm is in the background. I think that by not letting Clov look at Hamm and the camera staying more focused on his facial expression gives us a hint at what he is feeling or that he’s realizing the situation he is in and will continue to be in for the rest of his days.

I watched around 30 minutes of the production, starting with page 775. The biggest contrast between the production and the text is the directing. For instance, the tone of voice that the actors choose to use or the director tells them to use. I did not notice how angry at each other Hamm and Clov are throughout the whole play. It becomes very distinct once the director shows the anger in their faces and the loud, bitter tones in their voices. This is shown in the scene where Hamm rants about Clov one day being alone on page 779. Hamm is almost yelling at the top of his lungs after Clov says, “I cant sit down,” but the text merely says Hamm is impatient. I also noticed how the director really emphasized the humor when Clov was pushing Hamm around trying to find the center of the room from page 776. This comical aspect stood out much more in the production than in the text because of the amount of bantering the characters do back in forth. Overall, the directing was very similar to the text, but I definitely think the director emphasized some emotions and parts more so than others.

Thanks to all! Many of your questions are provocative and engaging! Some problems to consider:

• It will not be a good idea to compare/contrast two texts for this assignment, as it’s a relatively short essay.
• Look again at your question, and brainstorm about what is engaging for you. Robert Frost said, interestingly, “No discovery in the writer, no discovery in the reader.” In other words, if you’re not interested, no one else will be either, so really think about how you can make this question an exploration.
• After you decide what is truly engaging for you, try to narrow your focus of exploration. Try to get at something very specific.
• Remember the intent of this essay. Some of you are forgetting the journey model (it needs to be a part of the thesis) so read the assignment sheet, again, and ask questions in class.

Some of the more effective questions are (and although all of these could use some honing, but essentially are quite thoughtful). Remember, these are only questions, not thesis statements:

Jorge M.: In Franz Kafka’s “Judgement,” Georg’s father exclaims that all this time, Georg has only cared about himself and no one else. Do you agree with the father’s remarks? Is there anything that Georg is not able to see or perhaps does not want to see like the example of the prisoners in “Plato’s Allegory of the Cave?”

Daphne: In “The Metamorphosis” by Kafka, Gregor turns into a cockroach and we see how the people in his life react to this transformation. Although Gregor suffers this tragedy some people in his life (including Gregor himself) do not react realistically, how does Gregor in “The Metamorphosis” relate to Aristotle’s Tragic Hero model? Specifically, how does Gregor’s metamorphosis help him to gain more awareness and self-discovery?

Jiwoo: Does Gregor’s family in the “Metamorphosis” merely hate Gregor’s physical appearance? Is there anything the family does not see or does not want to see like the prisoners who do not see the outside world in the “Plato’s Allegory of the Cave“?

Susanna: Describe how the imagery in The Metamorphosis compares and contrasts to Freud’s idea of the subconscious. Is the subconscious of Gregor what leads to his downfall and eventual death?

Jacqueline:  Does Bartleby have the trait of nobility like that of a tragic hero or does his story actually exemplify an anti- hero because of his lack of response to the issue at hand?

1. The five stages of grief are a framework for how people deal with loss. Although mainly associated with death, there are other types of loss as well. How does Gregor Samsa’s family display the five stages of grief after ‘losing’ him?
2. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the prisoners in the cave somehow fail to see the outside truth, perhaps because they are in denial. How does  the narrator from Life of the Sensuous Woman display this?