The major feature about Jacobean plays is the theme of society’s moral corruption. Other features are violence, revenge, and overall what we can define as “dirty feelings”.
The movie I chose follows the description of Jacobean drama very closely. The movie I chose was “Sleepers” with Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Kevin Bacon, Dustin Huffman, among others. The movie is about a group of kids, all best friends. The kids don’t have stable homes and spend all day on the streets getting in all kinds of trouble. The only person who seems to care for them and their future is a priest played by Robert De Niro.
One day just looking to “have fun” the kids knock off a hot dog cart. When trying to escape from the angry vendor, the kids knock the cart off the subway stairs and almost kill an elderly man. This is when the real story begins. The boys are sentenced to a year at Wilkinson Home for Boys. A place where they are abused and raped on a daily basis. A guard played by Kevin Bacon, makes their lives miserable for no reason, just because he is an evil person who enjoys harming the innocence on kids. The portion of the movie when they are being victims of rapes and humiliations are clear representations of society’s moral corruption and violence, which I mentioned are the main themes in Jacobean drama.
The experience changed the kid’s lives forever. After many years pass by, revenge comes. One night at a bar they recognize the guard who made suffer so much and shoot him dead. When the trial comes and they have to face murder charges for killing a man, the only thing that can help them is the testimony of the priest who after all, always looked out for them. At the end they are declared not guilty and celebrate the revenge.
I watched “Sleepers” when I was 14 years old. At the time I couldn’t really understand what was going on in the movie. All I was able to appreciate was the horrendous violence and abuse the kids suffered, how they were able to finally have a revenge, and how the priest testimony helped them avoid legal punishment for killing their abusers.
Here is the link to the preview and the full movie. It has very strong scenes of sex abuse and violence.
The British-French movie, Damage is greatly influenced by the jacobean era of drama. In the movie, the protagonist, Stephen Fleming is a member of the British Parliament who leads a perfect life with his wife, an older son, and a teenage daughter. However, everything changes in his well organized life when he meets Anna Barton, his son Martyn’s girlfriend. From the beginning, Stephen and Anna feels an immense attraction towards each other, and eventually get involve in a sexual relationship; secretly which is one of the aspects of jacobean drama. As the time passes, Stephen becomes over possessive of Anna to the point where he starts spying on his son and Anna on their weekend getaway in paris. After seeing her with his son in their hotel bedroom, he decides to break and damage all his relationship with his family just to be with her, but she stops him by reasoning that if she stays with his son, then it will give him direct access to her. Later in the movie, Anna also agrees to marry Martyn which devastases Stephen. From this little overview of the movies’s plot it’s apparent that the movie contains many elements of jacobean drama; one of which is incest. Though, in this case Stephen and Anna’s relationship is not illegal, but it definetly is morally wrong for him to get involved with his son’s possible future wife. There is also another direct reference of incest in the movie in the form of Anna’s deceased brother. According to the movie, when Anna was fifteen, her brother saw her kissing one of their common friend, Peter, and it infuriated him. In his obssesive jealousy, he confronted Anna about it, and also expressed his desire for her. Angry and scared Anna then locked herself in her bedroom, and didn’t come out even after her brother plead and apologized to her all night by standing in front of the closed door. Next morning, when she came out of her bedroom, she found out that her brother had committed suicide. Here, her brother’s incestuous feeling is both morally and legally wrong, and it leads to a horrible outcome. Similarly, Stephen and Anna’s relationship also leads to great misfortune when Martyr catches them red-handed in one of their tryst, and in his utter shock dies by falling from the stairway railing. These happenings of unfortunate events in the movie are also another characteristic of jacobean drama as most jacobean dramas ends in tragedy, and in the movie both incestuous relationship ends up being the reason behind someone’s death-a great tragedy.
Another, aspect of jacobean drama is over the top violence. Though there is no direct showcase of violence in the movie, but it is indirectly represented through Stephen and Anna’s intimate scenes. Their sex scenes couldn’t be termed as pleasant or loving as it is portrayed in a forbidding and brutal manner. I believe, this is an indirect reference to the jacobean drama’s violence, and also another reference to their incestuous relationship.
Below, I added the trailer of the movie, and if anybody is interested then you can watch the movie by clicking here
The movie I picked for this assignment was ‘Gone Girl’ and the scene was somewhere in the middle where Amy Elliott-Dunne, kills Desi Collings during a sex scene. The movie has to do with the disappearance of Amy, and some believe her to be dead because of her husband Nick Dunne. The general public believe he is her killer because of certain circumstances that occur making him out to be the killer. After a while we see Amy, alive and well in another state in a facade trying to run away from her past life and her past relationship with her husband. Turns out she actually framed her husband for being unfaithful in their relationship and has planned for weeks to frame him for her “death” by sending him to specific places and planting certain things that could be used as evidence against him in the case for her murder. To free himself from the accusations of the general public Nick goes to Amy’s ex lovers and asks about her. Turns out she has been crazy for a while and even accused one of her old lovers of raping her. After Amy gets robbed by her “friendly” neighbors, she goes to her Desi to find comfort and protection.
After seeing her husband in the news apologizing for the way he acted during their marriage her feelings for him come back and are alive and kicking. While having sex with Desi, she slices his throat and is covered in his blood. Then she heads home to Nick and tells everyone that Desi had kidnapped her and raped her. To prove this, she planted some false evidence against him while staying with him after seeing her husband on the news. She then impregnates herself by using her husbands semen from a condom so that he will not leave her and not be able to tell the public she framed him and the crimes she has committed. Later on, they announce to the public that they have a child coming.
I believe the scene of Amy killing Desi is a Jacobean scene because it shows us the characteristics of a Jacobean scene. First we see that there is adultery when Nick cheats on Desi. Then out of the betrayal, come the lies and secrets from Amy’s side as she frames not only her husband for her murder but Desi for kidnapping her. I believe, like in most Jacobean scenes, the characteristics ultimately lead to a death scene, and in this case, it is the death of Desi. In plays like Macbeth, The Duchess of Malfi, and the Oresteia, there are circumstances in which the characteristics lead to someones death, and in some cases they are the protagonist themselves. In this story though, Death doesn’t visit Nick, but he does visit Desi, a casualty that got caught in a maelstrom of drama.
The movie I choose for this topic is “Die Hard” in this movie it shows the horrific scene of terrorist and violence. In this movie John McClane whose a cop goes to Los Angeles to reunite with his family during Christmas. His wife Holly decided to attend a Christmas party that was held by her employee in a Plaza Hotel. While the party is going on, German terrorists led by Hans attempts robbery, when they arrive it caused chaos. The terrorist carried explosives and guns around them. Gruber whose involved in the terrorist group sent two more men to stop McClane from interfering with their plan. McClane kills both of them and stopped the explosives from working. For ruining their plan they got even more furious and used announcements to warn McClane that they were going to kill Ellis. Ellis whom then was forced to tell Gruber the cops true identity, being as McClane. The hostage includes employee and the wife of McClane. McClane attempts to alert the police by setting off the fire alarm however, it failed to work. Therefore John McClane attempts to save everyone by himself, including those who were held on hostage and his wife Holly. Eventually Gruber found out through the news that Holly Gennero is McClane’s wife. Gruber threatens McClane to not interfere with their escape by putting his wife Holly in hostage. Holly’s life was in danger where she was stuck in the room with Gruber. As McClane tried to save her, he realized that he was only left with a few bullets. As McClane attempts to kill Gruber with the bullets, Gruber ends up falling backwards and down the window. It didn’t work as planned Gruber held on his wife watch tightly, dragging her down the window with him. McClane reacted quickly and attempts to save his wife by taking off her watch, which caused Gruber to fall down himself. In this movie McClane continuously suffer from humiliation and defeat as he attempt to save his family and survive. He was defeated a few times when they tried to threaten and intimidate him through the announcements to not interfere with what they are doing. However McClane continues to try and protect everyone from any harm.
Through my understanding of this movie, this is a Jacobean drama based on the violence and how it deals with McClane who tried to help everyone get out of the situation their in. I feel like McClane whose the protagonist in this movie, tired to save everyone who was held hostage. Gruber being the antagonist whom was involved in the German terrorist and tried many ways to threaten and intimidate McClane into letting them go. As a result there is always a consequence an example would be right when McClane whom interfered with their plan resulted people who were innocent died. However McClane end up saving those from the German terrorist according to his plans without the cops help.
The trailer of this movie:
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(This is the Korean original, and differs slightly from the 2013 American remake.)
Oldboy is a story of a businessman who is mysteriously kidnapped and held captive in a motel-like prison. The prison has motel-like amenities, such as a bed and television, but has no windows and is reinforced to prevent escape. He is regularly fed with food presented through a slot in the door, and is also gassed on a regular basis when contact with his captors is necessary. He learns of his wife’s death through the news, which also points him as the primary suspect. He is released fifteen years later as suddenly as when he was kidnapped, who then decides to seek answers and revenge.
The story follows a similar vein as Jacobean dramas; it is a story of violence, revenge, jealousy, and incest. The initial capture is fueled by the antagonist’s jealousy and desire for revenge. The protagonist’s path for answers is particularly violent: the film contains extended fight scenes between the protagonist and gang members and henchmen. Some of the violence is also symbolic from a traditionally Korean or Asian point of view; I missed a few of the references myself until someone informed me about them. What makes this film stand out for many viewers is the theme of incest. It plays an important role in the characters’ memories and flashbacks, and most importantly, it is key to the revenge plot.
The feel of the film overall, personally, is one of despair. From the kidnapping to the protagonist’s search for answers, it is an outrageous world that should not exist, yet it feels real enough that you feel helpless watching the awful events unfold. I felt something similar while reading The Duchess of Malfi, especially when I somewhat knew of the ending before starting the book. Oldboy, in many ways, is a work similar in theme with Jacobean dramas.
I picked the movie “Oldboy” as the story of the movie relates to Jacobean drama which involves revenge, incest and violence. The movie starts as Joe Doucett, the main character of the movie who has a daughter and is no longer in contact with his wife wakes up in room which he later realized is a prison. He was left there without any clue of how and why he was there. He was left there with a television and was able to watch the news and he found out that he was sentenced to prisonment because he murdered his own wife. After 20 years in prison, he was unexpectedly released as he wakes up in a box together with his daughter’s picture, a cellphone and a timer. He planned his revenge to find why and who did that to him the whole time he was in that small room for 20 years. He then meets a nurse named Marie who’s willing to help him seek justice, revenge and find his daughter named Mia. Joe and Marie were together in a hotel and they make love. He meets another stranger Adrian who challenged him that he will show him evidence of his involvement to the murder of his wife and reveal where his daughter is. Joe later on realized the news about her daughter Mia that he saw on TV while he was in prison was fake. Adrian is the one who raised the nurse Marie who happens to be actually Mia, Joe’s missing daughter. Joe later on found out the truth that Marie and Mia are the same person and was disappointed after he realized he had an incestuous affair with his own daughter. Adrian is the one who was seeking revenge to Joe because Joe was involve in the tragedy of Adrian’s family being killed. Adrian watches Joe cries for his daughter and he begs for death but instead, Adrian killed himself in the end because he has nothing to live for anymore as he has done his revenge.
The plot twist in the end that includes incest covered an idea of realism. Jacobean drama can be sometimes violent and involves revenge in return for a loved one. There are moods of destruction, violence, revenge and evil as similar to what the characters Adrian and Joe experienced. One of the features that Jacobean drama has is that the main character experiences suffering and pain without any direction. As to evil is another interest resulting to sin that connects to Joe’s actions as a father of a child. I consider Joe as a tragic hero in this story as his character making an error in his actions that leads to and destined for his own downfall and defeat. He makes a fatal mistake without even being aware of it. Adrian tricked Joe and plotted his revenge without even knowing about what he did to Adrian’s family. Joe had sex with someone he taught was only a friend but was actually his daughter. Jacobean drama sometimes involves some tragedy within family as well. This includes murders within a family as relating to how Joe was involved in Adrian’s family tragedy and to also how Joe was said that he killed his own ex-wife. Family tragedy, revenge and realization which resulting to suffering and punishment in the end. People sacrifice and seek revenge in order for justice because family is a big matter in everyone’s lives. This is why because some tragedies lead to being fatal.
The movie I picked for this assignment was Hick and the scene I picked was nearly to the end of the movie where Luli (Chloe Moretz) shoots Eddie (Eddie Redmayne). This scene shows Eddie killing Glenda (Blake Lively), and he is going crazy because he cannot believe what he just did, Luli, which was close to Glenda killed Eddie out of spite.
Some background information about the movie: Luli left her home in Nevada to go to Las Vegas to become an actress. She went on a trip with a few bucks and asked for rides in order for her to get to Las Vegas, along the way, she met Glenda, a cocaine addict, which became Luli’s close friend and she sort of admired her because of how independent she was.
Luli met Eddie, which had something with Glenda, but Luli liked Eddie, and Eddie made her believe he liked her, and he only did that to get closer to Glenda. Eddie fooled and lied to Luli until she finally opened her eyes that he was using her to get back with Glenda.
In this scene we can see a fraction of Eddie’s madness about Glenda which ends up in her murder. Despite the fact he lied to Luli and made her believe that he felt something about her, he also killed Glenda, which was friend, all this situations led her to kill Eddie.
This scene from this movie, even though is short, relates to Jacobean drama because of the lying and the violence involved. We could compare this movie to The Duchess of Malfi specially in the madness that Ferdinand had towards his sister (the Duchess) which compelled him to kill the Duchess, Antonio and their kids.
The scene that I chose is the last scene of Cruel Intentions which is when Kathryn is revealed to have a big part to do with Sebastian’s final break down before his death. She is, also, discovered to use cocaine. Choosing a scene from this movie was difficult since this whole movie is about mind games, betrayal, dramatic love, drugs, sex, manipulation, and not necessarily incest, but close since Kathryn and Sebastian, step-siblings, always have sexual encounters throughout the movie. Jacobean dramas are all about these themes present in Cruel Intentions. In Cruel Intentions, Sebastian and Kathryn are step-siblings who have indulged in multiple sex flings and heartless destruction and manipulation of others. When Kathryn and Sebastian make a bet if Sebastian can manage to seduce the virgin, Annette Hargrove, Sebastian realizes that he is falling in love with her. This is when Annette’s pure heart changes Sebastian and he becomes very different from his manipulative step-sister. However, since his sister can’t rest until Sebastian is destroyed, she tells her lover about how Sebastian hit her, which is a lie, and which leads to Sebastian’s death. One quote from the movie is when Kathryn admits to manipulating Sebastian, she says, “You were very much in love with her. And you’re still in love with her. But it amused me to make you ashamed of it. You gave up on the first person you ever loved because I threatened your reputation. Don’t you get it? You’re just a toy, Sebastian. A little toy I like to play with. And now you’ve completely blown it with her. I think it’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.” The manipulation that is very strong in this movie is what Jacobean dramas entail. Without the manipulation there is no Jacobean drama
