Skip to main content

Post view task: The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter

Hello readers, this blog is part of my thinking activity of the play 'The Birthday Party' by Harold Pinter. The play directed by William Friedkin. Click here to see the link. 



1. Why are two scenes of Lulu omitted from the movie?

We always think that reading is important and it is true. If you think that this particular play is based on a particular literary play so you can watch and get the ideas but first you have to read. In the play, there were two scenes of Lulu. When you read you come to know that my Lulu's character is not a good character. Director has to show you the all the scene which we find in the real play. So in the play, we can find both the scenes.

2. Is movie successful in giving us the effect of menace? Where you able to feel it while reading the text?

Yes, Movie is successful in giving us the effect of menace. As we know that when we read, at that time we may not able to think certain think but while watching the play you may get the idea that what exactly play wants to say. So sometimes you have to give importance to both readings as well as to play. While watching the movie, we can feel audio sounds which are horrible. In two scenes I found effects of menace. First, when Meg talk with Stanley that two strangers are coming at that time we can observe the sounds and visual and in the second scene when Goldberg and McCann talking with Stanley in a horrible way.

3. Do you feel the effect of lurking danger while viewing the movie? Where you able to feel the same while reading the text.

Yes, while watching the movie, I feel the effect of lurking danger. Like the sound of knocking the door, wind sound, interrogation scenes etc. Specifically, I feel this when MacCann tears newspaper in pieces. While reading, I found this in Stanley's party scene.

4.What do you read in the 'newspaper' in the movie? Petey is reading the newspaper to Meg, it torn into pieces by McCain, pieces are hidden by Petey in the last scene.

As we believe that when someone is talking with you and you don't want to talk with them at that time you doing something like Petey reading the newspaper. So there are many interpretations of the newspaper. In the first scene, we can see that Meg is doing her housework and Petey is reading the newspaper. Meg also asking him that what are you reading. May be Petey is more intelligent than Meg and maybe Pinter wants to show you the mindset of society. Last scene when MacCann tore the newspaper into pieces.

5. The camera is positioned over the head of McCain when he is playing Blind Man's Buff and is positioned at the top with a view of the room as a cage (trap) when Stanley is playing it. What interpretations can you give to these positioning of the camera?

The camera is positioned over the head of Mccain when he is playing blind man's buff and view of the camera from the roof of the room like a cage or trap. So when we observed the scene of Stanley's birthday party at that time we see that Stanley is not able to argue or to escape from this Cage which is created by MacCann and Goldberg.

6. "Pinter restored the theatre to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue, where people are at the mercy of one another and pretence crumbles." (Pinter, Art, Truth & Politics: Excerpts from the 2005 Nobel Lecture). Does this happen in the movie?

Yes, we can find this in the play. In the starting of the movie, we can see that Meg went to Stanley's room and said that breakfast is ready. So we can see that she care about him. Same way Petey also care about Stanley, specifically, I like his last dialogue of the play,

"Stan, don't let them tell you what to do! (Petey Boles)"

7. How does viewing movie help in better understanding of the play ‘The Birthday Party’ with its typical characteristics (like painteresque, pause, silence, menace, lurking danger)?

As we believe that visual effects help us to understand the thing in a better way. When we see the movie, at that time we can connect various points or the points which are not in the original play written by authors. So yes viewing movie help in better understanding of the play. We can see the pause, silence, menace and lurking danger but when we only read, we can not get the proper idea. So the movie helps us to understand the things in a better way.

8.With which of the following observations you agree:

o “It probably wasn't possible to make a satisfactory film of "The Birthday Party."
o “It's impossible to imagine a better film of Pinter's play than this sensitive, disturbing version directed by William Friedkin.

I agree with the second point that “It's impossible to imagine a better film of Pinter's play than this sensitive, disturbing version directed by William Friedkin." because in the movie we can find all the scenes and good audio and visual effects.

9.If you were director or screenplay writer, what sort of difference would you make in the making of the movie?

Maybe I will not change because I found this movie apt to the real play written by Harold Pinter. All the setting are very apt to the play and I found it interesting.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dr Faustus Thinking Activity

THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND DEATH DOCTOR FAUSTUS BY CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE :                                      Doctor Faustus is a play written by Christopher Marlowe. In this play he represents one scholar who sells his soul to the devil for knowledge and for power. Knowledge is center in doctor Faustus. Before I start my answers let me tell you a little about "GLOBE THEATER". As sir told us that the globe theater was a theater in London associated with William Shakespeare. The globe theater was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company. The second globe theater was started in June 1614 and it was closed by an ordinance issued on 6 September 1642. It was a type of Elizabethan theater. The globe theaters are famous because Shakespeare performed many of his greatest plays in this theater.  Question no. 1. The play directed by Matthew Dunster for globe theat...

Web 2.0 Tools

Web tool 2.0 : As part of our ELT-2 paper ,we are suggested to join this MOOC. In this course, we can learn about a wide variety of Web 2.0 tools to use in your teaching and learning.  We have technology but it is very important how teachers can harness the power of free and easy to use online tools to engage and motivate their students. It is up to you how you can implement this new tools in your classroom. For that, we have to choose best Web tools for our learners. About web 2.0 tool : Web 1.0 refers to the world wide Web in its earliest stages of evolution. For developing the any Web content, you must have knowledge and skills and how to access tools. For example, they needed to know HTML or Hybertext Markup language. But for doing or developing any tool, you need fast Internet. The Web 1.0 was also known as the Read only Web. In the early 2000s a transformation began to happen as a result of technological changes that made the Internet and ability to develop con...

Article 15 movie review

Article in the constitution of India : When we read this word, the first question which comes in our mind is that what is an article in the constitution of India and who was the pioneer of the article. So World's lengthiest written constitution had 395 articles in 22 parts. But now India has 448 articles in 25 parts. In the articles, there were various acts and laws that are important for our nation. In simple words,      "Article is a guideline in the constitution of India for forming the rules. It is rather a principle of defining an act.". What is Article 15 in the Indian constitution : As we all know that in Indian constitute there are many Articles. Among all, Article 15 is very important for the nation. Article 15 deal with the fundamental rights of the citizens of India and this Article deals with the various issues related to "Rights to equality". For example in our nation, we can find that there is caste conflict. If you belong t...