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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.


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