Tuesday, February 24, 2009

catastrophe- who done it?

The film catastrophe and the play catastrophe are different on many spoken and unspoken levels. In the movie the Directors Assistant is never frustrated with her "boss" to an observers eyes. She does not seem exasperated or even hesitate to do what the director demands of her. However, in the play it indicates that she looks at the Director "At a loss. Irritably." The context of "light" also varies from the visual play to the script. In the visual version when the director asks for a light he is asking for a flashlight so that he can see what he has written or is writing in his journal. In the script he is asking the assistant to light his cigar, which apparently, keeps going out. I way understand why the assistant would be frustrated but i think Pinter left out her frustration for a reason. The movie has an eerie feel because of this womans willingness to move a human body as if it were not alive. In the play it is alluded that she does not like what she is doing and is a little miffed. "A subsides in the armchair, springs to her feet no sooner seated, takes out a rag, wipes vigorously back and seat of her chair, discards rag, sits again." This could be taken as an act of disgust, as if she were not comfortable in this room. Not only is content different but the staging is different also. In the script it indicates that after the director steps off of the stage you do not see him again while in the movie he is in each scene through to the end. I believe the script indicates that the entire play would be viewed as having its focus on the man standing on the stool, though, not on his face. The most important difference, i think, is at the end of the play. The motions are much the same between the script and movie but the protagonist is supposed to raise his head before the lights go out the second time and look blankly until the lights dim. In the movie you do not see the lights dimming off of his face and he raises his head too late in my mind. This is a result of the differences of where the Director is. If the movie kept him out of all scenes after he left the stage the only focus would be on the mans face. Since the movie pans to him while he says "terrific he'll have them on their feet" we miss the oportunity for the protagonist to raise his head. Staging is always difficult from scrip to movie, however. And if this post does not post on my actual page i messed up again. I don't even own a computer, and am lost in all the buttons, so if it does post to the main blog will somebody please help me? Technology and i have always been strangers. :)

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