Film Screening: ‘The Birthday Party’

 Film Screening: ‘The Birthday Party’ -Thinking Activity 

Hello,

This blog is part of Thinking activity task of Movie screening of The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter. In this blog critical aspects of the movie and play will be explored. 

Pre-viewing Task : 

Comedy of Menace: Whose plays are known so? Who termed it ? What are its peculiar characteristics? How is it different from Absurd Theatre ?

Comedy of menace is the body of plays written by David Campton, Nigel Dennis, N. F. Simpson, and Harold Pinter. The term was coined by drama critic Irving Wardle, who borrowed it from the subtitle of Campton's play The Lunatic View: A Comedy of Menace, in reviewing Pinter's and Campton's plays in Encore in 1958.

Difference between Absurd Theatre and Comedy of Menace :

• Comedy of Menace leans depicts realistic settings. It is showing situations that could happen in everyday life. In contrast, Absurd Theatre often includes surreal and symbolic elements. It explored the weirdness of human existence.

• Comedy of Menace revolves around the tension and threat within ordinary situations. It also highlights power dynamics. Absurd Theatre, on the other hand, focuses on the meaninglessness and absurdity of life itself.

• Comedy of Menace, especially in the style of Harold Pinter, uses a unique dialogue known as "Pinteresque." This involves pauses and silences to convey meaning. In Absurd Theatre, you might see more unconventional language use and breakdowns in communication.

Explain ‘Pinteresque’ – Pinter pause and use of ‘Silence’ in the play: a particular atmosphere and environment in drama.

Silence and pause are two distinguishing features in Harold Pinter's plays. In his works,words do not convey ideas. Instead words become barriers,while silence and pause conceive the real intention of each character.

Harold Pinter used silence and pauses in his plays to make them sound like real-life conversations. This was meant to make the audience feel uncomfortable, just like the characters. The pauses show that life and meaning are often confusing, just like natural speech with unfinished thoughts. In traditional plays, there's usually a narrator or someone explaining things. Pinter's plays didn't have that. Instead, he wanted to show life without clear explanations, just like how it is in reality. Pinter's style is part of the postmodern movement, which questions the reliability of language, the slipperiness of meaning, and the idea that there's one absolute truth. This way of thinking challenges traditional ways of looking at the world. Pinter's use of silence and pauses breaks the usual expectations in theater, making the audience think about what's happening and question the purpose. 

The Birthday Party’ – an allegory of ‘artist in exile and other interpretations. 

"The Birthday Party" is like a story about artists who feel lost in a strange place. It shows the struggles of artists dealing with not fitting in and being far from where they want to be. When Goldberg and McCann show up, it's like outside pressures disrupting the artist's creative space.

The play is like a hidden story about politics. It shows how authority figures can be oppressive, and the character Stanley represents artists standing up against those trying to control and limit their freedom.

‘The Birthday Party’ as a Political Play with reference to Harold Pinter’s Noble Speech: ‘Art, Truth & Politics.

"The real truth is that there never is any such thing as one truth to be found in

 dramatic art. There are many. These truths challenge each other, recoil from

 each other, reflect each other, ignore each other, tease each other, are blind to

 each other. Sometimes you feel you have the truth of a moment in your hand,

 then it slips through your fingers and is lost."

Harold Pinter 's view on World war 2 : 

Low-intensity conflict means causing a lot of harm but in a slow way. Instead of dropping a bomb all at once, it's like infecting a country's core. It's a harmful growth, and you watch the damage spread slowly. Once the people are controlled or harmed, those in power say democracy won, even if it's not true.

Harold pinter in his speech highlighted the darker side of American Foreign Policy and itd dictatorship. Under the name of policy hundred of the people where introgated, suspected and murdered. To highlight this idea somewhere Goldberg and MacCan represented America and Stanely a common people rather victim of it. 

While-viewing Task : 

Pinter gives us the texture-the sounds and sights of a world without structure, which is the heart and soul of the play also.

Pinter creates a world in "The Birthday Party" without clear structure. The sounds, sights, and dialogue add tension and uncertainty. The play's atmosphere is crafted masterfully to convey instability. The car scene looks normal, driving in a seaside town. But it gets strange with shots showing where it's been, not where it's going. Weird reflections on the car and loud, odd sounds make it all confusing and not like a usual story. Pinter achieves this texture through several dramatic techniques.

The camera takes a close-up of Stanley wa face in the dirty kitchen sink. The dirt and the grubby soap and t pans, like the loud sounds, become discrete objects, menacing in th intensity

1.Silences and Pauses

2. Repetition and Rituals

3.Ambiguous Dialogue

4. Ambiguous Dialogue

How many times the ‘knocking at the door’ happens in the play? Is it creating menacing effect while viewing the movie?

In the play "The Birthday Party," the door gets knocked many times. This repeated knocking makes the movie feel scary and tense. The constant knocks create a mysterious and threatening vibe, making the us uneasy.

Comment upon the use of things like mirror, toy drum, newspapers, breakfast, chairs, window-hatch etc in the movie. What sort of symbolic reading can you give to these objects?

1. Toy Drum: The toy drum could represent disruption or chaos. Its recurring presence may symbolize the intrusion of external forces, adding to the overall tension in the narrative.

   Blind Man's Buff Game : This game symbolises the loss of visions among them. Stanley loose his balance showcasing the power of authority on him. The objects coming as hurdles in the path of the game with close-up scene also reveling the real-life hurdles. 

   Torch : Torch symbolise the real side of human characters. Past connected with the people. 

1. Chairs: Chairs can symbolize authority or power. The characters' interactions with chairs may reflect power dynamics and struggles within the story.

1. Newspapers: Newspapers often symbolize information and manipulation of truth. In the context of the movie, they could represent the control of information by those in power, contributing to the play's themes of authority and suppression.

1. Breakfast: The breakfast scenes may symbolize the mundane aspects of life disrupted by external forces. It could represent the intrusion of the outside world into the characters' personal spaces. In the film, there's a close-up of Meg pouring cornflakes, making a mess on a dirty newspaper. She picks them up, puts them back, and gives them to Petey.

1. Mirror: The mirror may symbolize self-reflection or distorted perceptions, highlighting the characters' internal struggles and the blurred line between reality and illusion.

1. Later, she burns his fried bread, tries to fix it, and gives it to him like it's a fancy meal. This happens again when Stanley arrives. The film magnifies the amount and size of both sounds and objects, creating a genuine sense of exaggeration. Even the sounds become threatening, like Meg's noisy and clumsy breakfast-making, making the atmosphere uneasy.

1. Window-Hatch: The window-hatch might symbolize confinement or a barrier. Its use in the movie could signify the characters' limitations or restrictions in their environment.

 How effective are scenes like ‘Interrogation scene’ (Act 1), ‘Birthday Party scene’ (Act 2) and ‘Faltering Goldberg & Petey’s timid resistance scene’ (Act 3) captured in the movie?

1. Interrogation Scene (Act 1): This scene is effective in conveying the characters' struggles and the overall sense of menace. The tension builds as the characters face questioning, creating a strong emotional impact.

2. 
   

3. Birthday Party Scene (Act 2): The Birthday Party scene captures the intrusion of external forces and the disruption of the characters' lives. It is a central moment, and its effectiveness lies in portraying the unsettling nature of the events.

4. 
   

5. Faltering Goldberg & Petey’s Timid Resistance Scene (Act 3): This scene effectively showcases the characters' resistance against oppressive forces. The faltering resistance adds to the overall complexity of power dynamics, leaving a lasting impression on the audience.

Post-viewing Task :

 Why are two scenes of Lulu omitted from the movie ?

  According to the article Pinter's "The Birthday Party": The Film and the Play" with the help of camera work there was ineough terror was build up. From the beginning of the movie the sound of the newspaper tearing and filthly household the atmosphere is already of thretening. 

   Morover, Stanley's appearance and introgation scene was zenith of creating terror and threat in the air. With the close-up scenes, high angles and other techniques the real essence was achieved. May be due to this reason this scenes were omitted.

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

   In the movie adaptation of "The Birthday Party," the newspaper serves as a symbolic object, and its treatment conveys layers of meaning. When Petey reads the newspaper to Meg, it initially represents the routine consumption of news. It is seemingly mundane aspect of daily life. However, McCain's  act of tearing the newspaper into pieces introduces a disruptive element.

The tearing of the newspaper could symbolize the disruption or manipulation of information. It suggests that there might be hidden forces at play, altering or controlling the narrative presented in the news. This action introduces an element of secrecy or suppression regarding the information within the torn newspaper.

   Petey's act of hiding the torn pieces in the last scene adds to the mystery. It implies a deliberate attempt to hide certain information. The hidden pieces symbolize obscured truths or suppressed facts. 

  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 room like a cage (trap) when Stanley is playing it. What interpretations can you give to these positioning of camera? 

  The camera over McCain's head during Blind Man's Buff may symbolize his dominance or control in the game. It emphasizes his perspective and authority. 

    On the other hand, the top view of the room, like a cage or trap, when Stanley plays suggests entrapment or confinement. This camera positioning adds to the tension. It is portraying Stanley as being controlled or restricted in some way during the game.

  Do you see any similarities among Kafka's Joseph K. (in 'The Trial'), Orwell's Winston Smith (in 'Nineteen Eighty-Four') and Pinter's Victor (in 'One for the Road')?  

    Joseph K. from "The Trial," Winston Smith from "Nineteen Eighty-Four," and Victor from "One for the Road" share similar experiences in oppressive systems. They all feel trapped and powerless. Their lives are controlled by powerful governments. They're watched all the time. They can't do what they want. They feel lonely and isolated. They try to resist, but it's hard. They represent people struggling against unfair systems.

 

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Words : 2500

Video : 1

Image : 25

References : 

Barad, Dilip. “Worksheet: Film Screening - Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party.” Dilip Barad's Blog, 23 September 2013, https://blog.dilipbarad.com/2013/09/worksheet-film-screening-harold-pinters.html. Accessed 25 April 2024.

Art Truth &Politics: Excerpts from the 2005 Nobel Lecture Author(s): Harold Pinter. Source: World Literature Today, Vol. 80, No. 3 (May - Jun., 2006), pp. 21-27Published by: Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40159078. 

Pinter's "The Birthday Party": The Film and the Play. Author(s): Harriet Deer and Irving Deer. Source: South Atlantic Bulletin, Vol. 45, No. 2 (May, 1980), pp. 26-30Published by: South Atlantic Modern Language Association. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3199140

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-birthday-party-1969