Death of a Salesman: Dustin Hoffman Production
Considering the livestreamed production you saw this weekend, explain at least one thing that stood out to you less clearly or you felt was more poorly communicated or intrepreted in the Brian Dennehy (livesteam) production than the Hoffman version we watched in class. If appropriate, compare the Hoffman portrayl with specific elements of the livestream production.
I think in the play the transitions between real world and his dream world could have been done a little bit better. I was a little confused when he was just all of a sudden talking to the young version of Biff and Hap. The only difference between their present and past forms they just had different clothes on and they changed their voice a little bit. I think they could have had some wrinkles on the older versions and not in the younger versions. That goes with the neighbor Charlie and Willy's wife they left their hair all gray and it made it a little hard to figure out which was which. I believe that the play was very very good otherwise and I really liked the transition from different parts in the house and the restaurant and the office. The revolving floor was awesome.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the transitions were very confusing, especially if you had not watch the movie before.
DeleteI also think the transitions were confusing. Had I not watched the movie before, I would not have understood that Willy was having flashbacks and wouldn't have understood the play.
DeleteIn the play, the transitions were confusing. Even though I had watched the movie, the story line of the play still confused me. The play and movie had basically the same costumes, which made me understand it a bit better. There could have been ways that they could have gave better transitions or a bigger difference between the boys when they were young and now. I get one of the main ways to make a bigger difference would to get different actors but I think the director wanted the actors to play both the older version and younger version. This is because then we would understand which boy was which. But in the end it confused us more on if it was a flashback or real life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you the transitions were sort of confusing just like what I wrote in my comment they should have had a little bit better distinction between the the different versions of the same people.
DeleteI agree with you that the transitions are confusing. I think that switching the actors would have been just fine as Willy uses their names often enough to where a person could easily understand which boy is which.
DeleteIn the Brian Dennehy version, I felt the roll of uncle Ben was more poorly communicated than in the Hoffman version. In the Hoffman version, Ben is a much stronger symbol for success in Willy's mind. To Willy, Ben represents the idea that one can simply put their mind to something and become successful. Also, it is more clearly shown that Willy doesn't see the work that goes into becoming successful, all he sees in that Ben went into the jungle when he was 17 and that Ben came out rich. Willy only sees the end result, he doesn't see what you have to do to get there.
ReplyDeleteIn the Brian Dennehy version, Ben just seems like a wealthy brother that Willy remembers fondly. When Willy flashes back to when Ben was alive, it seems as if Willy misses Ben and wants his advice. It does not appear as clearly that Willy is idolizing Ben because of his success and wants to be more like him.
In the 1951 version of "Death of a Salesman", I felt as is uncle Ben was even more strongly communicated than the Hoffman version. It appeared as if Willy had an even larger view of success of Ben in the 1951 version. The way he acted, spoke, and listened to Ben showed just how much of an idol Ben was to him. Willy became infatuated with Ben's success, and he pictured himself and his boys with that same success, however, he and his boys never had the drive to actually go out and work for it. In the final scenes of the 1951 movie, Ben is with Willy in the car driving, which is something that we don't get to see in the Hoffman version. While Willy was driving, Ben was able to convince Willy that suicide was the best option for his family, as they would supposedly get $20,000. The fact that Ben was able to make Willy have those thoughts and help him lose all sense of reality in the car shows just how much of an influence Ben had on Willy.
ReplyDeleteAnother part that stood out in the 1951 version was that Hap never yearned to look successful for his father as he did in the Hoffman version. In the Hoffman version, we see Hap always looking to join in on the love that Willy is directing towards Biff. It seems like Hap is always third wheeling and almost denied by his father. In the 1951 film, Hap never tries to butt into the conversations Willy and Biff are having. He never tries to say things to his father or even Biff that suggests he wants a successful appearance. This shows that there isn't as much want or need for Hap to look successful in the 1951 film compared to the Hoffman version.