The 1967 movie Valley of the Dolls connects to Susan Sontag’s definition of camp in her essay “Notes on ‘Camp.’” Its characters act seriously in the film, the world inside is an entertaining comic that fosters laughter, and everything is seen in quotation marks. Sontag notes in her essay that “Camp is art that proposes itself seriously, but cannot be taken altogether seriously because it is ‘too much.’” It really means that the actors in the film are oblivious to anything humorous or silly happening. They are serious. This happens in Valley of the Dolls at its ending, when Neely O’Hara screams to the top of her lungs in an alleyway next to a dumpster. It’s funny to the audience but real and serious to the character. That’s what makes something campy: the foolishness of a character without her even noticing. …show more content…
“Camp proposes a comic vision of the world.
But not a bitter or polemical comedy,” as Sontag says. Meaning camp is a cartoon, not meant for controversy; rather for humor that’s enjoyable to watch. Valley of the Dolls presents this when Neely unknowingly discovers that Helen Lawson is wearing a wig. With the wing in her hands, Neely flushes it down the toilet, calling it a “pussy cat” and “meowing” as well. This situation is comical because it shows Neely’s insanity and power. But, realistically, we wouldn’t flush a wig down the toilet. That would be childish and unusual. These situations are comical in campy films like Valley of the
Dolls. One of Sontag's notes contends that “Camp sees everything in quotation marks. It is not a lamp but a ‘lamp’; not a woman, but a ‘woman.’” Valley of the Dolls focuses on the usage and addiction to pills. The pills used by Neely, Anne, and Jennifer are “dolls.” It is ironic that the meaning of “dolls” in the movie and the actual meaning of “dolls” are opposites. The use of quotation marks intends to define the word indirectly. “Dolls” doesn’t mean a beautiful womanly figure, but a drug that causes anxiety and stress to the characters. They are not dolls but they are “dolls.” The objects are “Playing-a-Role,” they are not what they sound like. They are not truly of that essence to the core. The pill dolls aren’t dolls. Something that’s “campy,” is something that should be in quotation marks. The thesis of Valley of the Dolls is that fame can destroy your life. This is true but awful. Neely O’Hara is a character who supports this thesis. As she reaches fame, her life crumbles. Neely gains fame, but she has to work early hours and long days. To resolve this, she takes “dolls.” The moment she starts taking pills, her life deteriorates. She divorces her husband Mel, she loses her second husband Ted Casablanca, she throws her career away and is replaced by another performer in the end. The same applies to Anne. She becomes famous, has access to “dolls,” and grows anxious and depressed by Lyon Burke. Jennifer becomes famous through nudity. When she gets a call from the doctor about her cancer, she loses her self-confidence and kills herself. This is why this thesis applies to Valley of the Dolls.
Scout, the protagonist, is a young girl coming of age in a society trying to shove her into a dress and the role of a gilded daughter. For example, when Scout recalls a conversation with her Aunt Alexandra, a figurehead for society and one of the major female figures in her life, she begins to shine her own light on how to brighten her father’s life in a way that is true to herself. On page 108, Scout comes to terms with the fact that she is defying stereotypes, “I could not possibly be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra’s vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born; furthermore, I should be a ray of sunshine in my father’s lonely life. I suggested that one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well, but Aunty said that one had to behave like a sunbeam, that I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year. She hurt my feelings and set my teeth permanently on edge,
In the movie, the three main types of comedy I recognized were farce, parody, and satire. Farce is comedy designed to provoke the audience into simple, hearty laughter and often uses highly exaggerated or caricatured character types and puts them into improbable and ludicrous situations. It also makes use of broad verbal humor and physical horseplay. Some examples of farce in the movie are:
“The Real Valley of the Dolls”, by Tom Robbins, reminded me of my grandfather, who would tell “off-color” jokes while keeping them acceptable for “mixed company”. Robbins and two of his friends, Alexa and Jon, take the reader on a trip to a place somewhere between Winnemucca and Las Vegas “smack dab in the middle of the Wild American West” (509) in a short story that flows between humor and spirituality, the reverent and the libidinous, the distant and not so distant past.
Guys and Dolls a charming classical musical, known for it’s catchy soundtrack, humorous dialogue and heartwarming plot, is likely to be produced at Signature Theatre in the future.
The first instance of ambiguity between comedy/drama begins directly at the beginning credits of the film, with the brilliant shot of a uniform waltzing party, in carousel motion, or a perfect circle. From my perspective, I was unable to recognize w...
Women are still expected to follow rules that society has set for them. Advertisements with unrealistic beauty standards are shown millions of times everyday. Women are still expected to stay at home and cook and clean while men go to work. Scout is a very brave girl who is not afraid to break the rules society has set for her. In every chapter, Scout shows the reader that she is not afraid to be herself.
Oscar Wilde once said, “Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.” The content of this quote embodies A Doll’s House and The Glass Menagerie because of the sexual control in both the plays. A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen and The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee William, the characters, although from different time periods, face the hardships of sexual control through the men they admire. Nora is written as the naive protagonist of A Doll’s House, who embodies the themes of the novella as she matures throughout the play. Nora learns that her husband, Torvald, uses her as a doll for his own pleasure and does not truly care for her. In The Glass Menagerie, Laura, the main character, is also
Sight gags are an essential part of comedy, especially the silent comedies of Charlie Chaplin's time. A sight gag is a visual form of comedy. In this form of comedy, the actors rely on the way the audience perceives the actions on screen for humor. This could include a misunderstanding by characters or a misrepresentation of an everyday object. In order to make the gag work, the actor must use smooth, visible actions to convey his or her point. Noel Carroll outlines six different types of sight gags in the book, Comedy/Cinema/Theory. In this paper, I will talk about each gag and give examples from the three Charlie Chaplin films that we have watched.
Television’s rise in popularity throughout the fifties saw the emergence of the situation comedy, a style that captivated audiences by presenting a story with a beginning, a middle, and a happy end. One of the most popular of these shows, I Love Lucy, continues to appeal to both young and old some forty years later -- and counting. For most people, the answer to how I Love Lucy continually and effectively draws viewers to the screen is that "It’s funny." There is more to this funny show than meets the eye.
Joseph L. Mankiewicz is the director of Guys and Dolls, and the head authors of the screenplay are Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, who wrote the screenplay based upon the play Guys and Dolls. Joseph L. Mankiewicz has directed in total 22 films; he is known for All About Eve (1950), Julius Caesar (1953), Guys and Dolls (1955), The Quiet American (1958), and Cleopatra (1963). The lead screenplay author, Jo Swerling, has written in total 68 screenplays; his more well known are The Whole Town’s Talking (1935), The Westerner (1940), Lifeboat (1944), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), and Guys and Dolls (1955). Abe Burrows has written 12 films, and his most well known are Guys and Dolls (1955) and Just Go With It (2011).
Without freedom, the urge to escape is prevalent. When a lady’s husband is too overprotective and smothers his wife, she may eventually end up running away from her problems. In the play, A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen, and in the story, The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the main characters, feel trapped by their husbands. Both of these stories demonstrate that during the time period that the stories were written, some men behaved in an authoritarian manner which caused stress and trauma to women. The women in these stories each take drastic action.
Death of a Doll: Paternal and Maternal Figures in Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll House”. Nora’s final actions at the end of Henrick Ibsen’s “A Doll House” have certainly been the subject of much criticism. In fact, “So much has it disturbed audiences that a few well-known productions changed the ending to have her return before the curtain falls”(Brooks). After all, why would a mother abandon her children and her husband with no clear indication if she was going to return?
After reading “The Doll House” and “Trifles”, the idea of females being inferior to men is portrayed. Both plays, are in a much older time period. But from a feminist view, females are still sometimes given the doubtful role in today’s society. Both plays, are very different, but much alike in the ways the females are treated, never taken seriously, nor are they appreciated.
"Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll" is a timeless play as it can be transposed to be as relevant today as when it was written. The play is definitely a tragi-comedy but more than the ideas raised in the statement the play is about change and the inability for some to deal with it, the battle between dream and reality and loyalty and mateship. It also serves as a social document of Australia in the 1950s. Lawler uses symbols, the actions of the characters, the structure of the play and mise-en-scene to effectively portray his feelings to the audience.
In the play, A Doll’s House portrays the fixation to keep up with appearances through the main characters’ actions and words. A Doll’s House creates a statement about the gender roles and social norms in the nineteenth century. Ibsen argues that individual tend to get sidetracked due to appearances, especially in an effort to please society. Individuals tend to focus on the opinions of others, therefore they believe that keeping up with appearance is important. Appearances can be used to masks or deflect various hardships and issues of reality. A Doll’s House depicts that not everything is how it appears. Appearance are not necessary, if fact they only hold people back from doing what is important and distorts reality.