Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Iraq's Drama: An Easier Sell On The Stage?
NPR: "Movies about the war in Iraq always seem to flop: Stop Loss, Redacted, Rendition, In the Valley of Elah, Body of Lies, Grace Is Gone — the list goes on and on. All were box-office disappointments."
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4 comments:
I'm not sure I really agree with the statement that this article made at the beginning. I don't think that a lot of the movies out there about the war have been a flop. I think that they might have been a flop to the critics, but to the people who see these movies that are in the same if not similar situations as the characters, it will be an incredibly moving film.
I don't know how I feel about this article simply because they begin with a weird statement. That Iraq plays are always better than movies based on Iraq. I feel that we as americans know how we feel on the war and movies and plays both seem to make us feel a certain way. Most the time I would like to see a play to explore new feelings on a subject but this type of striaght directed play seems so... one sided that I would feel like they were telling me how I should feel on the war. Just a thought on the subject.
"Surrender" sounds like an incredibly depressing version of Theater of the Senses. I personally have not seen any movies about the war because it's not a new topic. I feel that it's better to wait until a society has distanced itself from an event before you create a story about it, rather than making a movie about current events.
I agree with the statement the article made: "Theater is inherently abstract and metaphorical, which may make it easier to confront painful, violent topics such as a current war." Movies attempt to make the war so realistic and in your face, while plays allow the audience to add more of a critical eye to the situation. it seems to me the plays look at Iraq more intellectually and movies examine it too realistically/action based.
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