Discussion on the Choice of Genre
Discuss the choice of genre; comedy or tragedy?
In this assignment I will discuss the choice of genre; comedy or tragedy? In the play Death of a Salesman (2000) by Arthur Miller and the movie east is east (1999) by Ayub Khan-Din. I will suggest Willy Loman within the play Death of a Salesman (2000) actually is the architect of his own failure. I will put forward Loman’s ideal of the American Dream and show while he strived to achieve this goal, this ultimately proved to be the cause of his demise. While this play shows the audience that Willy is not a failure, his refusal to accept reality only helps to add to the tragedy of Death of a Salesman (2000). On the other hand east is east (1999) has elements of tragedy, but ultimately the genre is comedy. I will demonstrate how the use of humour helps to vanquish the tragic elements of the film and along with George Khan, a prominent character for most of the movie and I will show the audience is encouraged to laugh with him.
Terwin (1949, cited in Page, 2003,) described Willy Lowman as “the little salesman with a pathetic belief in his worthless son.” Willy Lowman could be viewed as a father trying to give his son who has lost his way in life some direction by assisting to get “him a job in selling” (Miller, 2000, 1.11). However, Willy Lowman could be seen as a man having failed to achieve his own ambition who decides to superimpose his pipe dreams upon his son Biff. Willy believes; if Biff applies himself as a salesman he “could be big in no time” (Miller, 2000,1.11), Willy measures success in monitory terms and believes it is easily achievable to the deserved and to achieve this you have to “be well liked and you would never want” (Miller,2000, 1.26). Unfortunately reality does not support Willy’s philosophy on achievement. The tragedy is in fact that Willy has locked himself into a belief system which forces him to work harder and harder for thirty eight years in order to feed his conviction that the achievement of
In this assignment I will discuss the choice of genre; comedy or tragedy? In the play Death of a Salesman (2000) by Arthur Miller and the movie east is east (1999) by Ayub Khan-Din. I will suggest Willy Loman within the play Death of a Salesman (2000) actually is the architect of his own failure. I will put forward Loman’s ideal of the American Dream and show while he strived to achieve this goal, this ultimately proved to be the cause of his demise. While this play shows the audience that Willy is not a failure, his refusal to accept reality only helps to add to the tragedy of Death of a Salesman (2000). On the other hand east is east (1999) has elements of tragedy, but ultimately the genre is comedy. I will demonstrate how the use of humour helps to vanquish the tragic elements of the film and along with George Khan, a prominent character for most of the movie and I will show the audience is encouraged to laugh with him.
Terwin (1949, cited in Page, 2003,) described Willy Lowman as “the little salesman with a pathetic belief in his worthless son.” Willy Lowman could be viewed as a father trying to give his son who has lost his way in life some direction by assisting to get “him a job in selling” (Miller, 2000, 1.11). However, Willy Lowman could be seen as a man having failed to achieve his own ambition who decides to superimpose his pipe dreams upon his son Biff. Willy believes; if Biff applies himself as a salesman he “could be big in no time” (Miller, 2000,1.11), Willy measures success in monitory terms and believes it is easily achievable to the deserved and to achieve this you have to “be well liked and you would never want” (Miller,2000, 1.26). Unfortunately reality does not support Willy’s philosophy on achievement. The tragedy is in fact that Willy has locked himself into a belief system which forces him to work harder and harder for thirty eight years in order to feed his conviction that the achievement of
References: Berkowitz, G. M (1992). American Drama of the Twentieth Century. Essex: Longman Group UK Limited. east is east (1999) Directed by D. Odonnel [DVD]. London: Film4 Ebert, R. (2003). http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20000421/REVIEWS/4210302/1023 (Accessed: 1st December 2010) Miller, A. (2000). Death of a Salesman. London: Penguin Books. Peterson, T. (1999) http://www.popmatters.com/film/reviews/e/east-is-east.shtml (Accessed: 1st December 2010) Terwin, T. C. (2003) ‘Tragedy?’ in Page, A. (ed.) York Notes Advances Death of A Salesman. London: York Press, pp.90-91.