4.26 In Class

Select a passage from the concluding chapter of a novel you have chosen to study and show how acting, staging effects and design can combine to make it an effective ending for an audience.

 1. Ending: Desiree falls and a troop of butterflies come down from the forest. Rain drops to show Desiree's tragedy.
2. Interpretation: butterflies is hit by the rain drops, they also fall and sticked on the ground and drown to death.
3. Reasons: to show Gods give and Gods take. To show that Desiree's dreams die with her.
4. Symbols: Rain: water, power of gods, pity from the gods. Butterflies: dream
5. The rich hates the rain and does not affected much by it: hates superstition, refuse to believe in gods, their power is so grand that they don't need to depend on them like the peasants.
6. Stage effect: multi transparent projecting films: shows the crowd of the poor, butterflies, and raindrops.
7. Crowd: less actors, shows that Desiree is in the crowd, but they are irrelevant (fake and unreal) to her, she is lonely and extremely depressed.
8. Butterflies and raindrops: cheaper effects and great visual appeal.
9. Actings: Desiree shows despair and weakness. unsteady motions and unconscious facial expression. The rich shows indifference to her death and the pouring rain. "I don't pay you good money to leave dead peasants in front of my hotel."
10. Effect of the ending: shows Desiree's tragedy, death of her body and soul, powerful Gods and their powerlessness to the rich. The status and conflicts between the rankings.

8. Select a passage from a novel you have chosen to study which deals with a fantasy or dream
sequence of consequence to the narrative. How can acting and design elements be used to stage such a fantasy or dream sequence for an audience?

1. Passage: Gods' faces show in front of Desiree, using Papa Ge's voice to lure her to kill Daniel. These Gods did not conjure to anybody, very likely it is Desiree's own fantasy.
2. Adaptation: Desiree is having an inner dialogue. Gods in this occasion are her inner voices and impulses. 
3. Changes: Faces are Desiree's faces, dressing like different Gods. Voice is still Papa Ge's voice.
4. Reason: Previously, Gods' are by different actors/actresses. Here, using Desiree's face can distinguish Desiree's own madness and the mass's common belief of the Gods.
5. Staging: transparent film, projecting distorted Desiree's faces under the Gods' makeup. Using voice of Papa Ge.
6. Acting: the physical Desiree is confused and scared. With facial expressions and body movements showing an edge of mental breakdown. Along with switching personality, acting the characters (imaginary gods) on the projecting screen as well.




9. Select a passage from a novel you have chosen to study which presents a clash of two cultures.By paying due attention to the context of the passage, outline how you would dramatize the clash in order to bring out the differences between the two cultures for an audience.

 1. Passage: When Daniel's father enters the village to find Daniel. 
2. Differences: The rich is not much limited by the Gods. They stay decent under the rainstorm. Their attitude towards the poor is a mixture of disgust, ignorant, and non understanding. The poor gives themselves to the Gods. They are afraid of the rich. 
3. Costumes:
     Mr. Beauxhomme: velvet suit with subtle patterns. Delicately designed. Polished leather shoes. 
     The peasants: Dirty clothes. Messy hair and dirty skins due to the rainstorm. 
4. Staging: helicopter can be shown on stage or as projected images or video depend on the funding. The environment on stage is poor. Stage floor can be covered by soil or sands. (It can be alternated in the hotel scene.) Trees are winded down. Things turn black due to soaking. Many peasants surrounds Daniel outside the hut.
5. Acting:
           Peasants will give way for Beauxhomme to pass through. They are interested and also frightened by the Helicopter. They are curious but no one dare to touch. Some people show subtle amount of hatred.
          Mr. Beauxhomme will show disgust when he land on the ground. He does not see specific person among the peasants. He thinks of them as a collective. Thus shows indifference on his face. He hates the inhospitable environment. Similar as walking under the sewer. 

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