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L.B..docxWeek 3: Theater
This week, we took a brief look at Shakespeare's The Tempest (see the Assignments section). This five-act play opens with a storm at sea (a tempest) and throughout, Shakespeare has planted allusions to apparitions and magic, such as the character Ariel who, at times, appears to be invisible to the other characters. It is a given that the special effects, such as those often used in films, to actually give the stage the appearance of a deadly tempest or actually make Ariel an invisible presence are not achievable on the stage. To fill in this gap, audiences suspend disbelief.
In this thread, let's discuss the power and limitations of theatrical imagination. Please feel free to draw from productions you have seen. (The old high school productions count, too!) Why are we willing to suspend disbelief when we see a play, yet we demand so much more from a film production? Do you think that the limitation on special effects and alternative demand on the audience member to suspend disbelief is a weakness or a strength of the theatrical experience? Would you rather see The Tempest on stage or in film? Why?
From student: L.B.
Hi Professor and Class;
In the theater seeing a play live will be so much different from watching a movie with CGI and cuts and retakes and such. So raw and the perfection is real or improvised. In the theater, audience usually pay more attention to the actors and the scene with the live stage sound effects than watching a movie that audience already expecting with computer new filming effects like CGI. The patron with expect more because they pay higher price to see what they prefer. On the other hand, audience often pays less attention to the movie film even they also have to pay for. Second, in movies, the audience have no need to use their imagination to fill the gap because everything with computer generation, 3D these advantages impress them as soon as the movie start. Theater limitations of special effects actually are one of the reasons that get audience to suspend disbelief who pay for the business (Hollbrook,1999). The expectations to watch real human performance will continue to be the strength for play in the theater because the extraordinary and unique live emotions cannot be replaced by watching the movie. Finally, I must admit that Shakespeare's The Tempestis world -known play in many years that draws many generations audience heart to it. If this is not a well-written story, it will not be so successful for such a long time. According to Baldwin, “Many wonderful adaptations of the story have been presented in the film, books, audio recordings, plays, musicals, but if the story is not told well, the rendition is quickly forgotten (Baldwin, 2015)”.
According to our text book, In the theater, what moves the audience to change is its experience of the universality of the human condition—what it is that makes us human, our weaknesses as well as our strengths. At the sight of the action on stage, they are struck with “fear and pity.” Plato believed that both of these emotions were pernicious (Sayre, 2013). So I’d rather see Shakespeare's The Tempest in the theater instead of watching the movie. I believe people will continue to see the real live theatre when they have the opportunity. Too bad the opportunity just isn’t there as often as it is to see a movie.
Thanks for listening, Have a great week.
Resources:
Holbrook, M.B. (1999), “Popular Appeal Versus Expert Judgment of Motion Pictures”, The Journal of Consumer Research, 26(2): 144-155.
Sayre, H. M. (2013). Discovering the humanities (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
