Arthur Miller’sAll My Sons

Modern Realism

What is Modern Realism?A genre of drama. Developed in the early 20th century.Character acts and talk like normal people.

Settings are real and normal.Big issues are reflected in normal life.Subject matter is real. The playwright does not present the audience with any morals. The audience can analyse and judge the characters by themselves.

Before Modern RealismTheatre used to involve melodrama, opera, Shakespeare plays, musicals and talent shows.

Theatre was expected to entertain the audience, or teach them something morally improving.

It was supposed to reflect the ideals of the society.

Characters were often representing important people in society, or stereotypes.

Melodramas often featured stages that looked like palaces.

Opera showed idealistic natural beauty. The audience was divided by class.

Music and singing were an important part of the entertainment.

How is the setting of AMS different?

What caused this change?Dr Sigmund FreudDevelopment of women´s rights. StanislavskyFirst and Second World WarOrigin of the Species by Charles Darwin

IbsenHenrik Ibsen, Norway, 1828-1906You probably never heard of him, but he´s the most important playwright since Shakespeare.

Social problems depicted “realistically” - no easy solutions or deus ex macchina (a god or something randomly happens that magically fixes the situation. Like a fairy godmother.)

Well-made play, intensive structureMiddle classes, everyday dictionFocus on individuals, but in their social environment

Rights of individual over group, religion, morality.

Sound like nothing, but his plays were censored in Europe.

Charles Darwin: Origin of the Species.Taught society that :People were controlled by heredity and environment, not by God.

Our behaviour is essentially beyond our control.

Humanity is a natural object, not spiritual.

Humans are essentially the same, or as valuable, as any other animal. They are NOT more evolved than any other animal, only more suited to exploit their environment.

Who is Stanislavsky?

Was a Russian actor and theatre director.He invented a new techniques for acting based on realistic behaviour and analysing human behaviour. He encouraged actors to use their own memories to enhance the character. His techniques are still studied to day and have been used by Hollywood actors like Anthony Hopkins, Jack Nicholson, Kate Winslet and Johnny Depp.

Before Stanislavsky… It´s difficult to imagine because most entertainment aims to be realistic.Actors used unnatural body movements. They stood on stage according to where they could be seen by the audience. They talked to the audience directly. Body movements and speech were exaggerated.

American Realism -- Miller

Arthur Miller, 1915-2005NYC, Jewish, U Michigan Journalism to English, grad ‘38, chooses playwriting over Hollywood, works Federal Theatre Project NYC

All My Sons, 1947, his first major work, wins Drama Critics’ Circle Award

Death of A Salesman, 1949, wins Pulitzer, Tony, Drama Critics, Theatre Club…

The Crucible, View from the Bridge, After the Fall, Incident at Vichy, Price

All My SonsBased on true story from WWII, parts for tanks were shipped in spite of known defects, the man was convicted.

Set Aug 1947, the cracked cylinder heads and Larry’s death were in 1944.

Parallel plots: Chris and Ann’s hoped for marriage; Joe’s innocence or guilt, dishonesty

Tight, intensive structure; 1 setting 1 day; Ann incites action; rising action as we figure out Joe’s guilt, Kate’s complicity, Chris’s idealism is smashed, Ann reveals the letter. Climax.

ThemesResponsibility: to family vs. society. Title.

Honor: war vs. business or Chris vs. Joe

Idealism: must all stars go out? Materialism masks real value

Each character represents a different take on these themes.

CharacterizationEach given three dimensions, depthJoe is similar to the tragic hero: essentially good (dedicated to family, runs business, cares for neighborhood, sees own limits), but “hamartia” (tragic flaw) is blindness to value of the larger “human family” -- that title again: “all my sons.”

Background stories that justify ethical positions

Kellers and Deevers’ stories interwovenUse of realistic detail: the grape juice, clothing, tree

Supernatural: Frank and Kate, proven wrong. A form of “ability to lie to oneself.”

“Tragedy and the Common Man”

Miller’s article for NY Times, 1949“I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its higher sense as kings were.”

“Tragedy, then, is the consequence of a man’s total compulsion to evaluate himself justly.”

“The [tragic] flaw… is really nothing… but his inherent unwillingness to remain passive in the face of what he conceives to be a challenge to his dignity.”

“The revolutionary questioning of a stable environment [social, external forces] is what terrifies.”

It’s ultimately optimistic because it implies a belief in the “perfectibility of man.”