What is it about family dysfunction that makes it the
obsession of our best playwrights?
Not that it’s a bad thing, since it makes for some great literature
(“Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” etc.).
“August: Osage
County” is great, well worthy of its Pulitzer Prize. I’d agree with those who say it’s the great American play of
the last twenty years. As I’ve
said many times, “Death of A Salesman” is the best American play ever birthed,
but “August” is in the discussion, and that’s high praise indeed.
But I always wonder what to do with a story that has
(almost) no characters to cheer for, no one to like, no one to connect to. No protagonists whatsoever. It leaves you feeling a little bleak
and empty, though it’s always great art.
I’ve felt this “hating every character” most acutely in the movie Election. No characters to cheer for but a great movie for that very
reason.
Something similar happens with my students; they’ll
come into class and say they hated the story they read the previous night. And after some prodding, I realize what they mean is that they hated one of the characters, a character so
fully-realized that hatred was a possible reaction. Which means the students are actually saying “I read a story in which a character became so
human that I had feelings of resentment which I usually reserve for real
people. Thusly, it was a pretty
amazing work of art to provoke such a response, and I can now consider said response more
thoughtfully and then grow as a person.
Thank you, dear English teacher, for all that you give us to read and
for all that you do.”
You’re welcome students.
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