Practice Prompt 3: Compare how space is used by Tennessee Williams’ play ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ and the film adaptation by Richard Brooks.Consider in what way the meaning has changed from the original.
Space
Setting (Places)
Relationships
Physicality (Blocking)
"Land" = Ownership
Bodies taking up space (feminist)
Big Daddy vs Big Momma
How close are the characters to each other?
How are props moved around the space of the stage / screen?
The Crutch
The Bed (epicenter / focal point)
The Liquor Cabinet (entertainment/distraction)
Williams (Play)
Bathroom (off-stage)
Brooks (Film)
Bedroom
Balcony (off-stage)
Outside (party)
Airstrip
Plantation
Bedroom
Hallway
Staircase
Living Room
Outside (Storm)
Cars: Cadillacs (symbol of freedom/escape)
Basement
The Mirror
The Doorway / threshold
Space in marriages/partnerships
Big Daddy / Big Momma
Gooper / Mae
Margaret / Brick
Peter Ochello / Jack Straw
Family
Margaret as outsider
Big Momma / Gooper & Brick
Big Daddy / Gooper & Brick
Genre
What 'space' does the text sit in?
Gothic (play)
Southern Gothic
Drama (film/play)
Literary Drama
Adaptation Theory
Southern Drama
What are the genres dominant in film vs theatre?
Is the text outside/on the edge of genres?
Themes: Racism, patriarchy, poverty
Themes: Alcoholism, sexual inequality, relationship breakdown
Themes: Horror, the "unspeakable", alienation, the sub-conscious
Context
1950s America
Civil Rights Movement
Hollywood Filmmaking
Broadway
Hays Code
Values: Often exonerates society / institutions and vilifies the individual
Mae: Vilified / Mobilises children or fertility / wealth obsessed / unintelligent
Big Daddy: Obsessed with immortality / "King Midas" / unable to "love" / uses people as means to an end / unfaithful(?)
Brick: Idolisation of Skipper / Physical decline / Alcoholism
Maggie: Catty / unfaithful(?) / wealth obsessed
Homosexuality
Gender roles/constraints
Transgression across gender (queering)
Mae/Big Momma pushed outside (balcony; edge)
Mae / homecoming queen being spat on by the alcoholic
Big Daddy / Brick
Brick / Maggie
Brick / Skipper
Peter Ochello / Jack Straw