The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter...

Post view task: The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter...

Hello readers,

                      This blog is a part of post viewing task of the play "the Birthday Party" written by Harold Pinter in 1957 and directed by William Friedkin, a 1968 film in which our Professor Dr.Dilip Barad sir gave us task to interpret the movie. Here is the blog link of the given task click here

Post-Viewing Tasks:- 

1]   Why are two scenes of Lulu omitted from the movie?

∆ After watching this movie we see that the character of Lulu appear in the movie only two times. These two scenes of lulu omitted from the movie because two woman characters ( Lulu & Meg ) as contrast to man characters in the play. And character of Lulu is very slight in the play. Harold Pinter also shows that man characters are aggressive towards female in the play. And in this play we show that all powers are in the hand of man. Because women abused by the man.

2]   Is movie successful in giving us the effect of menace? Where you able to feel it while reading the text?

∆ According to me,movie is successful in giving us the felling of menace. 'Menace' means violence or feeling of insecurity or uncertainty. which establishes strong connection between audience and character's predicament. So,movie is quite successful in giving us the effect of menace. It can be visible in Pinter's ability to drop suddenly from high comic level to one of deep seriousness. In the movie door knocking, drop of water,silence,pause,breathing, camera's movement, tearing the paper, sound of drum all things create the atmosphere of menace. Also the dialogue with the pause and silence is very significance for that.
we feel the atmosphere of violence when two strangers encroached the space of stanley and beat him very cruelly, when stanley attacks on Lulu. All these scenes arouse the feeling of menace.

3]  Do you feel the effect of lurking danger while viewing the movie? Where you able to feel the same while reading the text?

∆ While watching the movie in the scene where Goldberg and McCan doing crucially  dialogue with Stanley at that time i feel lurking danger in the movie. Other side we also see in the movie that the effect of sound and the movement of camera also show us that the lurking danger.

4] What do you read in 'newspaper' in the movie? Petey is reading newspaper to Meg, it torn into pieces by McCain, pieces are hidden by Petey in last scene.

∆ Newspaper is a source of information. Newspaper contains good news as well as bad news. There is no clear way told that what type of news it was in the play?, but as readers we interpret that petey hides some facts of life to Meg.

5] Camera is positioned over the head of McCain when he is playing Blind Man's Buff and is positioned at the top with a view of room like a cage (trap) when Stanley is playing it. What interpretations can you give to these positioning of camera? 

∆ Camera is positioned over the head of McCain when he is playing Blind Man's Buff and is positioned at the top with a view of room like a cage when Stanley is playing it. It shows the dangers lurking over the head.

6] "Pinter restored theater to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue, where people are at the mercy of one another and pretense crumbles." (Pinter, Art, Truth & Politics: Excerpts from the 2005 Nobel Lecture). Does this happen in the movie?

∆ Yes, it happens in the movie. Art is represented by Stanley, Truth is presented by Petey, and Politics is presented by McCann and Goldberg. 

7] How does viewing movie help in better understanding of the play ‘The Birthday Party’ with its typical characteristics (like painteresque, pause, silence, menace, lurking danger)?

∆ Yes, screening of the movie is very helpful to understanding the play in better way. Screening gives proper hints and imagination to understand the play in correct way. And visualization of the play much better then reading. And after watching this movie i can easily understand the characteristics of the play like menace, lurking danger etc..

8]  With which of the following observations you agree:

o   “It probably wasn't possible to make a satisfactory film of "The Birthday Party."

o    “It's impossible to imagine a better film of Pinter's play than this sensitive, disturbing version directed by William Friedkin”[3]. (Ebert)

∆ I haven't seen any other movie versions and haven’t read original play.so, I can’t say anything about this movie that it is the best. Though, According to me both has right is at its own place, because everything has its own limitation and it can’t go beyond the limitation.

9]  If you were director or screenplay writer, what sort of difference would you make in the making of movie?

∆ For making changes still I didn't read the  original play so how can i able to give this answer. Still, If I was director of the movie then I would have reduced the sounds of things that constantly irritates me while watching the movie.

10]  Who would be your choice of actors to play the role of characters?

∆ According to me all actors of the play plays good role. Still, if I have to choose from our bollywood industry, i will choose like this,

#My choice of actors are:-

1) Stanley --  Irfan Khan

2) Lulu  --   Radhika Apte

3) Petey      --  Anupam Kher

4) MacCann   --  Nawazuddin Siddiqui
5) Meg    -- Konkna Sen Sharma

6) Goldberg  --  Manoj Bajpai

Thank You...