I really enjoyed reading the excerpts from the Vagina Monologues. They all began with such bold statements, such as “You cannot love a vagina unless you love hair.” I was drawn in immediately. The short, snappy sentences are appropriate and make the monologues incredibly human and relatable. In all of the monologues, I got such an immediate sense of the speaker’s personality, right off the bat. With such short monologues you need to jump right in.
The personal, opinionated, and unique statements in these monologues worked well to show the characters’ personalities and grab readers’ attention. Dramatic statements such as “In order to survive, I began to pretend there was something else between my legs,” are effective and memorable, but writers must make sure to maintain the important balance between drama and realism.
In Because He Liked to look at it, the speaker builds up quite a long list of Bob’s boring negatives, only to make the statement “Turned out that Bob loved vaginas. He was a connoisseur” all the more dramatic. Contrast is also quite an effective mechanism.
A technique I found very useful is when the speaker of a monologue refuses to talk about or admit something personal and possibly embarrassing. In The Flood the old woman says, “I mean… well, never mind. No. Never mind. I can’t talk to you about this.” Refusing to talk about something obviously and tactfully piques reader and audience interest immediately.
The final sentences in all of the Vagina Monologues tied everything together nicely, usually in an ironic, poignant way. The ending of the Flood, however, was a bit too sappy for my taste, but touching nonetheless.
The other group of monologues also had unique, bold interpretations of frequently touched upon themes and topics, such as death. As well as the Vagina Monologues, these monologues were real, gritty, and some were almost animalistic, making them all the more appealing and fascinating to read.
Many of the monologues escalated in intensity as they went on, an effective mechanism. I didn’t, however, particularly like Anne O’Sullivan. It felt preachy, as if she was telling me what to do and how to think about things. It was funny at parts, but it could have used a lot more subtly.
Through reading all of these monologues I learned how crucially important it is to keep themes and allusions throughout a monologue consistent (such as in the one where sex is associated with things such as fire, insanity, and even the devil). Consistency reflects thoughtfulness and focus, making a successful conclusion that much easier to attain.
Lots of good self-tips here, lots of really practical stuff: you're a yes on bold openings, snappy writing, humor, drama, opinion, contrast, realism, imagery, consistency, and intensity. No on sappy endings (am totally with you on this one). It's worth nailing down that yes list a little bit -- taking a closer look at how/why these approaches work, and do they always or are they just appropriate in these cases? Indeed, everything always has to do at least two things at once in plays, so jumping right in is crucial as is crafting sentences that both, say, introduce the monologue AND stun us into submission or tell us something AND hold back and (pretend to) refuse to tell. Good, useful observations all around.
ReplyDeleteMeghan,
ReplyDeleteI appreciated your close readings of what you enjoyed in the Vagina Monologues; Especially since I'm at a point in my life as a media consumer when I wonder if *good* art isn't made by big aesthetic decisions, but instead a firm focus on craft and formalism. I think I found the vagina monologues interesting for many of the same reasons you did, effective and memorable dramatic statements, the direct final sentences, etc.
I remember when author Michael Cunningham came to campus last year he had lunch with the creative writing club, and seemed to answer all questions about writing with very craft-centric ideas. He was clearly a man focused on writing from sentence to sentence, not the broader strokes that I feel often bogs my work down. Do you tend to write on a more sentence to sentence base when you do creative writing? If so will you teach me how? :) Also if so, do you ever find yourself having trouble generating ideas for starting your projects?
I'm quite interested to read your monologues! It's amazing how two people can read something and generate wildly different conclusions. While I do agree that the "sappy" ending sometimes makes you want to bang your head against the wall in frustration, I think it could be used to make a point about the contrast between the real world and the theatrical world. While we might be tied into the idea of the play we are seeing as "real"(Depending on how much we identify with the characters and their situation) at the end we are reminded by the curtain call of the fallacy-world we just expeirneced. Could not sappy endings be used to elaborate upon the inability of real life to tie up so neatly?
ReplyDeleteVagina monologues struck me as more "play" then Laramie Project ever did. I felt as if they were trying a bit too hard to be controversial and "snappy" and missed out on a crucial part of reality. Maybe we really wouldn't reveal that much about ourselves right away, maybe, like any human being would, we might hesitate a bit.
I'm quite interested to hear your thoughts on the matter; see you in class tomorrow :).
"Through reading all of these monologues I learned how crucially important it is to keep themes and allusions throughout a monologue consistent... Consistency reflects thoughtfulness and focus, making a successful conclusion that much easier to attain."
ReplyDeleteWhile in general I agree with this statement, I think that there is a lot to be said about making monologues feel like a person would normally talk or reflect, and we as human beings don't always stay on track so nicely. Our thoughts are random and sporadic and beautiful in their messiness.
On the other hand, it can get excessively annoying to jump around with no through thought. Life is quite the contradiction isn't it?